Bleep

Following reissues of The New Backwards and Musick To Play In The Dark² from Infinite Fog and Dais Records, the doors to the Coil back catalogue are opened once again. Constant Shallowness Leads To Evil sees the light with its first official reissue, supervised by Thighpaulsandra who joined John Balance and Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson for their incredibly fruitful period of the early 2000s.

Perhaps one of Coil’s more obscure works, Constant Shallowness Leads To Evil was originally released at one of their Royal Festival Hall concerts in 2000, capturing an improvisational energy with its dark and evocative array of harsh, surging synths. Contrary to the original CD’s message “May cause drowsiness – do not play while driving or operating machinery”, the album is awake and alert with pure electricity splitting from ear to ear running throughout each track.

The power switches on in ‘Higher Beings Command’, the current rising and falling as coins drop and machines transmit signals into the void. Clattering instrumentation on ‘I Am The Green Child’ juxtaposes organic wooden sounds with coarse and churning noise, as Balance’s amorphous vocals mutate throughout passages of drilling synths. The next trio of movements starting with ‘Beige’ presents a forceful wall of scorched sound, fraying the track’s edges as its lasers throb and travel out of focus.

What is easily the highlight of Constant Shallowness is the monumental ‘Tunnel Of Goats’, an electrifying dirge thrashing against the confines of its musical containment. Its rampant noise could be turgidly manipulated voices as well as crushed and distorted hardware, with Balance’s vocals calling as though from some other domain, speaking in esoteric oxymorons about twisted visions of nature. It makes for one of Coil’s most frenzied and sought after releases, losing none of its fire as it finally resurfaces after 20 years.