Quiet and tranquil Switzerland. In the 1980s, following the development of thrash metal in Germany, bands began to appear in this country, whose music would be inspired by the next generations of musicians. The first such band was Hellhammer, which soon changed its name to Celtic Frost. The road crew of Celtic Frost included musicians: drummer Markus Edelmann and guitarists Oliver Amberg and Tommy Veterrli, who soon decided to found their own band and called it Coroner. Later this band would become one of the best in technical thrash metal, presenting interesting and unique material, but because of the problems with the releasing label, which practically did not promote the albums, Coroner could not reach a wide popularity.
The band released only five albums, the last of which was the 1993 album Grin. In 1996 the band did a farewell tour and broke up safely. Tommy Veterrli subsequently worked with Kreator, recording two albums with them. Markus Edelmann was seen in Apollyon Sun, a project of Thomas Gabriel Fischer, which he created after the breakup of Celtic Frost.
Since 2005 there were constant rumors about the band’s revival. It wasn’t until 2011 that the band returned to the scene. In 2014 drummer Markus Edelmann announced that he was leaving Coroner. Diego Rapacchietti was announced as the new drummer.
And now it was recently revealed that the band will go into the studio in February 2023 to record their sixth album, which will be released in 2023 on Century Media Records. Here’s what Tommy Veterrli said:
We’re working really hard on it at the moment. All the songs have to be finished by mid-December. There’s one song missing. Pre-production needs to be finished by the end of the year. Then, I have recordings for the upcoming Eluveitie album. Ron Broder and I are meeting today to make a plan. We will start recording in the second half of February.
Veterrli also talked about the direction of the new music, whether the new album will be similar to Grin, their most experimental album or earlier works:
It’s hard to say. It’s more “Grin” than “Reborn Through Hate”. For me, these are songs. It’s a showcase of what we learned and practiced. Everybody who has heard the pre-production, including the record company, is really happy and thinks that’s the way the band should sound. It’s more about feel and is song-oriented. The technical stuff is still there, but not the main thing. It’s going to be weird, like all Coroner songs. My goal is always to do something I didn’t hear one-hundred times before. Most bands are a copy of another band. There are a lot of great bands, but I miss the freshness or originality.
In general, it’s something like this. It should be noted that the album Grin is a very ambiguous work which divided the fans of the band. There were used a lot of electronics, synthesizers, samples, you can feel a noticeable influence of industrial. The band has taken a new path, strengthening the innovative approach and experiments. So, we are waiting for the new work.
