How to Destroy Angels (New Remixes and Recordings)

The original two-track (if you count its sometimes musicless B-side, depending on edition) How To Destroy Angels EP in 1984 was Coil’s debut effort as such, part of a welter of overlapping tracks and split appearances as the original core duo of John Balance and Peter Christopherson started figuring their way forward. In contrast, the 1992 release How To Destroy Angels (Remixes and Re-Recordings) was a notable reimagining of that first outing, with six different reinterpretations of the title track, three by John Balance, two by Peter Christopherson and one by fellow sonic traveler Steve Stapleton of Nurse With Wound, along with a new cover image from director Derek Jarman. Rather than bring everything into the dance-adjacent world of post-Love’s Secret Domain Coil, the choices here, ranging from an opening two minute effort to two others each clocking in at nearly seventeen minutes, one of which is Stapleton’s directly titled “How To Destroy Angels II,” aim more at exploring a dark, generally (but definitely not totally) beatless ambience and murk showcasing a quiet richness and subtle but vivid detail.