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Final Coil: The World We Left Behind For Others
This is Final Coil's second album. I had never heard anything by them until today listening to this. Their style is unique but familiar sounding like Black Sabbath or Tool with harmony vocals in a very minimalist structure. They are very heavy on most songs and the tempos are slow. Molasses Metal for lack of a better term. This is a concept album that hinges around "Imaginary Trip" with recurring melodic themes throughout. "One More Drink" is a short instrumental. Lots of slide guitar on several cuts which is a bit different from most bands in this genre.
On it's own merit it's good music performed by a good band. If you happen to like this style even better. Personally it's not something I would get but that's just me. The singing is done in a lower Tenor with two- part harmonies nearly on every song.
Track Listing
1.Ash's
2.The Last Battle
3.Scattered Dust
4.Take Me For A Walk
5.Empty Handed
6.Keeping Going
7.Convicted Of The Right
8.Ashes
9.One More Drink
10....And I'll Leave
11.Imaginary Trip
12.The World We Left Behind For Others
Added: May 20th 2019
Reviewer: Rand Kelly
Score: 
Related Link: Band Website
Hits: 1618
Language: english
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Final Coil: The World We Left Behind For Others
Posted by Steven Reid, SoT Staff Writer on 2019-05-19 23:31:45
My Score: 
I must admit to having been rather underwhelmed by the debut album from Leicester, England’s Final Coil, Persistence Of Memory striking me as a one dimensional outing that lacked not just variety but oomph. Pulling from grunge but adding a math rock edge and something more traditionally progressive there were signs, however, that Final Coil were looking to do something a little different and with their second outing, The World We Left Behind For Others, that is much more clearly the case. The musical outlook hasn’t really changed and we’re still finding an Alice In Chains meets Tool via Pink Floyd base from which all of this album branches off. However, a deeper and richer central idea is at work here this time, an involved and ambitious concept weaving through the entire album. Rather than have me explain it, I’ll leave that to Final Coil vocalist Phil Stiles…
“The World We Left Behind For Others is a concept album detailing the lives and struggles of two people who lived in the shadow of World War II. If you listen to the album as a whole, it’s quite clear that different songs are being sung from different perspectives and, when taken together, they form a narrative that explores how the social divisions now rife in the West have their roots in the complicated social changes that took place in the post-war era. The Last Battle is written from the perspective of a demobbed soldier, returned to find a society that seems indifferent to his struggles and focused on an internationalisation that seems at odds with the conflict that has just ended. The natural human reaction in such a set of circumstances is a mixture of fear, bewilderment and anger; and that comes across as he relates his story in tones tinged with bitterness and confusion. His initial reaction leads to alcoholism and a battle to cope; so the battle referred to in the title of the song “The Last Battle” is both a reference to the actual end of the war and to the battle that the protagonist has to overcome to adapt to a society that seems to be changing rapidly around him. It’s a battle he’s destined to lose and, as his attitudes harden, so living with him becomes increasingly difficult.”
Now, as someone with more than a passing interest in WWII history, I must admit that I’m hooked by that but of course that wouldn’t matter if Final Coil didn’t deliver their intentions in an engaging and involved manner both lyrically and musically. The former, I have to say, is expertly handled, with sympathetic but never pandering themes used throughout and an insightful, if hard hitting tone maintained. Musically, well, you’re going to have to like the starting point this band brings to the table to appreciate things, for if there’s still one aspect that TWWLBFO doesn’t really address, it’s the very singular attack on show. That said, there are a few little passages where gunshot and other ambient sections join pieces together and that in itself keeps you locked in to what’s going on and, in general, the songwriting is much deeper and stronger than what has come before.
The deep grind of “Convicted Of The Right” shimmers with the more monotone grunge approach often utilised, which, if handled incorrectly could be a turn off, but in this setting, the dark bleakness fits the subject matter perfectly, while “Ashes Ashes” actually suggests what it might have sounded like had Roger Waters written for a nineties fixated band. Here the piano that plays under the sounds of chatter and people eating together evokes the disconnect and despair the central character holds at his core and even though it’s a song that runs to less than three minutes, as a crushing crescendo is built towards, it does become a behemoth of raw emotion. With the likes of “...And I’ll Leave” much more bullish, angry and riff focused and “Imaginary Trip” an ambient swirl that evolves into a sting of guitars and drums - still pinpricked by piano - the atmosphere is heady, if always stark and challenging.
I’m not sure I can quite say that Final Coil have come of age with The World We Left Behind For Others but they certainly have taken a huge step forward. That still doesn’t mean that the music they create will stimulate everyone - it’s sheer unwillingness to compromise ensures that - however, if you can engage the concept and then relate through the angry, forceful sounds, this is undoubtedly a rewarding, if at times harrowing, journey.
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