biocoroner

 Coroner from Zürich, Switzerland became friends with local heroes Celtic Frost and when Coroner needed a vocalist for their first demo recording. Tom G. Warrior (Hellhammer and Celtic Frost) agreed to be the the bands session vocalist. The finished result became the legendary Death Cult demo from 1985, which led to a contract deal with Noise Records. Coroner quickly established themselves as one of the worlds heaviest trios. The bands lineup at the time was bassist / vocalist Ron Royce, Drummer Marquis Marky and guitarist Tommy T. Baron.

Coroner debuted in 1987 with the thrash classic R.I.P. In the following two years the band released two more classic thrash records in Punishment For Decadence and No More Color. When the 90's arrived Coroner released a live video from East Berlin as well as the home video Thrashing East together with Kreator, Sabbat and Tankard.

The band then released the more progressive albums Mental Vortex and Grin in the early nineties before breaking up in the mid nineties. In 2010 Coroner made a comeback and we are eagerly awaiting their new album, set for late 2017. Coroner was also one of Chuck Schuldiner's (Death) favourite bands. This is the story of Coroner.

THE EARLY DAYS (1983-1986)

Coroner from Zürich, Switzerland formed in 1983. The first real lineup consisted of drummer Marquis Marky, Guitarists Tommy Ritter and Oliver Amberg, bassist Phil Puzctai and vocalist Pete Attinger. In the beginning the band reportedly played some type of twisted Sister / Mötley Crüe-inspired heavy metal. Reportedly there was a recording made in 1983 wth Oliver Amberg on bass, vocals and guitars and Marquis Marky on the drums. Before Tommy Ritter, Phil Puzctai and Pete Attinger joined. 

After two years as a band Coroner split up in late 1984 or early 1985, because Marquis Marky Edelmann had to do his military service . In 1985 Tommy T. Baron and Marquis Marky (Marky Edelmann) were roadies for Celtic Frost during their Tragic Serenades tour. A few months after the bands breakup Marquis Marky reformed the band, but this time with bassist Ron Royce aka Ron Broder and guitarist Tommy T. Baron aka Tommy Vetterli.

Now the classic lineup was born but the band had no vocalist so they asked Tom G. Warrior of Celtic Frost (Whom also were from Zürich) to make an appearance on the bands Death Cult demo from 1986. While helping Celtic Frost out on their US Tour Coroner spread their demo at their shows so the band gained some attention which led to a contract with Noise records. In late 1986 Coroner opened up for Celtic Frost and Kreator in Zürich.

R.I.P. (1987)

After Tom G. Warrior's short session as the bands vocalist, the band needed someone to do the vocals and instead of making the band a quartet they decided to let bassist Ron Royce do the vocals and he has continued on as the bands frontman ever since. In early 1987 Coroner recorded R.I.P. The album was produced by master producer Harris Johns (Helloween, Exumer, Kreator) who gave the band a professional sound from day one.

the album was recorded in Berlin in Harris Johns studio Music lab in March of 1987. R.I.P. was a success and it can easily be considered the bands thrashiest and most straightforward album to date. Coroner would become more progressive by each release but at this point they were better described as a technical thrash band. In 1987 Coroner toured Europe with German thrashers Deathrow to promote the album.

PUNISHMENT FOR DECADENCE (1988)

The bands second album was also recorded in Berlin, this time at the Sky Trak studios in May of 1988. Punishment for Decadence was produced by Guy Bidmead (Exciter, Motörhead). The album was released in August of 1988. The album featured the Jimi Hendrix cover Purple Haze. Coroner recorded their first music video for the track Masked Jackal. The album scored great reviews everywhere and it showed a little more melody compared to the bands debut album.

In 1988, former Coroner guitarist Oliver Amberg was recruited to Celtic Frost and he plays the guitar on the infamous Cold Lake album from 1988. He left Celtic Frost a year later.

NO MORE COLOR AND THE THRASHING EAST FESTIVAL (1989-1990)

No More Color was recorded in the summer of 1989 and released later that year. It was also recorded at the Sky Trak studios in Berlin, but this time with Pete Hinton (Saxon, Demon and Witchfinder General) as the bands producer. The album had a clean production and the band further developed their progressive sound with unusual time signatures and jazz-like chord progressions. Coroner was sometimes referred to as the Rush of thrash metal. In the autumn of 1989 Coroner toured North America with Kreator. They did about 50 gigs in the US and Canada. The last track on the album titled Last Entertainment was pushed as a single and a music video was recorded to promote the song with the atmospheric synthesizers.

In march of 1990, just months after the fall of the Berlin wall, Coroner took part in the Thrashing East Festival at Werner Seelenbinder-Halle in east Berlin. The festival was headlined by Kreator and Sabbath, Coroner and Tankard took part. A video was made from all the concerts and Coroner's show was released as a video titled No More Color - Live in East Berlin. The concerts was the first big metal event in the DDR since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Tons of interviews with bands, managers and other active people in DDR, Soviet Union and the Eastern Block took part.

Coroner also appeared on the Thrashing East split video with the song Absorbed.

To promote their new album Coroner went on their No More Color Tour through Europe in 1990 and 1991. The tour ended in the Netherlands with American prog thrashers Watchtower as an opening act.

MENTAL VORTEX (1991-1992)

In april of 1991 Coroner started recording their fourth studio album Mental Vortex. The album was released on the 12th of August 1991. As always the band went to the Sky Trak studios in Berlin, Germany, to record the album, but this time with producer Tom Morris, (Agent Steel, Whiplash and Iced Earth) Tom is the founder of the legendary Morrisound Studios, in Tampa Florida.

Mental Vortex was hailed as one of the most technical proficient albums the thrash genre had ever seen. The band recorded a The Beatles cover "I Want You (She's So Heavy)", which the band also recorded a music video for. The cover image is a modified photograph of Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates in the 1960 Alfred Hitchcock horror film Psycho. Kent Smith laid additional keyboards on the album.

To promote the album Coroner went on tour with Mekong Delta in the Netherlands and Germany. Coroner continued the tour in the US with Nuclear Assault as their travel partner.

GRIN (1993-1994)

Coroner released their fifth studio album in 1993. The album was recorded in their native Switzerland (For the first time in the bands career) at the Greenwood Studios during the spring of 1993. Grin became the result of the progression the band took on the previous four albums. Grin was more progressive, more experimental and with a somewhat laidback industrial tone. Grin goes so far that it can be described as a progressive metal album, perhaps more so than a thrash album.

Grin divided the fans and some thought of the album as a sellout album and others thought of it as the bands crowning achievment. To support the album Coroner went on a European tour with Annihilator. Coroner continued playing gigs in Europe in 1994. Coroner grew tired of their label Noise Records, they thought the label didn't do enough to promote the band.

CORONER AND DISBANDING (1995-1996)

In 1995 Coroner released a self-titled compilation album to fulfill their contract with Noise. Well it's technically a compilation album but Coroner added a few new songs to the album. There were approximately 30 minutes of new material recorded for the album. The album included a lot of the bands classic songs such as: Reborn through Hate, Masked Jackal, Last Entertainment and Divine Step (Conspectu Mortis). The band were not so active outside the studio until the band decided to fold in 1996. Another compilation album was released in 1996 titled The Unknown (Unreleased Tracks 1985-1995)

POST BREAK-UP (1996-2008)

in 1996 guitarist Tommy T. Baron got the opportunity to replace Frank Blackfire in Kreator. Tommy agreed and he recorded the industrial influenced albums Outcast and Endorama with them before leaving Kreator in 2001. Coroner's drummer Marky Edelmann joined Tom G. Warrior's new industrial band Apollyon Sun. Marky plays on their 2001 album Sub.

THE COMEBACK (2009-2017)

In 2009 the Coroner song Skeleton on your Shoulder appeared on the soundtrack to the video game Brütal Legend (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)

In June of 2010 the trio of Ron Royce, Marquis Marky and Tommy T. Baron reunited. Coroner played a few gigs in 2011, at Hellfest in Clisson, France, Bloodstock UK and Deathfest in Maryland, US. The band has continued playing gigs all over the world since the reunion. In 2014 original drummer Marquis Marky left the band and he was replaced by Diego Rapacchietti (Paganini, 69 Chambers, Venturia). In 2015 Coroner went on a Latin American tour. In 2016 the band released a compilation box titled Autopsy. The box featured the a Coroner documentary titled Rewind.

The band signed a deal with Sony Music Switzerland, which has enlisted the help from Century Media Records, That will release the bands comeback album internationally. The album is expected to be released in late 2017.