While 2000’s Constant Shallowness Leads To Evil could on the face of it be a complement to that year’s Queens Of The Circulating Library – both were initially released by Coil in CD clamshell cases without any cover art – it provides a distinct contrast in turn, exchanging the one-long-track flow of Queens for something far more on edge. While not totally lacking the generally calmer and quieter music the John Balance/Peter Christopherson/Thighpaulsandra team had been making in recent years – the opening minimal drone crawl of “Higher Beings Command” shows that much – there’s much more fierce noise in general, with the stretch from “Beige” to “Free Base Chakra” essentially being a three-part extensive howl of unsettling, sometimes cyclical electronics. This in turn leads into the final song “Tunnel of Goats,” an even more intense improvisation, Balance’s voice interspersed briefly in the overall mayhem. A guest from their live touring ensemble, Tom Edwards, brings his marimba work to “I Am The Green Child,” notable as well for Balance’s heavily treated and stretched out vocal contributions.