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"Horse Rotorvator" is the ideal complement and continuation of the previous "Scatology" and stands as an essential milestone in "Industrial" music, as well as the musical apex of Coil. The music is original and eclectic, rooting itself in the "industrial" past of the seminal Throbbing Gristle (of which Peter Christopherson was a part) and in the subsequent esoteric experiences of Psychic TV, the cult group of the first English post-industrial wave, which included future founders of Coil John Balance and P. Christopherson, in addition to David Tibet, who would later lead Current 93, a group very close in conceptual themes.
The "concept" underlying the album is essentially "esoteric", a sort of outrageous and twisted re-reading on the theme of the Apocalypse, in which a possible second Universal Flood is evoked through the construction of the "Horse Rotorvator," an infernal machine built with the bones of the four horses of the Apocalypse. The images evoked by the music are "infernal" and macabre and will undoubtedly capture the interest of the horror writer Clive Barker: the soundtrack of the famous film "Hellraiser" was indeed composed by Coil but was later rejected because it was considered too uncommercial.
The Coil pay great attention to the details of the lyrics where mythical references often mix with personal themes and obsessions, thus constructing a sort of "new mythology" for future centuries. In "Horse Rotorvator", in fact, one can find many citations from ancient Rome reinterpreted in an original and universal key.
The music that emerges from the grooves of this epochal industrial album is very fragmented; each piece carves out its own peculiar space, but this does not undermine the compactness of a "sound" from which many future bands will draw inspiration.
"The Anal Staircase" opens the album in a disruptive way, with the declamatory voice of an obsessive Balance supported by disconnected, dragging, and martial rhythms enhanced by the essential contribution of Peter Christopherson's sampler: an epochal track that resonates in the ears and penetrates deeply into the unconscious. The absolute "Must" of the album is undoubtedly "Ostia" (The Death of Pasolini), a sad and moving elegy on the death of the famous writer, which benefits from a spectacular arrangement of strings and effective acoustic guitar arpeggios.
The figure of Pasolini is as crucial in Coil's imagination as those of William Burroughs, H.P. Lovecraft, and Crowley: there is, therefore, the commendable intent to recover and re-propose the ideas of these eccentric artists.
The other strong pieces of the album are the devastating march of "Penetralia", characterized by the massive use of distorted guitars and brass, and the haunting "Slur", a very evocative track supported by lyrics evoking mythical and abstract images. Also very convincing is the reinterpretation of Leonard Cohen's "Who by Fire" in a "dark" key.
The album closes with three much quieter pieces than the previous ones but that have a remarkable persuasive and cinematic force. Balance and Christopherson will always be engaged in various soundtrack projects: the atmospheres lean towards a sort of dark-ambient apocalyptic, positioning the group once again at the avant-garde and thus closing the nightmare generated by these grooves.
After "Horse Rotorvator", the Coil interrupt the magmatic and esoteric flow, putting an end to the first phase of their career. It will be the "Moon Music" of "Musick to Play in the Dark" and "Astral Disaster" to subsequently re-propose their art at the highest quality standards.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 The Anal Staircase (04:01)
And the angels kiss
Our souls in bliss
Measure the extent
of a dizzying descent
Down the
Anal staircase.
Put just one foot on
the staircase
And the next step
you're down here
On this face.
And the rapids
Of my heart
Will tear your
ship of live apart
And we'll
End up wrecked
We'll end up
at the start
Of the Anal Staircase.
And the angels kiss
Our souls in bliss
Measure the extent of a
dizzying descent
Down the
Anal staircase.
Take a
hollowpoint revolver
Shoot down the rapids
Of your heart
Blow the f**king
Thing apart
Blow the f**king
Thing apart.
One step
Two step
Three step
Four Step.
02 Slur (03:30)
Roman land
Of Roman sands
And Roman sons.
As I watch the sun
sink down
On the bloodred edge
Of the bloodred town
There are shadows
for sale
On the edge of town
At the edge of the night
Is a darkness seen
From the side
of the light
(From the side
of the night).
And the winds
blow round
this sleeping town
This sleeping town
This Roman land
Of Roman sands
And Roman sons.
And it seems to me
That when I
close my eyes
All the lights in the world
Go out
And the night
passes by
And you whisper to me
A thousand lies
I stare in surprise
Towards the desert's
warm black
And the desert stirs
And the desert stares
back
With a thousand eyes
Piercing eyes
Ancient eyes
And I ask my lover
"Do you know
Where the desert roses
bloom and grow?"
03 Babylero (00:51)
Chiribiribi, porompompom
Chiribiribi, porompompom
Chiribiribi, porompompom
Para ti, Maria Isabel
Para ti, Maria Isabel
(repeated)
04 Ostia (The Death of Pasolini) (06:23)
There's honey in the
hollows
And the countours
of the body
A sluggish
golden river
A sickly golden trickle
A golden, sticky trickle
You can hear
the bones humming
And the car
reverses over
The body in the basin
In the shallow
sea-plane basin.
And the car
reverses over
And his body rolls over
Crushed
from the shoulder
You can hear the
Bones humming
Singing like
a puncture
Killed to keep
the world turning
Throw his bones over
The White Cliffs
of Dover
Into the sea
The Sea of Rome
And the bloodstained
coast
Of Ostia
Leon like a lion
Sleeping in
the sunshine.
Lion lies down.
"Out of the strong
Came forth sweetness."
Throw his bones over
The White Cliffs
of Dover
And murder me
In Ostia.
The Sea of Rome.
You can hear his
bones humming.
Throw his bones over
The White Cliffs
of Dover
And into the sea
The Sea of Rome
Then murder me,
In Ostia.
08 Circles of Mania (05:01)
Nero's long hot tongue
Nero's long hot
tongue licks...
This is the sound
Of the world
turning round
The underground
sound
This is the sound of the
world turning round
The world
spinning round.
You get eaten alive
By the perfect lover.
I fell in
to a burning ring
A burning ring of
knives
And the knives
slide in
They slide deep
into my skin
And they open me
so wide
That you stick your
head inside
You get sewn
inside alive
You get eaten alive
By the perfect lover
When you've
swallowed one
You just
swallow another
To drive away
this hunger
You stay in
there forever
Caught in the centre
Of a circle of manias
Chemical Angel
Enters arena
Toro D'Or
falls to the floor
F**king the ground
The hole in the ground
And hot wires sing
Deep in my skin
I'm writhing...
perspiring...
Like Dutch Schultz at
106 degrees...
And I wake up licking
I wake up licking the
bedsheets clean
Licking and
sucking......
09 Blood From the Air (05:32)
A sleeping explorer
his wandering mind
crossed over the border
a mind like a cemetery
where the corpses
are turning
where the bodies
twist deep
in the frozen grip
of a dreamless sleep
then the lowest
comes up
like a wreck
from the depths.
He hears night calling
and has dreams
of waking
here in this brightness
that burns like
slow lightening
he sees words
burnt in ice
reads, "The World is
a Wound".
Effects of the animal -
Animal sound effects
He says, "Death
he is my friend
He promised me
a quick end".
Says, "The world is
in pain
and should be
put down
and God is a sadist
and that he knows it".
The depths of the
night sky
reflects in his eye
He says,
"Everything changes
And everyone dies".
And the night
slits her veins
and the
darkness drains
and the void
rumbles in
like an
underground train...
Forever comes closer
the world is in pain
we all must be shown
we must realise
that everyone changes
and everything dies
10 Who by Fire (02:37)
And who by fire, who by water,
who in the sunshine, who in the night time,
who by high ordeal, who by common trial,
who in your merry merry month of may,
who by very slow decay,
and who shall I say is calling?
And who in her lonely slip, who by barbiturate,
who in these realms of love, who by something blunt,
and who by avalanche, who by powder,
who for his greed, who for his hunger,
and who shall I say is calling?
And who by brave assent, who by accident,
who in solitude, who in this mirror,
who by his lady's command, who by his own hand,
who in mortal chains, who in power,
and who shall I say is calling?
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By mementomori
Anyone wishing to delve into the insane and perverse world of Coil must necessarily pass through this "Horse Rotorvator," a 1986 work considered by many (including myself) to be their absolute masterpiece.
Coil’s music is serious, very serious, because we are dealing with well-prepared and competent musicians who carry with them years of experience.
