Coilguns’ Newest Album Packs Spectacularly Gripping Bursts Of Energy

The Swiss noise rock (and more) group Coilguns quickly prove absolutely marvelously relentless on their new album Watchwinders, out officially on October 25 via Hummus Records. Throughout the thrilling work, the band return time and time again to core poles of insistent chaos, and each time, you get a glimpse at a new side of what that chaos can do. It’s more than just pure energy, although that’s great too. The band unfurl their chaos with a captivating musical precision that’s just accessible enough to suck you in and get you moving.

It’s not just the spirit of a kick forward — it’s the music to actually get you there. It’s like the soundtrack to rushing through the woods at night, hanging off the edge of a cliff, and — with plenty of intervening struggle — turning yourself back up over the top so you can keep going. If you’ve ever felt like completely losing it, this is the album for you.

Listening to this record feels like stepping out into a torrential hailstorm, because even when the main onslaught lets up for a moment, more waits just a little bit behind. Some of the less chaotic moments on Watchwinders feel just as inescapably captivating as the relentless onslaughts. For example, towards the end of track four and on track five, the band wheel out some straightforward rock “swagger,” and that element lands perfectly because each note really “matters.”

Remarkably enough, via musical prowess, the band maintain a feeling of careful precision behind each note even as they’re going wildly over the edge. Each song maintains the abundantly clear character of completely letting go of inhibition and rushing into risk because of the excitement of getting there and what might lie on the other side. No matter where you’re at on this record, something energetically exciting is happening — and really, it never stops. Thanks to the dynamics they’ve packed in here, even when you might think that you know what you’re going to get, you don’t. Even the already fluid concept of noise rock feels turned inside out like it’s an endless procession into the midst of that technicolor land of chaos that we all carry a little bit of inside.

5/5 Stars

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