Horse Rotorvator

LP

2011

Exact replica of the original

This was Coil's second full-length release, and it is perhaps one of the most genuinely dark albums ever recorded. Most of the songs have a menacing sexual feel to them, and the subject matter is death and perversion. "Ostia" explores the murder of deviant Italian filmmaker Pasolini (who directed the sleaze-fest "Salo: 120 Days of Sodom"), while "The Golden Section" is a monologue about the erotic nature of death, set to a symphonic apocalyptic score

There are aspects of electronica to the music, but this LP of course predated the whole mainstream industrial/techno movement of the 90's, so it's more of a subtlety. There is an Eastern feel to some of the music, and "Penetralia" demonstrates how much of an influence this band was for artists like NIN and Ministry. The cover of Leonard Cohen's "Who By Fire" is outstanding, remarkably faithful to the original while still sounding like Coil. It goes without saying that, with song titles like "The Anal Staircase" and pictures of nude male statues, there is an undeniable homosexual theme to much of this material, but it's not something that is constantly thrown in the listener's face. I recommend this for anybody who is into disturbing, avant-garde industrial music to be dismembered to

M/M