COILGUNS "Watchwinders"

COILGUNS

“Watchwinders”

COILGUNS give the impression of being a nervous, depressive bunch. Well, at least their music made me feel that way. Despite being brought up in classic and extreme metal, I have a soft spot for noisy, industrial type bands and these Swiss agitators surely fall into that category.

It’s a combination of early 90’s influenced noise rock in the vein of AmRep bands with a driving, mechanistic beat and the harshness of modern hardcore like CONVERGE and BOTCH. So definitely not one for people looking for AOR influence or THIN LIZZY twin guitar melody. It gets quite heavy in places and is smart enough to mix things up, resulting in “Watchwinders” sounding fairly fresh. Also, if you hate one song, stick around, the chances are another will be more to your liking.
The yelping, repeating vocals are rather hard to take but that’s part of the game being played here. I felt the album got off to an awkward start on the first couple of tracks but then really started to gel with the title track, which boasts strong riffs and more complex songwriting. An unusual thing about COILGUNS is that they have no bass...synth and samples fill in where that would usually be.

“Manicheans” is another standout...a longer, more metallic tunes. “Prioress” is dark and eerie before exploding into lumbering, almost doomy heaviness. “The Morning Shower” is fast and discordant CONVERGE-like hardcore while “A Mirror Bias” is more in the vein of gloomy post-punk. There’s even some pretty obvious morbid death metal riffing in “Broken Records” which made me sit up and take notice.

Unfortunately, final track “Periscope” is not only the dullest, but also the longest...the biggest misfire of the album. But not enough to really sink “Watchwinders”. If you like harsh noise rock and modern hardcore, COILGUNS is a name worth looking for.  Skip it if you’re looking for standard heavy metal.

HUMMUS RECORDS

COILGUNS