Eidolon, the band around the Drover brothers Shawn and Glen, is back with a new onslaught of metal. Since Glen Drover has left King Diamond he has had more time to be involved in the song writing for “Coma Nation” and consequently the expectations were high. Another indication that Eidolon wanted to move forward was their dismissal of singer Brian Soulard. The reason was simple: Eidolon needed a singer with more dynamics to attribute to their already diverse style and move their music to the next level. The music on “Coma Nation” is complex but most of all diverse; filled with an almost unlimited amount of excellent guitar riffs, spanning many different forms of metal, from straightforward thrash metal to melodic heavy metal and even all the way to death metal. Compared to Eidolon’s previous album, “Hallowed Apparition”, keyboards and acoustics play a yet bigger part but still really just to add atmosphere to the intricate music.

Describing Eidolon’s music is close to impossible but at times the music reminds of Fates Warning’s “No Exit” album. Mostly because new singer Pat Mulock now and then sounds like Ray Alder during that period of time, listen for instance to the third song “Life In Agony”. “Coma Nation” is an excellent album, which shows that Eidolon has indeed moved on to the next level. Pat Mulock is a good addition to the band although at times even his voice is slightly too limited, but nevertheless adds new dynamics to the music as a whole. Eidolon’s main strengths lie in diversity and originality, and in that respect this album is certainly a success; but this diversity might also be this band’s main problem. Most songs lack a feeling of recognition and it is very difficult to get into the music, consequently “Coma Nation” is an album that has to really grow on you.