COEXISTENCE is an Italian technical/progressive death metal band. "Collateral Dimension" is their debut full length; they also have an EP and a demo. I'm very picky about anything involving tech death but I'll go ahead and sum up my review up front: COEXISTENCE has written a tech/prog death album that gets everything right.  The most stunning aspect of it is that it just doesn't blow you away with the playing levels of the band-it takes you places in your head, paints landscapes and pictures, that other bands of this style just can't touch.

Where the album really shines is how melodic it can be. So many albums of this nature forgo that to focus on so many other elements, such as speed or throwing in as many notes as possible. I'm not saying those are not important but they also don't have to be the focus. "Collateral Damage," choose to bridge the gap between technicality and actual song writing skills with melody and very interesting musical movements, which is where their progressive side really shines

Another aspect that puts this above other tech death is balance and synergy between the instruments and the band members. None of them try to overdo the others ones. When they play the more mind bending elements, its together as an actual band instead of musicians just trying to see who can jerk off their instruments the quickest.

The first track, "Metaphysical Essence," is all fire and fury with Christian's bass and Alessandro's drums leading the way with a forceful but technical approach to leading the song and providing an ever shifting foundation that never wavers.  The guitars weave in and out of the song with aggression, melody, and incredible lead work.  But they never sound unfocused, if anything they provide a strong cohesive glue to it all.  I have to mention Mirko's vocals-his performance is nothing short of spectacular.  The song's middle portion is a near dreamy sequence that still rocks while being catchy and memorizing.

"Eclipse," brings down tuned riffs that just crush the senses and the bass slaps hard while walking off the beaten path. I feel the title of the song goes very well with the music-much like day giving away to darkness, the song winds down and the mood completely changes.  Christian really brings out the power that bass guitar has in death metal but even that wouldn't be as effective if the other instruments didn't know their place around his playing-the band knows each other's styles very well.

The title track is a shorter, more direct track but doesn't impress any less than the more epic songs that surround it.  The song's constant rising action of energy is highly infectious and it is clear to me the band really enjoyed this song and I bet it would slay in a live setting. The last two tracks are among my favorites of the album.  "The Nadir Element," impresses the entire time because it always has something to showcase.  The guitar solo within the song's early minutes is a standout as is how four and a half minutes of chaos flows into the beautiful movement at the 4:35 mark.  Wonderful, just wonderful.  It goes to show just how easy this band slides in and out of the different elements they pull off, rather than it just feel like everything starts and stops for something else.

"Floating In The Celestial Wave," is a spacey, almost psychedelic experience. This one song to me is worthy of purchasing the album.  I loved the little notes of the guitar that spark around the floating riffs like starts blinking against a black sky.  Even when the death metal kicks in, the song never loses its inventive imagination. The song doesn't return to its spacey opening but elements recall it, such as the bass and the guitar solos so this becomes a song that uses looking back to push ever forward. By the time the last notes have landed. Leonardo and Mirko have established themselves as two of the best guitarists in modern extreme metal.

I honestly cannot find one damn thing wrong with this album.  As far as I'm concerned COEXISTENCE just wrote an album that should define tech and prog death from here on out.  An absolutely stunning album that is beautiful in parts, brutal in others, and never prizes musicianship over song writing.