''Horse Rotorvator'' is the second studio album by English experimental music group Coil, released in 1986. The cover photograph was shot by the band and shows the bandstand in

Regent's Park Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies of high ground in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the Borough of Camden (and historically betwee ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, which was subject to the

Hyde Park and Regent's Park bombings The Hyde Park and Regent's Park bombings were carried out on 20 July 1982 in London, England. Members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) detonated two improvised explosive devices during British military ceremonies in Hyde Park ...

four years before the album's release. The album was ranked No. 73 in the ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...

'' list "Top 100 Albums of the 1980s."

Background

The album title was inspired by a dream of Balance's in which the

Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are figures in the Christian scriptures, first appearing in the Book of Revelation, a piece of apocalypse literature written by John of Patmos. Revelation 6 tells of a book or scroll in God's right hand t ...

slit the throats of their horses and assembled their jawbones into a device large enough to "plough up the waiting world." A cover of

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. His work explored religion, politics, isolation, depression, sexuality, loss, death, and romantic relationships. He was inducted in ...

's "Who by Fire" is featured on the album. "Ostia" meditates on the murder of radical Italian filmmaker

Pier Paolo Pasolini Pier Paolo Pasolini (; 5 March 1922 – 2 November 1975) was an Italian poet, filmmaker, writer and intellectual who also distinguished himself as a journalist, novelist, translator, playwright, visual artist and actor. He is considered one of ...

. Guests include

Marc Almond Peter Mark Sinclair "Marc" Almond, (born 9 July 1957) is an English singer. Almond first began performing and recording in the synthpop/ new wave duo Soft Cell where he became known for his distinctive soulful voice and androgynous image. ...

and his collaborator Billy McGee.

Release

''Horse Rotorvator'' was initially released in the UK in 1986 by Force & Form and was manufactured by K.422, a

Some Bizzare Records Some Bizzare Records was a British independent record label owned by Stevo Pearce. The label was founded in 1981, with the release of '' Some Bizzare Album'', a compilation of unsigned bands including Depeche Mode, Soft Cell, the The, Neu E ...

side label. In the USA, the album was released by

Relativity Records Relativity Records was an American record label founded by Barry Kobrin at the site of his company, Important Record Distributors (IRD) in metro New York. Relativity released music that covers a wide variety of musical genres. When it entered in ...

. The album was first reissued on CD in 1988.

Reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

called the album a "refinement of brute noise and creepily serene arrangements into a truly modern

psychedelia Psychedelia refers to the psychedelic subculture of the 1960s and the psychedelic experience. This includes psychedelic art, psychedelic music and style of dress during that era. This was primarily generated by people who used psychedelic ...

, from tribal drumming and death march guitars to disturbing samples and

marching band A marching band is a group of musical instrument, instrumental musicians who perform while marching, often for entertainment or competition. Instrumentation typically includes brass instrument, brass, woodwind instrument, woodwind, and percus ...

samples and back", crediting the group with "eschewing easy clichés on all fronts to create unnerving, never easily-digested invocations of musical power". ''

'' named it among the best albums of the 1980s and stated that "the bulk of these songs are grand, sweeping treatments of themes of death and betrayal, wrought in a collage of noise and restless rhythms ..Equally austere, humorous, and frightening, ''Horse Rotorvator'' stands as one of the more unique projects of its decade."

Track listing

Notes * LP pressings of the album omit "Ravenous". On some of the CD pressings, it is the twelfth track instead of the seventh one. Sometimes the track listing on the packaging and the actual order differ as a result (for example, one ROTA 1 pressing lists the tracks in the above order, but when played, "Ravenous" is a twelfth track). * On cassette pressings of the album, "Slur" and "Herald" are titled as "Silk" and "Acapulco March", respectively.

Charts

References

External links

* *
''Horse Rotorvator''
at Brainwashed {{Authority control 1986 albums Coil (band) albums Some Bizzare Records albums