Coil – Constant Shallowness Leads To Evil

Imagine pressing Tunnel Of Goats over 2 sides of a record.

Totally worth the vinyl--mine is clear with pink splatter. From dusty old speakers on up, this album probably just gets further and further to the edge, piercing the mind and staying there. What the hell kind of crazy keyboards are they playing?! I guess that's the kit of Drew McDowell and Thighpaulsandra.
The presentation of the physical copy is extremely glossy--a little more dry than the body-horror drug anatomy stuff Coil usually employed, but very geometrical and suggests the band's themes of nature, mathematics, and most of all coils (crossbred with ferris wheels).

Dais pressing is pressed at 45 and sounds fantastic! Word.

Does anyone know what's happened with the 2022 official reissue? Thighpaulsandra offered copies on his own site, perhaps prematurely, for order (People have received physical copies). It's a Dais Records release, Its not listed here, Dais haven't offered it for sale yet?

I think anyone who purchases this knows what they are purchasing. The CD or the internet archive is a considerably better source and this release benefits from a clean sound. This bootleg does not provide this. That said, I prefer LPs. I prefer the experience of setting out time to listen to an LP and this release allows me to listen to something I really enjoy in my preferred format. It is a bootleg, it is a little noisy and the sound quality is inferior to a digital copy. Bottom line, if I lost my copy, I would buy another.

How does this bootleg LP sound ? Pressing ? Thx

there's a vinyl reissue of this out. probably a bootleg. edition of 300.

Max volume, no headphones. Let the electronic mayhem blast through your speakers, sterilizing everything in the room, your bone marrow included. Inhale and let be inhaled. Purification. Catharsis. How does silence sound now that it is all over?

If you think this album is 'not music', or 'thrown together', all I can say is, you must never have heard it on acid.

This is one of the most powerful and profound expressions of a manic state that I have ever heard. Coil means every sound gesture and lyric very, very seriously and it should be taken as such. This album is a beautiful poem with beginning, middle and end. It is very carefully sequenced. It is perfectly paced. Every sound texture is rich and glowing with magick. Turn it up loud and these drones will vibrate your soul and your bones.

A bit like Time Machines but more overtly human, emotional and aggressive. They intend to drill a hole to the center of consciousness, and it is evident. There is a lot to learn from this album.

"Constant Shallowness Leads to Evil" gets a lot of mixed reviews and it's not hard to see why. It's some of the most uncompromising music Coil has ever made - even noisier than "Time Machines." It's light years away from the style of Horse Rotovator or Scatology, and it's definitely not for all tastes.

Some would say this album doesn't contain music at all. I think that's going too far, but I'm also aware that taste is subjective and what I may call music, you may not (or the opposite). As a big Merzbow fan, I wasn't shocked or surprised by the sounds on this album. However, I can't say it won't be jarring to those unfamiliar with this type of extreme music. I don't mean to imply that this sounds like Merzbow at all - it's just a handy point of reference for the fringes of music.

If we can momentarily set aside the "is it music?" debate, lets talk about how to listen to the album. You won't find rhythm, beats, or even a pulse. Nor will you find chords, harmonic progression, or single notes. Dark, droning clusters and some sweeping bands of noise are pretty much the material of this album.

Since it contains almost nothing of standard music, I don't think we can afford to listen to this album as we would a standard CD. Rather than try to fit some sort of logic based on my previous experience with music, I prefer to hear this as a purely sensual experience. For the duration of the album, I enter a foreign sound world of otherworldly ambience. It's a unique experience. I recommend listeners just sit back, turn out the lights, and let the sound wash over them as Coil assaults the eardrums.

Some have expressed the opinion that this is just a big joke or that Coil is behind on their rent and threw some crap together to have another album for sale. I would urge these listeners to revisit the work and listen for the details. Does it sound like it was thrown together? Aren't there themes and motives at work here? Although the compositional method is much different from their other work, I would argue that it sounds as composed as anything they've ever done. It's just a lot different.

I wouldn't expect everyone to like this, even with an open mind. It's just not going to appeal to some listeners, and that's fine. I hope that everyone can at least understand where Coil is coming from, even if they ultimately don't like the results. It's difficult music and since it doesn't conform to any normal sense of "beauty" or pleasure, it makes considerable demands on the listener.

As for me, I rank it amongst my favorite Coil records because, even for such an innovative group, it's utterly unique. If you decided to give "Constant Shallowness" a chance, listen with an open mind and be prepared for a wild ride.