Boris Popovski Coil is without a doubt one of the most progressive, esoteric and influential groups of all time, as well as a personal favourite of the author, with a lifespan of nearly 3 decades. Formed in the early 1980s out of the ashes of industrial music founders, Throbbing Gristle, and later Psychic TV by the long time due of John Balance (aka Jhonn Balance) and Peter Christopherson, formerly of both aforementioned groups. Many today should be familiar with Peter Sleazy Christopherson or at least his creations as a video director for many modern day bands, particularly Nine Inch Nails Pinion, Wish, Help Me I Am In Hell, Happiness In Slavery and on the Closure home video box set. In the groups later years before the untimely demise of John Balance on November 13, 2004 the band were briefly signed to Nothing Records, with many of the songs on their last album The Ape of Naples being recorded in New Orleans in the Nothing studios, in addition to providing remixes for Nine Inch Nails since 1992. Whenever describing Coil, the term band is always one which Im hesitant to use and most often describe them moreso as musical surrealism. A consistent objective that John, Sleazy and their temporal collaborators strove for was the inversion of creating a visual image for which a soundtrack is to be written. Instead what the group did was create sonic imagery for the listener to form the visuals for within ones mind while listening. Each musical composition is a theme, a musical sketch, the soundtrack to a surrealist masterpiece which does not exist. Some of their best compositions remain true to traditional song structure such as Tainted Love, Anal Staircase, Slur, Panic and Loves Secret Domain (all actually from their earlier catalogue) but they remain a minority in the groups catalogue. Surprisingly though this does not detract. Coil composed the original score for the film Hellraiser which Clive Barker allegedly declined use of because the tracks were too terrifying. Or so accounts of the legend told. The results of which can be heard on the compilation Unnatural History II: Smiling in the Face of Perversity. The group, particularly John Balance, was incredibly deep in the occult and esoteric. Not just limited to imagery alone but moreso during the song creation process where such methods as attempting to channel spirits, Enochian calling, experimentation with mind altering substances to translate the experience into music and at times 10 to 16 minute compositions for the purpose of the composition playing an integral role in ritual magick and the evocation of energies. Coil is best heard rather than described and their occultism is much more sonic than physical or in literal but their album artworks do contain many allusions and symbolisms which hearken their esoteric and occult influences. Below is a brief outline of much of the imagery the group have utilized.https://youtube/watch?v=6RXtueCVSAg
Posted on: Sat, 27 Dec 2014 17:07:57 +0000
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