Coil

Infusing early-‘80s industrial music with occultism and explicit sexuality, Coil was an English experimental music duo that emerged from the fertile creative chaos of multimedia visionaries Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV. The band was formed in 1982 by singer/musician John Balance and visual artist Peter Christopherson, who, in the midst of developing a romantic relationship, began experimenting with crashing percussion and jagged synthesised sounds. Their 1984 full-length debut, Scatology, harnessed steel instruments, minimalist atmospheres and alchemical teachings, bringing these concepts to the dance floor on 1986's Horse Rotorvator. The record produced some of their most beloved cuts, like abrasive thumper “The A**l Staircase” and unnerving orchestral melodrama “Ostia (The Death of Pasolini)”, which became an influential blueprint for dark dance-music giants Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails. Coil rarely performed live, largely remaining a studio project until the late ‘90s. During that time they produced a rejected score for the film Hellraiser (1987) and cultivated acid house on Love's Secret Domain (1991). Coil's final official release was 2005's ruminating The Ape of Naples, following Balance's death the year prior, though many posthumous releases have poured from the band's dizzying back catalogue, even after Christopherson's own passing in 2010.