Vocoders abound on another edition of “noisy Coil CD in a pink clamshell” from our favorite UK magi. Unlike the tepid Queens Of The Circulating Library release, this thing kicks ass. Very raw, very rough and sporting enough analog synth battering to make an entire army of nerdy synthspotters wet their knickers, the first thing that jumps out on Constant Shallowness Leads To Evil is the shedding of the Musick series’ sense of structured songwriting.
Actually, it’s more like the Time Machines release, but very angry. And doused in PCP. Track two, “I Am The Green Child,” is as close to song-based as this disc gets, phasing between the brutal squealing of “Beige” and “Lowest Common Abominator” (arguably one of the most amusing and t-shirt worthy track titles ever) which jumps into the noisy annihilation of “Freebase Chakra” (cute beyond belief!) and then slides into tracks 6 through 23, “Tunnel Of Goats.” This is the type of album you discipline children to – Coil’s own somewhat-lofty description “trial by musick” pretty much hits the nail on the head. If you like the noisy, offensively brutal style of ambient/drone they do so well, or if you wish the first Time Machines CD had been more frightening and disorienting, you will find this to be delicious.
