a review of a noise rock EP by Coilguns

I wrote about this band’s 2021 EP. Now comes “Peace Trader,” a new Coilguns single about testing a country’s values and you not seeing that most people don’t care to live up to them.

The song starts with an octave chord and quieted drums. At 10 seconds, the sound goes big, raw, and passionate. It feels like good Deftones. A few chords swing back and forth to screams of “Tell me, what have we done with our history of peaceful force? Yet, we still have hopes!” Then the bass and a guitar drop out, the intro is recalled—the octave chord and drums pushed back in the mix so the almost spoken message can be heard, "Still thought that our land would export dialog instead of weapons / Still naive enough to support what we thought was our main goal / International help and solutions for a solidar world / But you’ve traded it all and pretend to be forced now to cope."

Then the sound explodes again. The most effective part comes at 2:40 with a falsetto mourn followed by the realization, however fleeting, that "No one’s land here, but a place to die; we will mourn them all, we will mourn them all.” Then belief in life after death returns.

Unlike migration flows, Coilguns runs tight.

 

something about a couple of songs from Coilguns

Right after Thanksgiving, the Swiss noise-rock group, Coilguns, released two songs—the first installment of its new collection of 12-inch vinyl singles, the "Hummus 12-inch Maxi Collection," carried by guitarist Jona Nido's label, Hummus Records. Song one, “Shunners,” opens with thick, three-note progressions glaring down on tumbling drums. A high-strung vocal relives the anxieties of one asking himself how he will make it to the end of the year. The intensity builds as he loses his nerve amid the constant calls for vigilance—“Hold the line! Watch the line! Line the line! Watch the watch!” Approaching two minutes, the song shifts, then finally spasms out something like djent or groove metal, trying to stomp out anxieties that seem only to multiply. The lead guitar bends and loops through more anxious loops, getting nowhere. The song finally, after five minutes, falls apart, worn from worry.

Coilguns usually records live, and recent efforts have been entirely self-produced, like this EP. What is new is a bass guitar. Kevin Galland joined the band in March 2020 to play bass and help mix and master the audio. Song two, “Burrows,” shows off the new, gritty bass with a pummeling, forward-facing groove that knocks down what stands in the way.

This EP and the rest of the "Hummus 12-inch Maxi Collection" are pressed on transparent or transparent-colored vinyl and housed in a picture disc-style sleeve. Side A has the music, and side B has an original drawing from Noé Cauderay screen-printed in La Chaux-de-Fonds by Out of Gas.

Coilguns is not planning many shows for 2022, so the group, which started in 2011, will be producing its fourth studio album.