EP Review: Final Coil - 1994 (2026, Grunge)

One of the reasons why I love listening to releases by this band is that you never know what comes next.

In recent years Final Coil became well know for the progressive sounds mixed with thoughtful and in-depth lyrics. But between the full albums the band always found time to put together smaller albums that were different of the usual sound.

It has been like this with Somnambulant as well as with the Somnambulant II mini-albums and now we have the 1994 EP in front of us. It's a love-letter to the grunge era of the 1990s. What I love so much about the four songs is the direct sound. It feels like they were done direct at the rehearsal space by the input of all of the band members. No time has been wasted but the band recorded the feeling and spontanity that has been hanging in the air on the recording sessions.

This feels great to me in a time of over-thinking and the "need" to be perfect. I love that it's so raw and not running around trying to archive something. Instead it gives me the feeling of hanging with the band and listening and watching them perform the songs of the EP.  If you've ever been at such a place you surely know what I'm speaking about. It's Grunge like Grunge has been meant to be. Direct and in your face. Nothing else.

Since it's such a great journey back to 90s I recommend to pick up the cassette or CD digipack edition or better the Cassette /CD bundle that are available of the band's Bandcamp page. The tape comes in a coloured case with a NFC chip inside. The Compact Disc has been put into a 4-panel-digipack with liner notes by Phil Stiles. 

Back in those days there was a need to visit a record store in the occassion of such a release but those stores have become rare. It would be great to see a copy of this in a record store anyway.   

W.R.Ø.N.G put the roughness back in Grunge music

Finally a band that takes the Grunge back to it's rougher coasts. That was my impression when I heard one full song of the upcoming W.R.Ø.N.G EP "Die Alone".

The cover feels a bit unusual at first sight.

 

I had the pleasure to give the second track "Surrender" a pre-listen. The rhythm beats in a unpredicted way and sets a spotlight at the beginning. Rough and loud guitars join in and give a feel-good touch to the listener. They are loud and rude just like you may expect of classic Grunge tracks. But the heavy and dirty vocals finally give the track the destroyer note it needs to create a fully packed grunge release.  
 
Be prepared for the attack. Tomorrow will see the release of the EP "Die Alone". It will contain 4 tracks:

1. Die alone
2. Surrender
3. Poison
4. Ever undo
 
Release date is October 14th, 2020 on every digital platforms!
Be sure to check the Facebook page for all that is about to come.
 
https://www.facebook.com/wrongofficial

Final Coil to document journey and recordings for upcoming second album

Sometimes it's crazy what happens in your life. This morning I held the "Persistence Of Memory" CD of Final Coil in my hands. The constantly evolving sound of the alternative / dark grunge band as well as the special artwork keep me coming back to this record again and again. The following exciting news piece reached me as well today. Sometimes it feels as if things should be this way...

In just seven days the band will be heading out to Italy, more specifically to Real Sound Studio in Langhirano, where they will begin recording their second full length album. We've (Imperative PR) heard the rough demos for the new tracks and can assure you that this album is going to be nothing short of spectacular. 

The band Final Coil, Photo credit Ester Segarra

The band will be documenting the whole recording process - including the journey to Real Sound - and will be keeping you all updated with regular video posts from the studio and the road. Front man Phil sent us these few words about the upcoming adventure...

"We're incredibly excited to announce that, next week, the band will be relocating to Real Sound Studio in Italy to continue the creative partnership we began with Persistence of Memory. Watch this space for regular updates, video clips and more from the studio and join us as we begin this next chapter of our journey together as Final Coil."

So stay tuned and follow Final Coil every step of the way as album number two is brought to life!  

Final Coil release thought-filled animation lyric video

Lyric videos have become something that a lot of bands do these days. It's simply cheaper than doing a full blown video but at the same time is not as boring as a standing picture with sound in the backround would be.

But how about making the best of it and do something with a message that goes a bit over the obvious animated lyrics that come with every of these vids? At least there is room to show something off if you really want to.

The metallic-grunge band Final Coil have let this idea become reality. In collaboration with Andy Pilkington they created a lyric video that comes with a message and some visual expression of the lyrics as well as putting in the rawness of the music in wave-forms. You can not only hear but see the tension that the ripping guitars and tight drums create. It really leaves something behind once you've watched it.

"Daylight Fades" is taken from the band's current output "Closed to the light". You can download the whole EP for free from Bandcamp. It's also one of the releases that's worth some money and while I'm typing these lines a limited edition CD is still up for purchase for a fair price on Bandcamp. 
 
Don't forget to follow the band on Facebook and check them out live at TBFM’s Christmas party at Duffy’s Bar in Leicester, England on Dec 3rd 2015. No entrance fee will be taken so it sounds like it could be a great chance to check them out along with two more bands on the billing.

CD Review: Final Coil - Closed To The Light

Band Introduction

Final Coil are a metallic grunge band located at Leicester, England. They've put out various EPs / albums on Bandcamp which all represent a own style the band is capable to play so if you listen to the various stuff you'll be surprised to hear how different they can sound like.

The "Somnambulant" record they've put out in 2014 saw the band going into a acoustic direction offering very sensible and deeply-emotional songs. In the time between "Failed Lights", a brand new and in my ears excellent acoustic song saw the light of day on YouTube, it's a recording of a web-broadcast the band did a while ago.

Only few details on the next record were spread through Facebook in the meantime. But this will end today....

(c) by Final Coil, used with kind permission

Summary / Purchase-Link

Having heard the songs I've talked about above I was absolutely sure that the band would come around with another acoustic record. The new track sounded like a perfect fit, a bridge between the "Somnambulant" tunes and the beginning of a more progressive era of new longer acoustic tracks held in the typical Final Coil style.

The cool thing is: everything about this was totally wrong. :-) In fact what can be heard right here is the heaviest stuff the band has come up with today. I would call it the heaviest songs the band has put out up to this point. The guitars are absolutely sharp and ripping everything to pieces that stands in their way. Meanwhile the drums and bass guitar maintain a fine note of rhythm, giving in a hard, dry and deep punch into the sound. The vocals put a perfect layer over this, transporting much of the emotions of the tracks.

Everything is held in a very tight style, it's crushing heavyness coming from every corner of the sound. It doesn't even leave a single chance of easy sound on most of the tracks (the last song is a exception from that). If you like your music heavy and ultratight this EP will make you more than happy.

In fact I would call this a mixture of the first EP "Goodbye to all that" and their second effort "Live with doubt". Don't miss out this gem. The EP will be released on 2. November 2015. You'll be able to get a free listen / download for a first spin over at Bandcamp starting at that day. There will also be a limited edition CD available. Please buy one of the CDs so underground bands can keep making music and move on. It's worth listening to it numerous times, a EP mixing up all the various styles of the band and bringing them out in the most beautiful form. Progression and heavyness in all of it's beauty.

Player 

The fine thing as of today is that Heavy Metal Underdogs can give you exclusively a first listen of one of the tracks of the brand new EP. I'm very proud that the band picked my blog for this song premiere. It's a honour for me. So without further ado enjoy the track "Daylight Fades" right here.


Track-by-track review

A short intro called "Close to the light" gives in some atmospheric touches with guitar effects and some vocal extracts before a sharp guitar cut comes rushing in quickly leading over to the first full track.

While the first track "Daylight Fades" starts with a simple rhythm it becomes quickly clear that the band had a hard sound in mind when writing this track. The repeating of the text is a kicker in my ears. Especially the second "can't" repeated several times makes this harking back to your mind. Some of the guitar sounds even remind me of good old Jimi Hendrix and his special sound effects. The bridge between the first refrain and the second refrain could easily be described as a sonic guitar bomb. I love this effect! The end of this first song offers a compressed part that only slightly let's room for variations but those played kick the number up even higher. it's like a glimpse of light falling out of a dark mass shaping a form into the darkness for just a few moments but long enough to keep you longing for more.

"Goodybe to all that" picks up where "Daylight Fades" left off, showing what the band is able to do with re-writting a classic track. This incarnation of the track features a much more compressed and heavy guitar sound compared to the original track. Besides that it leaves away most of the playing effects of the 2010 release giving a sharper focus on the main-theme of the song. It shows impressively that reduction can be a fine way of giving a track a new and much heavier interpretation. Nevertheless it doesn't mean the song works only with cutting away things. Moreover these elements were added back again but in a different and harder format. It's now all distorted, yet you will need some fine playing skills to get to replay this I'm sure.

The final track "Closed to the light" is a surprise to the listener. It stands out of the other material giving some redemption after the brutal heavyness that stormed through your ears before. The song starts out softly with some drums and few vocals. The volume is rising all the while as the music slowly starts to build up more. The tonality is set softer, more dreamingly at this point. Much room for the more progressive site of the band on this one. This touches softly the "Somnabulant" era but with more punch and drums before some slightly heavy guitars keep coming in. The vocals are very intense with much drum fills performed to the last silent corners of the song. The last third brings in some heavyness in the guitar section giving some thoughts to the legendary Pink Floyd. A epic masterpiece in my ears. After all I'm listening to the whole record on repeat. It's a big pleasure to have the chance to listen to such a talented band.

Final Coil reveal new acoustic track

Sometimes there are videos out there that give you this feeling from the start that something special is hanging in the air. It's as if a certain feeling or moment has been captured within a melody or the full song. This track then stand's for something and more than anything that could ever be said with a million words it tells you a story that you can re-feel.

That's what happened to me when I first heard and saw the brand new Final Coil song for the track "Failed Lights". It's starting with this soft melody and starting to drift onwards from there before coming to a rougher climax towards the end that you nearly have the feeling as if you'd been on a journey to a place far away. The last soft notes give it something even more special when returning to the soft style of the beginning letting you alone with your thoughts. Just try this out for yourselves in the video below.



Keep a eye on the band's Facebook page so you won't miss out on the further activities of them. The band is also playing a one-off acoustic date at Duffy's Bar on Thurs 8th October. so you might be happy to catch them live.

Reverence Festival 2015 announces line-up and early bird tickets

Yeah, the Open Air season is drawing near. You can feel in my eyes that the emotions and feelings are getting better the more the sun shines and the more time you can spend outside.

So here's the info for the 2015 edition of the Reverence Festival for all the people living in Portugal or nearby to make this summer something special for you. Note that the early bird tickets can help you save some of your precious festival budget and a new feature the "Sunrise Psychedelic Jam" has been installed. There's also a new possibility for accommodation available if you need a bit of luxury at this point.

On August 27th, 28th and 29th Reverence festival returns to Valada, Portugal, to offer up another weekender of quality psychedelia. This monster line-up showcases acts from the stoner, grunge, shoegaze and doom scene, with more acts to be announced in the coming weeks.

Update 2015/07/06: If you want to have the quickest overview on this festival I suggest you to watch the video below. It presents the 2015 edition line-up along with some nice video impressions from the camping grounds, festival visitors, some stage impressions and the nice surroundings of the festival place in a short 2 minute video. A longer video showing a more detailed view on the 2014 edition can be found at the very end of this article (just scroll down to the end of the text).

Update 2015/07/02: The line-up still grows! This looks like it will be a massively valueable event to visit.
Recently added to the already diverse line-up is the cemented folk rock band Sean Riley & The Slow Riders, also performing will be heavy doom rockers, Samsara Blues Experiment, and legendary stalwarts The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, who continually push the line in experimentation.

Update 2015/05/21: New bands have been added to the line-up: UFOMAMMUT, BIZARRA LOCOMOTIVA, 10.000 RUSSOS, DEAD GHOSTS

(c) by Reverence Festival, used with kind permission

Reverence Festival is somewhat of a marathon, where hardcore fans can bask in Valada’s Summer heat as late as 6am. This year they’ll debut their ‘Sunrise Psychedelic Jam’ which will see members of various bands on the bill play together while the sun rises over the river.

UK psych breakthroughs The Horrors headline with Californian doom legends Sleep, at two ends of this hyperspecific spectrum, these giants of their genres perfectly summarise the Reverence sound pallet.

French post-rock heroes Alcest also star at the top of the bill next to Amon Düül II, the German outfit largely considered to be one of the founders of the Krautrock scene and a seminal influence on its development. It’s with bands like these that not only prove Reverence to be multi-cultural in their tastes, but also true to the scene in which they’ve mastered.

Ex Brian Jonestown Massacre, Joel Gion & The Primary Colours also head up the powerhouse weekender with transcendental psych soundscapes and blistering walls of feedback, whilst Ukrainian rockers Stoner Jesus dish up their own divine take on the genre.

The event takes place in the relaxed surroundings of Parque de Merendas, which runs along the banks of the Tejo river and includes a fluvial beach, picnic areas and coffee shops. Traditional Portuguese food and drinks including vegan and vegetarian will be available, as well as camping facilities adjacent to the festival site with toilets and showers.

Valada is a small picturesque village, in the heart of Cartaxo, famous for agriculture and wine production. Often considered the wine capital of Portugal, Reverence are celebrating by having the local produce available all weekend. Located approximately 60kms inland from Lisbon and 550km from Madrid, easily accessible via train from Lisbon where shuttle buses will be running from nearest station Reguengo to the festival site.

This year Reverence have teamed up with ‘Sleep Em All’, an up-market Portuguese camp accommodation company who specialise in tee-pees and luxury camping facilities. They will be taking over a one acre area of the fifteen acre campsite with luxury tents and caravans, which will be available for €11 to €17 per person per night.

3 DAY TICKETS:
€ 58 from February 13 - 30 June
€ 65 from 1 August - 26 August
€ 70 from 27 August

DAY TICKETS:
€ 35 from 13 February - 4 June
€ 30 from 1 August - 26 August
€ 45 from 27 August

THURSDAY TICKETS:
€ 10 from 13 February - 26 August
€ 27 in August

Tickets: www.blueticket.pt  www.ticketline.sapo.pt 
Reverence: http://www.reverencefestival.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reverencevalada
Sleep Em All: http://www.sleep-em-all.com

If you would like to check out some of the highlights of Reverence Festival 2014 or just to see how things are set up there see the video below.

Final Coil thanks fans with free download of first EP

Final Coil have recently decided to hand out their very first EP "Goodbye to all that" as a free download. The band describes themselves on Bandcamp as a "(...) a metallic grunge band incorporating the harmonies of Alice in chains, the twisted dynamics of Tool and the droning heaviness of Swans."

The band has been on hold for some time due to health problems of vocalist Phil Stiles. Happily those days are gone now and the band is back doing shows again and writing songs for a new release.
In the period while it wasn't sure if Phil would recover from his issues the band received many positive vibes, wishes and most of all advice from the fans on Facebook, via Email and so on.

So in the end the band felt the need to give back for what they've received and has put out that record as a gesture of gratefullness. Also it shows Final Coil in their early stages the EP is well worth checking out in my eyes since it has some fine melodies and great groove in them.
Plus it has this exta when it comes to agressive elements and hunger that ist mostly captured the best in the early times of a band. So pick up your copy or listen to in the stream below.

CD Review: El Yeti - Born Dead

Note: If you have a own band or project that you think might fit in well here for a review or as a presentation / introduction please drop me a line or two in a E-Mail. Please see my profile for my E-Mail adress. I appreciate new suggestions very much so please don't hesitate to contact me. I'm also interested in band news / updates so please keep the stuff coming. Thanks!

If you're having troubles writing in English please send me a E-Mail in your preferred language or use the free Google Translator to transfer your message to English. I also use that tool, it's of course not perfect but I think it will mostly likely work out for our purposes.

Short Introduction

El Yeti is a stoner rock duo from Barcelona, Spain. Formed in 2011 by brothers Edko Fuzz and Marc Rockenberg. Their shared passion for bands like Black Sabbath, Corrosion Of Conformity, Alice In Chains, Fu Manchu or Clutch brought them together and so El Yeti was born.

(c) El Yeti, used with kind permission

After some rehearsing the band produced and recorded their first demo with 4 songs. It came out in 2012 to very good reviews (Metal Hammer Germany, Sludge Lord...). After the release X-Wong joined the band playing bass. They opened for bands such as hard-rock french stoners The Socks or the swedish stoner-metalheads Deville. They also played at Red Sun Fest in Barcelona and have done lots of local gigs, gaining a live reputation.

(c) El Yeti, used with kind permission

In the beginning of 2013 the band started recording their new ep. The fact that the bass player X-Wong left the band in the middle of the recording process didn't help and caused a big delay. Finally Edko Fuzz decided to record the bass lines himself. 5 new songs in which you can hear stoner riffs, metal breakdowns, grunge melodies, hard rocking choruses and lots of groove and fuzz. Born Dead was finally out on March 8th 2014.

Marc told me that the band is looking for a new bass guitar player. So if you think you have what it takes to play the bands songs please don't hesitate and contact the band through Facebook or Bandcamp.


Short Summary / Player / Purchase Link

The band reminds me in a positive way of Rage against the machine. These five tracks have something similar to that, they have many details in them that you will only discover the longer and closer you listen to them. But once you have found out what makes them so special I think you'll like them. Each of the songs comes with a lot of diversity and shows a different musical side of the band so the songs aren't kept monotone at all.

The opener "Ludum" is the best way to start out on the EP you will quickly get inside of the mood. I wouldn't too quickly go over to the other songs, discover them one by one then you'll have the most joy out of it.

You can listen to the songs right here for free. The band offers their recordings on Bandcamp. You can decide what they are worth for you by entering a amount of your choice. You can also download it for free if you want to. Please keep in mind that recoding and mixing music takes not only time but also money. Not to mention all these countless hours they spent writing and practising the songs before. 

If you want stay up to date on all the latest about the band jump over to Facebook or Bandcamp and make sure you hit the follow buttons on the pages of the band.

Track-by-Track Review

1. Ludum
Very powerfull start of the song with much drums and guitars. A change shortly takes over to the main theme of the song. A very groove dominated track. The guitars and drums form a good mixture together. The refrain stays in your ears for a long time and pleases you to sing along. Can imagine this going down live very well. The end of the songs comes along more slowly than exspected but you can tell that the band jammed much together to find out the best ending for this.

2. Gimme Da Groove
Short riff intro with some vocals then a very compressed and heavy part that leads over to a groovy track. The refrain once again invites you to sing along. This gives some good feelings to the listener. The intermezzo introduces some darker and heavier riffs before the rhythm changes to a very hacked part at the end. Short and hard riffs come with this. A song with many details and changes in them that come as a surprise.

3. 653-9X
Some soft notes at the beginning before more groove takes over the stage. This one goes along with more speed in the rhythm than the previous two songs. The refrain some with some slowness underneath the vocals before a very powerfull riff gives back some motion. We hear the refrain at the end for a second time again before the track comes abruptly to an end.

4. Master of Black
A song a bit out of the ordinary. Whilst the opening comes common with the powerfull chords the vocals are set on two ways. One a bit high note while at the same time some background vocals run through it at the same time. Then again we hear the typicall rhythm and riff structure of the band with some more speed. Rough and rude guitars dominate the following parts that come as riff hacker again along with the fitting drums with it. A song with a lot of experimental structures in it.

5. Asteroid Keloid
Soft notes and a slow start at the beginning before this one's break up into a tight riff-monster. The rude guitars rush trough this instrumental track of the EP before once again there's a change in the riff and a solo part can be heard. The drums come through very hard and direct as if you're in the rehearsal room but I like how this sounds. A good way to round out this EP and I am left behind with the hope that more of this will come in the future..