The third of Coil’s mid-1990s albums released under an alternate name or identity, 1998’s Time Machines is the most formally extreme of them all, consisting solely of four lengthy pieces each named after a particular hallucinogen. As a statement of purpose as to how the band was never simply one thing or one approach, it’s thoroughly successful on that level, but even better, it’s a wonderful and entrancing listen that helps point the way towards a fair amount of what was soon to follow. Each are calm but by no means gentle drone pieces that are a mix of core loops and more extensive electronic flow, though they don’t all simply stay in one mode throughout, sometimes dropping away to a single element, adding more in turn or changing form in turn. The then-core trio of John Balance, Peter Christopherson and Drew McDowall did the work but various others were thanked in the credits, notably Thighpaulsandra, who would soon become a key member for much of the group’s next and final years. One can also hear the presence at points of electric violist William Breeze in one of his first appearances with them.