On January 16th 2024, Final Coil launched their third album, The World We Inherited, with an incendiary gig at The Black Heart in London. It was an intense show and it kickstarted nearly two years of furious activity and unprecedented success for the Leicester band. Highlights included the band’s first Bloodstock appearance, a sold out headline show at the Supersonic club in Paris, coverage in Prog magazine, a return to the Fusion Festival alongside Amplifier and Von Hertzen Brothers, a multitude of glowing reviews for both The World We Inherited and the supporting live shows…all concluding with a return to The Black Heart to celebrate the expanded vinyl release of The World We Inherited. It’s been quite a ride and in typical, feverish Final Coil fashion their next progressive opus is already underway. But right now, after three multi-faceted, musically complex and lyrically intense concept albums – a momentous, creatively draining trilogy – it’s time for Final Coil to refresh and recharge with an explosive set of songs that take them back to their roots; back to the sweat, feedback and volume of the clubs that raised them; back to the exhilarating youthful anger and energy that kickstarted the band; back to the music that inspired them to pick up their guitars and rage…back to 1994!
In 1994 the likes of Alice In Chains, Nirvana, Nine Inch Nails and Machine Head were turning a new generation on to heavy, emotionally charged music and it was a life-changing moment in time for the members of Final Coil, setting them on the path that brought them to the Bloodstock stage and the pages of Prog, Powerplay and many more. And now, with their new EP – this electric shock of a palette cleanser – the band pay tribute to that formative year. It’s also the sound of a band freed from the shackles of concepts and grand designs, kicking up a storm and revelling in the noise.
1994 kicks off with the energised attack of ‘Instant Fix’, guitars snarling as grunge, metal, punk and adrenaline collide, before the band career into the magnificent ‘Narcissist’ – a song that has been a staple part of the Final Coil live set, but was always a little too abrasive to be given a home on their cultured albums. Here, on 1994, the problem child has finally found its home. ‘Playing Games’ follows with an addictive chorus and punishing riffs before ‘Woke’ delivers the celebratory fireworks, an effervescent, attitude infused climax that provides the EP with its cathartic conclusion.
Bringing his own unique, vivacious style to every track is special guest drummer, Graham Hopkins of Therapy? fame. With his love of alternative rock and post-hardcore, he’s the perfect powerhouse accelerant added to Final Coil’s fiery performance. When the concept of 1994 began to crystalise in frontman Phil Stiles’ mind, Semi-Detached, Hopkins’ first album with Therapy?, happened to be shaking the speakers at Final Coil headquarters and from that moment there was only one drummer he wanted playing on 1994.
A step back in time, a brisk session of shock treatment, a springboard into the future…1994 will be released through Nyctophobic Records on March 27th, on limited-edition cassette, CD digipak and digital formats.
This is Final Coil unbound…
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