Nu-Metal gets a lot of shit from people and maybe it deserves it. I grew up in the heyday of Nu-Metal however and so there is always going to be a place in my heart for its naivety and simplicity. The reason I bring this up is that it's influences can still be felt rippling through a lot of bands now, generally bands comprised of people aged 25 and up that haven't quite let go of the glory days.

WALK IN COMA are a group of scrappy lads from the south of England that seem to have held aloft this flame and have actually managed to do something half decent with it. Their first studio album "Narrentum" is an interesting blending of this old (and somewhat outdated) style with more modern influences of recent Death Metal. OK so the main thing here is Nu-Metal but there are definitely other things going on in there, even if they are slightly blurred.

The album opens up with a very deceptive intro and it almost sounds like it might be some kind of Atmospheric Black Metal album. This is shattered very quickly though when the actual music kicks in and it becomes abundantly clear that it's going to be a very shouty & stompy half an hour. The things that instantly spring to mind are KORN and MACHINE HEAD mixed strangely with "Sauron" era DECAPITATED, albeit a watered down version of the demon that was "Sauron".

For the most part, I like it. Nu-Metal may be very outdated now and most recent attempts at it have sounded very flat but this actually has a little character to it. There are some evil guitar riffs (again, very DECAPITATED-esque) and the general feel is the right kind of heavy.

The thing that really lets this album down is the fact that they felt the need to get some clean vocals in there. The first couple of songs are a brilliantly brutal pace and then in comes "Nein" and all of a sudden I realise why everyone fucking hated Nu-Metal so hard. For all of its angst and energy, there was such a large element of lame, whiny noise that it just detracts from the whole thing. That one track has soured my whole experience of the album and sadly it has really damaged my idea of their sound.

The rest of the album is good; it continues much along the same pace as the first couple of songs. There isn't that much variation so it begins to sound a little samey but on the whole it's bearable. The one final point that I need to raise is that on the final song I cannot un-hear "This fire's burning out my ass". It's a minor thing but when you listen to it you will curse me for mentioning it as I'm sure you will never un-hear it either.

If you were a Nu-Metal lover then this is probably a good choice for you, it's got all the hallmarks of some of the great bands at that time, as well as a few good new elements. If you hated Nu-Metal when it was everywhere then you probably won't enjoy this but what the hell, it might be worth a try.