Gothic folk and brutal metal come together beautifully on Converge and Chelsea Wolfe's haunting new single, Coil
The second single from upcoming album Bloodmoon: I plays wonderfully to both artists' strengths
Back in September, Converge announced Bloodmoon: I, an album for which they teamed up with Chelsea Wolfe, her bandmate Ben Chisholm and Cave In’s Stephen Brodsky.
With the album's announcement came the release of its first single, the moody Blood Moon. Now, that tune has been followed by Coil, a six-minute epic that plays to both the band's and Wolfe's respective strengths.
Beginning with a hypnotic acoustic figure that wouldn't sound out of place on a Marissa Nadler album, Coil slowly builds – first to a solemn march driven by some thunderous bass guitar playing from Nate Newton then to a relentless finale driven by a climactic squall of overdriven electric guitars.
Over the top of it all, Wolfe is in simply astonishing vocal form. You can check it all out below.
“Coil turned out to be one of my favorite songs I’ve ever been a part of," Converge frontman Jacob Bannon said of the song in a press release.
"There is an infectious slow build that ends up becoming theatrical in tone. Lyrically it was a true collaboration, with all of us expanding on each other’s ideas as they came to be. I believe Chelsea’s vocal was the starting point in that for this one.
"Kurt [Ballou, Converge's guitarist] really pushed vocal harmonies to a new level as well," Bannon continued. "Encouraging many of Steve’s ideas while we were in the studio tracking together. This one really has every one of us firing on all cylinders creatively.”
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Produced by Ballou, Bloodmoon: I is set for a November 19 release via Epitaph. To preorder the album, stop by Converge's website.
Converge – Bloodmoon: I
- Blood Moon
- Viscera of Men
- Coil
- Flower Moon
- Tongues Playing Dead
- Lord of Liars
- Failure Forever
- Scorpion's Sting
- Daimon
- Crimson Stone
- Blood Dawn
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Jackson is an Associate Editor at GuitarWorld.com. He’s been writing and editing stories about new gear, technique and guitar-driven music both old and new since 2014, and has also written extensively on the same topics for Guitar Player. Elsewhere, his album reviews and essays have appeared in Louder and Unrecorded. Though open to music of all kinds, his greatest love has always been indie, and everything that falls under its massive umbrella. To that end, you can find him on Twitter crowing about whatever great new guitar band you need to drop everything to hear right now.