Something to be going on with while Final Coil work on their next opus – Final Coil move on by looking back…

FOLLOW THAT…

Let’s face it, the job of following up the immense trilogy that peaked with 2024’s mighty The World We Inherited (and the subsequent remastered and expanded version and stupendous coloured vinyl issue) was never going to be a walk in the park.

What else to do but take a leaf from the Monty Python team and aim for something completely different. “Sometimes you have to go back to go forward…” – the words of Final Coil frontman Phil Stiles lifted from the sleeve notes of the band’s latest creation, and a handy little segue into the 1994 EP. A nod too, as well as vital link to the era, to drummer Graham Hopkins, who recorded three albums with Therapy?

After years of crafting a series of multifaceted conceptual pieces, Final Coil reconnect with those early days and channel the sweat and volume of their onstage persona into a fresh studio collection. It’s one that finds them acknowledging and paying tribute to a musical era which ignited the creative spirit of their youthful selves. A time when they recall listening to Alice In Chains riding high in the Billboard charts with Jar Of Flies, Nine Inch Nails had just unveiled the harrowing Downward Spiral. Nirvana had played their final gig, Pink Floyd (or at least ‘a clever forgery of’….can never resist smirking at Grumpy Rog’s snipes) embarked on their last world tour and Machine Head roared into life changing the metal scene forever with their debut album.

THE BREATH OF 1994

As fully paid up members of the FC Appreciation Club, we’re once more stoked by the fire and passion that’s breathed into 1994. Instant Fix does the proverbial what it says on the tin. Those inspirational hefty metallic riffs that made ‘the trilogy’ so exciting, make their return. A note of caution at this point to avoid unnecessary shocks by making sure any volume knobs are turned down until you get used to the huge production that slams from the speakers. Alternatively, thrown caution to the wind and get an immediate buzz.

Raw and unfiltered, thick and meaty bass, the thunder and hammer of the gods as Pagey might say. Plus a foreboding sense of danger and menace with a “want it, need it” venom. It’s exhilarating stuff and there’s no let up as the band charge on into Narcissist that’s cut from similar cloth. We’re told how it’s “a live favourite that could never quite find a suitable recorded home before now.” Smart move and the onstage fire and fear is captured. We’re in the land of Def Nirvana as the “whoa-oh“s combine with the “God hates me” line; a brief break gives the chance to reinforce the message.

HIGH ON SPIRIT

A pairing that form what in even older money than the Nineties, would be a storming double A side single. Daring behemoths of hard rock that mark a band high on spirit of some description enjoying an outpouring of catharsis; influences and inspirations taking a nod and genres kicked into touch.

Playing Games brings a moment of respite and I find myself singing – She’s my best friends girl with another hint of Kurt in the vocal drawl before – is that Adam Jones moonlighting from Tool? – the chugging guitar rises. A fizzing guitar line racked with static and a pulsing bassline fire up the finale of Woke where the new wave element steps up against a motorik tempo (hey, Dave Brock are you paying attention to what you and Hawkind have caused?) and a snarling rapid fire vocal from Phil as FC go punk rocking in space.

Just when you feel the two minutes end marker is in sight, the excitement increases as the Stiles/Stiles/Awdry/Hopkins quartet track show no sign of tiring. A second wind sees them toying with us, dangling the bait before tumbling back to where they left off. Final Coil might view 1994 as unshackled and raucous, but it proves the ideal antidote to their album craft. They say form might be temporary, but class is permanent. Whatever the game, Final Coil is a class act who seem to be permanently on form.

Here’s Narcissist:

Final Coil: Website

Keep up with At The Barrier: Facebook/ X / Instagram