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Coil
Love's Secret Domain


4.5
superb

Review

by fireaboveicebelow USER (107 Reviews)
October 26th, 2009 | 47 replies


Release Date: 1991 | Tracklist


Coil is possibly the most overlooked electronic act in recent memory. Throughout their whole career they’ve pushed boundaries in so many strange ways, and while not all results were positive they allowed the room to re-distinguish what music could become. In turn, Love’s Secret Domain’s appeal has nothing to do with its dynamic instrumentation or its eclectic styles throughout the songs. The fact that makes this such an interesting album is merely detail. Naturally since this came out during the great electronic revolution they pertained to certain relevant aspects such as rhythmic foundations, but also include an almost scary amount of other influences, such as jazz-fusion, post-gothic, and even some literary citations. The record is meant to be taken almost ironically just by the title Love’s Secret Domain (LSD), but there’s so many other levels of philosophy and ambience that you literally have no idea where the record is going. Now, is this a bad thing, or merely a musical experiment of social/unspoken dialect?

Just like with any experiment it works both ways. Disco Hospital opens the record with nothing more than a collection of noises on a mixing board, but flows right into Teenage Lightning, Pt. 1, a very…very strange composition of buzzes, bangs, and twangs randomly landing over a consistent rhythm melody. If you weren’t confused enough, Things Happen introduces Annie Anxiety, a stage actor from New York, in a completely dazed yet nonchalant spoken-word performance over a mid-tempo, nightmarish theme that completely alters the tone from the first two tracks. The album loves to take sudden turns like this in order to cover a vast amount of ground in terms of emotions and topics and ideas, which is immediately obvious if you were to compare The Snow, essentially a frigid dance track consisting of what you would expect, as well as a consistency of ever-evolving layers and samples, to Dark River, a very hollow ambient piece, or to Windowpane, a vocal-driven modulation of world music influence.

From the reference to The Divine Comedy in Titan Arch to the pseudo-philosophy rant about a demented view of love from the title track to the complete circle back to the lightness of Teenage Lighting, Pt. 2, it’s not necessarily apparent whether or not the album is meant to be taken in a linear way. Does the song order deal with a stream-of-consciousness concept of what goes through one’s head when evolving into one who loves or becomes loveless, or even a path where cohesiveness is just too weird to make the concept fit? This isn’t meant for a few listens before you move on to something else, you really have to delve into this record to make your own story of what the purpose is to you because frankly that’s probably why the band made it so vague and out of balance. It wasn’t meant to make sense because the concept they’re tackling doesn’t make sense. Obviously, like previously mentioned, some parts just don’t work in their method, such as Further Back And Faster’s 8-minute trek of percussion tracks or Chaostrophy’s lack of identity, however the soul of the record never cracks into useless convolution of other principles. If you want a record that needs to grow into you, you’ll be hard-pressed to find something anything else as strangely, neurotically, or overwhelmingly ensnaring.



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user ratings (148)
4
excellent

Comments:Add a Comment 
hydeyomoney
October 26th 2009


934 Comments


now my next review Coil = 2.5

fireaboveicebelow
October 26th 2009


6835 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

you've never heard of coil

hydeyomoney
October 26th 2009


934 Comments


didn't stop you


i jk brah cool review

Wizard
October 27th 2009


20571 Comments


Loved the review. Would I love this?

BallsToTheWall
October 27th 2009


51617 Comments


Heard plenty about this band but nothing from them. Good review, taking the awol off for a little while?

XulOnerom
October 27th 2009


1818 Comments


A positive review? Wow, you are in a good mood today

Hehehehe just kidding. I've never heard Coil but this looks really interesting.

One of the guys in this band died, didn't he??

Meatplow
October 27th 2009


5523 Comments


Yeah, i've been meaning to check out Coil for so long.

jrowa001
October 27th 2009


8752 Comments


Coil are so good! havent heard this album but i love both the Musick To Play In the Dark albums and The Ape of Naples album. hopefully theyll be getting more recognition from this review

fireaboveicebelow
October 27th 2009


6835 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

they'll get more recognition if you guys check it out

Loved the review. Would I love this?
karl I don't know as usual
Good review, taking the awol off for a little while?
I guess, there's not much left to touch on except u2, the mars volta, and muse but that means I have to listen to those and I really don't want to
A positive review? Wow, you are in a good mood today
not really, and yes John Balance died from falling off a landing
Yeah, i've been meaning to check out Coil for so long.
nothing's stopping you, there's a very abstract similarity between this band and Current 93 in that they're both always trying new, random things with cult followings, if that's any motivation

klap
Emeritus
October 27th 2009


12410 Comments


fire, i used to think you were a bit of a prick who just goes around writing negative reviews of albums commonly viewed as classics, but you introduced me to something today in a very well-written way. i give you props

fireaboveicebelow
October 27th 2009


6835 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

haha what do you mean "used to" I've only done it for like two weeks out of the two years I've written stuff here, but thanks I suppose

klap
Emeritus
October 27th 2009


12410 Comments


the only reviews ive read by you i meant haha

Willie
Moderator
October 27th 2009


20316 Comments


Great review.

Coil is possibly the most overlooked electronic act in recent memory.
Guilty, but I'll fix that soon.

Meatplow
October 27th 2009


5523 Comments


nothing's stopping you, there's a very abstract similarity between this band and Current 93 in that they're both always trying new, random things with cult followings, if that's any motivation


The motivations there, and has been for a long time. I just haven't brought myself to look into them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Serpent_Distribution

Coil is probably the only major artist who were on this label I haven't listened to. All the rest are amongst my favourite acts plus I loved Throbbing Gristle (who Sleazy was a member of) so i'm pretty sure i'll dig their stuff.

Willie
Moderator
October 27th 2009


20316 Comments


I just got the promo hook up with Alfa-Matrix records (I:Scintilla, Zombie Girl, Leaether Strip)... yay me.


Meatplow
October 27th 2009


5523 Comments


Speaking of industrial are you familiar with Hanzel Und Gretyl at all Willie and if so is worth checking out albums other then 2012 - Zwanzig Zwolf?

Willie
Moderator
October 27th 2009


20316 Comments


I've heard of them, but never checked them out.

Meatplow
October 27th 2009


5523 Comments


okay, that makes a change

that album is not bad, though i'm not much into industrial metal. you might like it

fireaboveicebelow
October 27th 2009


6835 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

I guess I'm checking out WSD

Willie
Moderator
October 27th 2009


20316 Comments


I'm not too big on most of the bands mentioned in the wiki article.



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