Coil
Backwards

Finally, Backwards, the lost album by the magnificent Coil, is released thanks to Cold Spring. Backwards previously circulated only on cassette in a limited edition, while a 12” titled New Backwards (2008) presented remixes and reworkings of the original tracks. Backwards is a very important document to understand the evolution of Coil's sound: it is practically the missing link between Love’s Secret Domain and the masterpiece Musick To Play In The Dark. At the time, the Coil were exploring, like skilled craftsmen and manipulators of sound, the possibilities of electronic music as can be heard in Love’s Secret Domain. This was actually a house music album - heavily influenced by the use of psychoactive substances - that winked at the dancefloors: however, it also contained brilliant insights like the track dedicated to the great inventor of myths and cosmic lyrist H.P. Lovecraft, namely “Titan Arch”, and the experimental and avant-garde collage of “Chaostrophy.” Subsequently, the evolution of their perspectives would expand to touch the Cosmic Music of Tangerine Dream and Cluster, of which they would give their own interpretation as can be heard in the aforementioned Musick To Play In The Dark vol 1,2 and Astral Disaster. Backwards captures the group of John Balance and Peter Christopherson at a crucial moment when they were refining their experimental language. It is a sparse album, in some ways raw but rich in great energy and ideas.

After a brief introduction comes the title track, a vigorous electronic dance. The following track, “Amber Rain,” appeared in The Ape Of Naples, minimal and subtly unsettling. In “Fire Of The Green Dragon,” electronic rhythms are again at the forefront, testifying to the closeness with L.S.D. “Be Careful What You Wish For” and “Nature Is a Language – The Test” furiously continue this dance in search of their primordial nature. “Heaven’s Blade” – also featured in The Ape Of Naples, is liquid and frantic. “Copacaballa” is instead dark in its sinuous and circular progression. “Paint Me As A Dead Soul” is calm: the voice of Balance chants absorbedly like an ancient bard: the atmospheres reminded me of the classic Horse Rotorvator. “Ayor (It’s In My Blood)” is another already known track presented here with a danceable twist. The real gem of this album is the original version of “A Cold Cell”: I love this song by the Coil, listening to it always moves me. The closure is entrusted to another classic, “Fire Of The Mind,” which here shines in its primordial aura. The album contains recordings completed in the studios of Trent Reznor. Backwards is an unmissable album for all Coil lovers and a document of great value from a fundamental group. What Kind Of Animal Are You?

http://www.brainwashed.com/coil/

http://www.discogs.com/label/9578-Cold-Spring