Coil - Time Machines

Since I've never taken any sort of hallucinatory drugs, I'm probably the wrong person to be reviewing this album, but I'm going to take a stab at it anyway. This album is a concept album of sorts in that there are 4 tracks (varying in length from 10 to 27 minutes) of strictly tonal qualities that have been constructed to "facilitate travel through time." As if that weren't enough, instead of track titles, the four pieces are named as chemical structures of hallucinatory drugs (track 2 is "2,5-Dimethoxy-4-Ethyl-Amphetamine:(DOET/Hecate)").

If you're a fan of Coils previous work, this album may even take some work for you to get through. Quite simply, it is the most minimal piece of work that they have ever done. The tracks on this disc are droning and long and change only slightly throughout their duration. If you've ever listened to music of this sort (as I have quite a bit), you'll know that it's best to either leave it on in the foreground and let yourself completely be consumed by it (as in meditation), or put it on a little more quietly in the background and let it blend in with lots of other things that are going on around you. As it says in the cover, "Artifacts generated by your listening environment are an intrinsic part of the experience." Be it police sirens, the hum of your refridgerator, or the clink-clank of dishes as you wash them, almost every noise will seem to blend into the the background tone that is this recording.

As with other Coil releases, the packaging on the disc is very cool. The first 2,000 copies printed come with 6 brightly colored stickers that, when overlayed (which you really can't do without messing them up) create a new symbol. As explained above, the music is very trying, especially if you have a short attention span. It's very minimal and kind of creepy, but if you let it, it will suck you in. It's probably even better on hallucinatory drugs, but I'll stick to listening to it while I'm doing yoga.

Rating: 6

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