With No Salvation, the band has conjured up a head-banging, fist-raising, sing-a-long rock record that will undoubtedly introduce heavy music to many a young punk fan while retaining the admiration from a more seasoned crowd. Guitarist and vocalist Ryan Patterson, who has played with Kentucky hardcore acts such as The National Acrobat and Black Cross, fronts Coliseum‘s deliberate attack.
They may be loud, but underneath lies a stealthy, savvy ability to write songs. Coliseum has developed a knack for peppering several songs like “The Fate of Men” with numerous pop hooks, making them quite possibly the hard-rock equivalent of a Cadbury Easter egg laced with arsenic.
Patterson’s lyrics are as aggressive and defiant as the music to which they’re sung, but show an introspective side that runs an emotional gauntlet of anger, despair, hope, and triumph. When he throatily sings lines such as “I’ve got a rage inside of me / It never dies / Keeps me alive” on “Believer,” you’re sure he means it. There are no gimmicks here.