The brand new album from post-metal titans Final Coil is set to be released middle of next week. We had the pleasure of being sent it early to check it out. Not only am I not familiar with the band, but honestly the whole genre as a whole is rather alien to me. So, I’m pretty excited to check this out! Let’s dive straight in!
After an awesome dark, brooding intro track lead by piano and building in a HUGE riff and some awesome vocals, ‘Wires’ comes in and channels similar vibes. It all has a surprisingly industrial or even Avant Garde feel to it so far. The vocals stab in in a very proggy, post-grunge way too, reminding me of a combination of Deftones, Voyager and Kasabian. It’s very prog, in that the whole track feels like it’s constantly building up more and more. Final Coil constantly add another layer on top of another layer, building a truly huge sound. It reminded me of Tool in the songwriting, in that it kept building to a big drop off, like ‘The Grudge’. I do have to say that it doesn’t quite hit the same climax as that, though. Still though, the riff is awesome and they’re both really interesting tracks to open the album on!
‘Chemtrails’ explodes straight into an almost modern Gojira-like riff right off the bat. Heck, honestly the whole track feels very Gojira. From the riffing to the lyrics to the vocal delivery, it’s all awesome. Just needed the drums to go a tad harder for it, though very few can match Mario! I really enjoyed this track! It’s pretty simple but the riffing goes hard and I found myself headbanging pretty hard when it opens out for the bridge/outro. It’s a song that easily makes our playlist!
‘By Starlight’ is a really interesting track. Opening ambiently, it spends half the track very slowly building up. First the simple electric-drums, a clean guitar, some awesome, high, multi-tracked vocals. It’s ethereal and almost eerie. It isn’t until well over three minutes in that we get the huge distorted guitar sound. And honestly, when that one big chord keeps coming in, it’s very Muse/Queen in all the best ways. The vocals continue to sound awesome over the top too, it all almost sounding uplifting. It’s a really epic-feeling track and the second in a row to make the playlist!
More beautiful piano is up to open ‘The Growing Shadows’. I think my favourite part of Final Coil is how creative they are with the use of sounds and instruments. Whatever they use and do, it all feels purposeful, and lends to an absolutely massive sound every time. It’s yet another slow-build track, and the multi-layered vocals are a real highlight.
Honestly, tracks like ‘Purity’ and closer ‘End of History’. Both tracks are great, but very much the typical Tool-like slow-build tracks. They fit the album rather perfectly, however, and when listened to with the rest are incredible. The latter is also a really damn good closing track for this epic album! The way everything slowly drops out piece by piece to end it on just piano is incredible.
Meanwhile, ‘Stay with Me’ brings in more of the electronic sounds, having an almost dark, synthwavy feel to it. It very much brought back the industrial feel again, too. It’s a really cool track as it stays at pretty much the same level throughout too; this dark, reflective song. It reminds me of some of Slipknots weirder stuff from their last couple of albums. There isn’t much in the way of distortion or even rock in any way, just a really cool, low track.
The last song on the album heavies it all back up and is maybe the Tool-est track on here. The riff is straight off Ænima and I love it. And while it has a slow, steady build, it gets heavy when it finally kicks in, too. The vocals are almost Rob Zombie in this track too, which was really cool. It again pretty industrial, and I’d honestly love to hear this band collaborate with someone like 3TEETH. This is a really cool song, and this followed by ‘End of History’ is a really strong way to close the album!
Overall: this was a really incredible listen! While not my usual sort of music, I found myself really enjoying it and barely found myself getting bored or pausing it much at all. It’s certainly an album designed to listen through in full, and I commend them for that. Every member of Final Coil work their asses off throughout the whole album, and I found myself loving the lyrics throughout too, something that is rare for me. The message and storytelling were phenomenal; some of the best I’ve heard in a while. I certainly will be listening to this again soon, and would recommend the whole album to anyone!
The Score: 8/10