Tuesday 19 June 2018

The Red Coil - Himalayan Demons (Album Review and Exclusive Album Stream)


Release date: June 22nd 2018. Label: Argonauta Records. Format: CD/DD

Himalayan Demons – Tracklisting

Withdrawal Syndrome Wall
Godforsaken
Oriental Lodge
Opium Smokers Room
The Shroud
Moksha
The Eyes Of Kathmandu
When The Levee Breaks

Members

Marco Marinoni (voice)
Luca Colombo (guitar)
Daniele Parini (guitar)
Gelindo (bass)
Bull (drum)

Review

Italian Sludge/Stoner Metal band - The Red Coil - new album, Himalayan Demons, doesn't offer anything new or ground-breaking within the genre. However their album is a thrilling and hugely entertaining ride that sees the band take direct influence from Spiritual Beggars and Corrosion Of Conformity though with a touch of NOLA/Southern Metal vibes holding everything together. It's a groove laiden affair with plenty of Psychedelic Weeidan style riffs and sounds that sees the band offer a melodic edge to their music.

Opening track - Withdrawal Syndrome Wall - is an almost down-tempo slice of modern Sludge/Stoner Metal with an equally heavy Doom and Gloom sounding atmosphere. The vocals are a mixture of harsh growls and clean vocals with both very easy to understand. The music is constantly heavy and gives the listener a good chance on what to expect for the remainder of the album.

Second track - Godforsaken - has a more NOLA-esque approach with The Red Coil channelling a more aggressive style of music. The vocals can be quite hard to understand at times but the music is main focus here. With hard-hitting riffs having the right amount of flair, creativity and passion. The sound and atmosphere of the album is very raw but the album is still superbly produced. Even two songs into the album.

The next two songs Oriental Lodge and Opium Smokers Room offer a more demonic and doomed out experience with the music being second best to the crazy lyrics The Red Coil have written here. The vocals are sung superbly well despite a few more rough moments where the listener maybe wondering what the lead vocalist is actually singing about. As he excels more at the clean based vocals than the hardcore based growls.

Other cool songs to check out on the album are: The Shroud, Moksha and When The Levee Breaks. All showing how good The Red Coil actually are merging the albums different sounds on the majority of the songs. Especially when the NOLA vibes fully take over on the second half of the album. As I stated earlier in the review, the production is fantastic despite the sound having a very raw and almost DIY feel.

The Red Coil makes you feel directly involved with the music itself and that's down to the band playing superbly heavy addictive riffs throughout the album. If you're looking for an album to settle your NOLA/Southern Metal cravings then Himalayan Demons is the album for you.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Argonauta Records and NeeCee Agency for the promo. Himalayan Demons will be available to buy on CD/DD via Argonauta Records from June 22nd 2018.

However you can listen to the album in full with this exclusive album stream.


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