Dockyard 1

Mario, Germany - Homepage

In-Quest - The Comatose Quandaries

(Goodlife Recording)

1. Diffuse Pattern Recognition (05:04)
Starts with a horror movie-like intro, until a very powerful and fast Death Metal song arises. Mike L�berg sometimes sounds like Ex-Pantera-singer Phil Anselmo on this one. Nice guitar melodies, a good start.

2. Audiotoxic Binaries (04:16)
The riff could have been from Fear Factory, while the drumming is damn fast. Pretty good songwriting, I like the structure. The solo is good, too. And drummer Gert Monden is a highlight of this record. I can say that after only have heard 2 songs.

3. Socioneural Geneticism (06:04)
This one starts very electric. With some easy guitars and the nice tribal-drumming of Monden, a slow start comes around. This is a kinda mid-tempo song with unexpected vocals. My personal favorite song on The Comatose Quandaries.

4. Cryotron Frequency (03:50)
This one starts with a typical Fear Factory-riff and very fast drumming. Pretty hard stuff. Interesting bass-line and easy structure in those verses. The last minute becomes heavy and fast again.

5. The Frozen; Nuclear Aftermath (06:39)
Interesting start with some movie quotation. The riff sounds like a mixture of Pantera and Fear Factory. Nice and grooving song with some cross-references to Fear Factory. I like the guitar sounds.

6. The Comatose Quandary (04:17)
Pretty hard riffing and very consequent double-bass start this song, L�berg and his powerful voice comes in just a few seconds later. Very nice songwriting, I love the riffs. Good song!

7. Warpath (04:01)
A duet of bass drum and guitar start this song. Nice idea, that is something new. A kinda slow mid-tempo song with a cool groove.

8. Systenatic Arhythmetic Hate (04:59)
This song has a hardcore-moshpit-part-riff, that forces you to nod your head. Gets faster with the combination of L�bergs vocals to the music. Very nice middle-part, good songwriting! Nice song, definitive.

9. Operation; Citadel (Bonus Track) (04:38)
Very good riff, the following riffs are powerful and uncalculateable. I love their pretty cool guitar ideas. This song is damn strong and grooves very good.

10. Sigmoid Signal (05:17)
The first one and a half minute a very quiet and slow, then a mid-tempo neckbreaker starts. Has a very melodic and nice middle-part. The rest isnt so exciting at all.

11. Resilient Androtronic Carnage (07:26)
Starts very fast with nice double bass and very hard riffing. The drums are killing me! The band shows us their potential in this song, the changes between groove and fast brutality are almost phenomenal.

Result:
Well, a very good record by In-Quest. With Michael of Mnemic doing the guest vocals, the band has written a good concept album about coma. The production is perfect, the brutality and the groove of this band sounds damn good. The riffing is a mix of Pantera, Fear Factory and sometimes Meshuggah.
This is how modern metal should sound by now. A really powerful record, a band that is loaded with potential and with the ability to write great songs. For fans of Fear Factory, Meshuggah and bands like that. Enjoy!

4,5 of 5 stars (www.tonguesofdestruction.com)

Javi Falcón, Spain (Madrid) - Homepage

sonido brutal como reflejo/soporte de una realidad preocupante es presentado en “The Comatose Quandaries” como un juego intermediático donde el desarrollo de las composiciones (distorsionadas, hipnóticas) son fragmentos en progresión que devuelven el pulso a un estertor. Sonidos llenan el espacio y salen de sus limites para retomar a su matriz. Demoledor talento. La vida de gente gris se agita, descubriendo aquí el paraíso... o tal vez sea tan solo el mismo infierno de todos los días visto desde otro prisma.

La experiencia instrumental desplegada en “The Comatose Quandaries” es un contraluz de armonía entre formas y colores. Trabajando sobre el negro (las voces así lo atestiguan) en su búsqueda del agua In-Quest, como figuras de arena, abandonan el mundo que les rodea. Deambulan por otros mundos de papel, piedra y hierro, siempre persiguiendo la gota de agua. En los textos de “The Comatose Quandaries” In-Quest reflexionan sobre los aspectos más lóbregos y desconocidos del umbral de la muerte ya que, entre otras cuestiones, escriben sobre lo que le sucede a una persona atrapada en un estado de Coma profundo.

In-Quest se diferencian de otras bandas rudas en que sus guitarras (Douglas Verhoeven & Jan Geenen) pausadas evocan territorios supuestamente antagónicos con semejante despliegue de intensidad, ya que a lo largo del disco desconciertan y se convierten en guías hacia nuevas latitudes. Brutal Death, más suave que el que los cánones del género marcan, elegante y original. Una perla negra en mitad de un océano plagado de envidiosos tiburones. “The Comatose Quandaries”, su cuarta entrega discográfica, supone además en debut del nuevo cantante, Mike Löfberg, que ha aportado profundidad a la banda.

Discografía:
2005 “The Comatose Quandaries”
2004 “Epileptic”
2003 “Destination: Pyroclasm”
1999 “Operation: Citadel”
1997 “Extrusion: Battlehyms”

Jon, Norway - Homepage

Streets Webzine

There’s a noise coming from belgium these days, and the name is In Quest. The land of Pagan bands, can also brag about good Death Metal bands. In Quest have been here since 1994, and have released albums on a couple of labels. They haven’t got the originality i require, but they absolutely play Death Metal who’ll do it’s purpose. There’s lots of hard hitting riffs, who’ll easily strike you out of your chair, but it’s the vocals of the swede Mike Löfberg which is the best thing about this record, compered to the earlier releases. This man can mix dark growls, screams, clean and hardcore insp. Vocals. They’ll get 6 points for the originality, or the lack of this, 7 for the hardhitting music, and 8 for the great vocals.
7/10 points

from: http://www.streetswebzine.com/Anmeldelser2005
/InQuestTheComatoseQuandaries.php

Andrej Van Berlo, Belgium - Homepage

Tartarean Desire Webzine

Extreme metallers In-Quest have released a new album filled with 11 death/trash songs coated within a touch of industrialism. ‘The Comatose Quandaries’ is the bands fourth full-length and their most ambitious, with the result of also being their most mature offering. Probably due to the fact that besides the cutting brutal riffs there is enough room left for melody, which gets transcripted amazingly into slowly stretched leads and solos. This has by now become a trademark of the Belgian five piece. The vocal work is no longer done by Sven de Caluwé (Aborted) but has been taken over by Swedish singer ’Mike Löfberg’ of the band ‘Blockhead‘. I believe this has been a quite positive change and only contributed to the music. Not that I disliked Sven’s grunts but it just didn’t fit in with In-Quest anymore, a band that doesn’t mind expanding it’s horizons and progressing a bit. It’s just amazing what Mike does with his voice especially the contrasts in the way of singing which can be found in the song ‘Socioneural Geneticism’.
After succesful cooperation with producer Tue Madsen on the previous album the band wanted to have the Danish mastermind behind the controls again and I must say what an amazing production he did! The other Danish connection was through guest vocalist Micheal of ‘Mnemic’ on the song ‘The Comatose Quandary’. One of the highlights on the record must be the track ‘Warpath’. An unusual In-Quest tune which has a very slow build-up to a great climax. While one guitarist plays a simplistic repetition of only one riff the other manages to create a dreamy and spooky melody accompanying it. A great marching anthem. The whole album consists of a dark and futuristic atmosphere which gets extra stressed out by the use of different types of samples. Did I mention the blast beats? Just mind-blowing and fast to say the least. As the song titles might have already proclaimed the lyrics handle about futuristic topics and not directly of death and destruction.

When I must compare In-Quest with other bands genre wise I’ll put it this way. I can reassuringly say that they play on the same level as acts such as Meshuggah, Strapping Young Lad and Fear Factory. These bands have all influenced each other at some point in their carrier and certainly had an impact on In-Quest. The door has opened for In-Quest to step into the world of great extreme metal bands. The comatose quandary of this band will hopefully come to an end because they really have something special to offer!

9/10

Evilized - Home of Hard Music, Germany - Homepage

Metalcore, Metalcore, nix anderes als DER Trend der Szene erscheint dieser Tage an neuen Scheiben. Auch die Belgier In-Quest frönen der Trendsportart und prügeln, kreischbrüllen und riffen sich und die Hörer ins Koma. Auffallend fett ist zunächst einmal der richtig fette Sound, der von Top- Producer Tue Madsen in dem Antfarm Studio (u.a. The Haunted, Heaven Shall Burn, Mnemic) aufgenommen und produziert wurde. Mit diesem Qualitätsmerkmal im Rücken hätten In- Quest mit ihrem fünften Album The Comatose Quandaries auch für ordentlich Furore auf dem übersättigten Markt sorgen können, denn auch die Fähigkeiten der Band sind überdurchschnittlich. Nun ja , wenn die Songs ein wenig abwechslungsreicher gestaltet worden wären.

Heutzutage reichen minimale Emo- Anteile mit Flüstergesang nicht mehr aus um für Abwechslung zu sorgen. Die Belgier pendeln zwischen Midtempo und Speedattacken hin und her, einzig aufgelockert durch die schon erwähnten minimalen Ruhepausen. Dazu kommt das mit der Zeit viel zu eintönige Gebrülle von Neu- Sänger Mike Löfberg. Als Gast konnte Mnemic Sänger Michael gewonnen werden. Unter dem Strich ein nettes, aber beileibe nicht herausragendes Album, was in der heutigen leider zu wenig ist.

Anspieltipps: The Frozen; Nuclear Aftermath, The Comatose Quandary