13th October 2015
Final Coil
Closed To The Light
In the depths of Leicester, a beast is stirring. Over the course of two EPs, Final Coil have been honing their sound and sharpening their claws, and now they’re hungry for blood!
What started out as a solo project mired in grunge has become a fully-fledged band with myriad influences from the down-tuned riffing of Alice in Chains to the progressive majesty of Pink Floyd.
Talk to the band and they’ll tell you of their shared love of Tool and their admiration for the feedback-strewn art rock of Sonic Youth, and that’s what you’ll hear on this ambitious four-track EP.
Not so much a new EP as a rebirth, Closed to the Light marks the recording debut of Tony ‘Chez’ Hughes, the band’s new powerhouse drummer, and his dynamic abilities have given the band a new edge. Meanwhile singer and rhythm guitarist Phil Stiles, having spent a year uncertain of whether he would play again due to a vocal injury, has honed his song-writing skills to a ferocious point; from the blistering ‘daylight fades’ with its arcing feedback and vocal harmonies, to the epic progressive rock of the title track, not a moment is wasted.
Written as a cohesive piece, the EP deals with themes of social alienation as people retreat into their ‘Gilded Prisons’ (as Phil eloquently describes it on daylight fades), something captured in bassist Jola’s heavily stylized artwork, and the record flows beautifully from it’s aggressive and potent opener, through the doom-laden ‘goodbye to all that’, to the cautiously hopeful title track.
The final piece of the puzzle is Richard Awdry’s understated backing vocals and carefully plotted solos, both of which elevate the music to a new level.
‘Closed to the Light’ is the culmination of a year’s hard work from Final Coil, with the band playing a number of ferocious live gigs across the Midlands, including a slot at Glastonbudget as well as support slots with Italian symphonic metal band Over and Coventry’s own Tower of Crows, and the release of this EP is set to propel the band of the next level of their career.
Photo Kevin Gaughan.
Band: Final Coil
Line Up: Phil Stiles – Vocals / Rhythm guitar; Richard Awdry – Lead guitar / Vocals; Jola Stiles – Bass, design; Tony ‘Chez’ Hughes – Drums
EP Title: ‘Closed to the light’
Tracks:
1. Close to the light (intro)
2. Daylight Fades
3. Goodbye to all that
4. Closed to the light
RIYL: Alice in chains, tool, deftones, Sonic Youth
Radio info:
Lead single: Daylight Fades
No bad language (on any track)
Discography:
Goodbye to all that (mini album)
Live with doubt (EP)
Somnambulant (acoustic EP)
Follow Final coil on Twitter.
Listen to Final Coil on Bandcamp.
See also:
Read about Final Coil in our October roundup
