AUTUMN EQUINOX: AMETHYST DECEIVERS

AUTUMN EQUINOX: AMETHYST DECEIVERS is the third edition in the Season series of limited edition Equinox/Solstice releases by the bizarre experimental electronic act COIL. The third Season was originally released on 7" and limited to 100 copies on dark red vinyl and 40 copies on light blue vinyl. The original vinyl from 1998 only contained two tracks "Amethyst Deceivers" and "Switches" while the CD version contains three extra tracks "Regel," "Rosa Decidua" and "The Auto-Asphyxiating Hierophant." The CD has a running time of 23:36. This Season along with the other three CD versions can all be found together on the compilation "Moon's Milk (In Four Phases)"

"Regel" starts with a high pitched undulating freaky sound accompanied by wolf call vocals and some chanting but only lasts 1:13 so ends fairly quickly

"Rosa Decidua" starts off slow, sensual and lugubrious and then is joined in by the diva vocal duties of Rose McDowall and the male spoken poetry of Robert Lee. This one has a beautiful floating melody that is only expressed by synthesizer sounds that flow around each other like oil and water in a lava lamp but keeping each other in check to provide a larger sum of the parts. The intensity ratchets up. This one is like a more tripped out percussion-free version of Dead Can Dance. There is some sort of underlying folk music to it but it is properly obfuscated by the undulating synthesizers and vocal tapestry

"Switches" changes the mood from ethereal and floaty to more dark, dank and industrial. A monoambience permeates the sonicscape and remains floating for a while before synthesized scary sounds start to "talk" to each other. One is deep and kind of buzzing in sound while the other is more like a cat's meow on helium. There is also a train whistle type of sound that joins them. Emphasis is on sound dynamics entering and exiting the stage. No melodies here. This is just plain weird and otherworldly

"The Auto-Asphyxiating Hierophant" is yet another bizarre creation. It has a tom-tom drum beat that irregularly beats and keeps the synth sounds that are swirling about from creating a complete collapse of sanity. There are electronically processed vocals that are narrating some sort of tale but fairly unintelligible. The drum beat actually makes me think of a giant walking towards me as i try to hide under any suitable object in his oversized castle. It's hard to believe but every single track on this one outweirds the next. It ends with some kind of pulsating synthesized sounds that would actually feel at home on a Pink Floyd album but they cede way to the avant-chamber music again. The tension on this one is almost unbearable!

"Amethyst Deceivers" feels like standing in a sandstorm and having the grains of sand blowing start to sing but then once it all settles we hear a bizarre angular melody on synthesizers with a swooshing sound in the background. A freaky vocal begins to narrate a tale. This is not only my favorite of the Season series but one of my favorite COIL albums overall with one totally freaked out mind bleep after another. These guys really had a way of taking the listener to an entirely different musical dimension and messing with your mind like no one else