A Journey to the Heart of Terror

Written by: Tom Wilson - Sense Music Media

“Begin the search in circles. Keep the dogs’ noses to the ground, and pray that they find nothing.

Pray there is nothing to be found.”

These words are a motif threaded through Terror Amazonia, the high-concept debut EP from CHEAP COFFINS, AKA Troy Koglin, a one-man-army of industrial metal hailing from Wollongong. It evokes images of flashlights swooping through dark woods and dogs barking, as search parties circle through the night. Throughout six songs and three interludes, utilising various sound FX, these words appear in various different contexts. What do they mean? Do they have anything to do with Stefan Skjoedt’s eerie cover art, depicting a bizarre zombie-like hybrid of man and deer standing in the woods, its bare skull staring at us, waiting?

The Interview

If last year’s single Liminal Self was a warning shot across the bow, Terror Amazonia is a full-on broadside. I went behind the music with Troy Koglin.

How would you sum up the concept here in your own words?

It’s one of those things. It was never particularly planned in the first place. It wasn’t that I sat down and had a particular story that I was going to tell … A lot of ideas came from dreams and stuff, and putting together this collection of ideas. The story sort of came about, with those three interlude tracks … I love that [concept of] sound design – the soundtrack to a movie that doesn’t exist. There were images and ideas that I had of someone running through the forest, chasing this figure which ended up having the name Amazonia, which came from a dream … I woke up and thought, “Oh fuck – that’s the name!” The forest-y theme, sort of running through the bush trying to find something that is just always out of your grasp … But even that came about through the album artwork that I got [very] early in the process, before the album was written. That theme sort of started to creep into all the different ideas. The songs themselves have their own sort of story going on. It very much revolves around the idea of the self, and the different phases of my own life and the different selves that I’ve encompassed and embodied throughout my life … I think G O R E F I E L D was the first song that I fully finished, because [Neil] Foley, my old friend from OLD HAUNTS who mixed and mastered the whole thing … I think that was the first one where I’d actually taken a song that I had, gave it to him, and then he’s mixed it and polished it up and added a few extra tweaks to sounds here and there … That was the part where I was like, “Oh fuck, man – this is like a real thing. It’s taken on its own life.” … [Getting] those songs back from Foley, and hearing, OK, this one’s got a real Armageddon, end-of-the-world sort of vibe to it, so that was the idea of the destruction of the personality. And then, the song Amazonia has the redemption of that identity … It wasn’t planned out in advance, but the way the songs are arranged on the album sort of tells that story as well. I love that “hero’s journey” style of the character going through all the trials, and then the redemption and all that sort of stuff, so it was cool seeing the way the songs fit into that. So Amazonia was like putting the pieces back together after it’s been destroyed. If We Die Tonight was the closest I’ve written to … not a “breakup song”, but with that feeling, that emotion of rejection or abandonment or whatever that sort of put me onto this path of “OK, that fucked up, but why? How do I avoid feeling so bad in the future?” So that sort of led into God Mirror, which was about trying to connect to some sort of bigger meaning. Like, “OK, well, if this shit sucks, what else has the universe got to offer?” That leads to the self-destruction in G O R E F I E L D, and A Face Full of Stars is sort of like that resolution at the end, where I don’t know whether or not things are falling into place or not, or whether it’s just the next thing that’s fucked up that leads you onto the next step of that journey or wherever.

The reoccurring motif of “Keep the dogs’ noses to the ground” and all that – where did that come from?

I actually can’t remember. I think I’ve had that idea [since] well before I started this project. It is something that has been knocking around a little bit ... I really loved those lines. They felt very evocative, and had that running-through-the-woods vibe. The idea of the search party going out to find the kid who’s been lost in the woods, or the backpacker who has gone missing, that seemed to fit in with that other theme of me losing and trying to find myself. The different versions of it … it never worked as a whole song. I tried to make it a whole song that was a bit more piano-y sort of stuff, and that didn’t really work, and then I [tried] a RADIOHEAD Idioteque-style song, and then a really trippy NINE INCH NAILS version. None of them worked, but I still liked them so much … the idea of it then being part of the story of [this person] going into some sort of a hall where there are people who are somewhat despondently and sarcastically clapping to the song, and driving in the car and heading the god-on-the-radio stuff, and ending up near the water and something happening … It was like one of those parallel pieces that, when the whole thing came together, just seemed to marry the whole concept together a bit more.

What is being lit on fire at the end of the album?

There’s no exact version of what it is that’s being lit on fire. That particular part came about from an old interlude track that I think I was just doing for shit and giggles – [doing that] soundtrack for a movie that didn’t exist. The original version had some other stuff in there; you heard someone rummaging around, getting a duffel bag out of the car, and you heard gloves creaking. It had a bit of a Wolf Creek vibe to it. It had a birthday card – you heard the sound of a card being opened, and it played that Happy Birthday theme, and then it got torn up and burnt. That obviously didn’t fit the theme of it, and it made it a bit too deliberate … so I stripped those things back. That’s a great question – I have no idea what is getting set on fire! [Laughs]

So it’s not really your intention to ever really tell people what’s happening in the interludes? You’d rather leave it open to interpretation?

Yeah. One thing I’ve really found … there’s something far more interesting and engaging about the mystery, and as soon as it’s solved, it’s all over. Like, you know, with Twin Peaks, when things start getting really weird, and there’s this weird red room, and the possessed dude that just pops up in the corner of the screen every now and again … that was just so amazing. It gave you chills. You were like, “What is that?” And then it was later on where it was like, “Oh, he’s this dude, and he got possessed, and that sort of happened,” and it takes out a lot of that fun.

There are a lot of references to God in this. Is this a concept you’ve always been interested in?

Yeah. When I was a kid I always loved spooky stories and horror stories and creepy stuff, so I’ve always had that interest in things that are above the mundane level of life … I’ve always been interested by those bigger questions. What is it? Who are we? How did we get here? All that sort of stuff. I found that throughout my life, there would be certain things that I would get into. I always loved having projects and just learning and understanding stuff … I think I got to that certain age in life where I started asking those really big questions. Why are we here? What’s going on? What’s the meaning of life? All that sort of stuff. It was definitely fuelled by the psychedelics and stuff that friends and I were into at the time – it’s one of those things that primes the pump for certain questions, you know? I think a lot of that energy, trying to solve a problem … All those questions seem to end up back at God’s footsteps. Any rabbit hole that you go down deep enough either comes to a literal Christian God, or a very spiritual non-god, which is just God in different terms or different phrases or different costumes, or that scientific idea of cause and effect. This thing happened because of this thing, and this thing happened because of this thing. If you go back far enough, you end up at the beginning of time, where the answer is, “Oh, we don’t know yet.” It’s very easy I think in that point, [with] the absence of a clear answer from science as to how it all started … especially when you’re an hour into a mushroom trip or something … I think the concept has always resonated with me in different forms and different guises over the years, when I was into spooky, weird stuff as a kid, that still had that element of trying to figure out what is the ultimate cause of things, and that, in the dictionary of a lot of people, is God – whatever he/she/it is … It’s not like it’s an anti-Christian statement, or anti-god in terms of a particular god or whatever, but just those ideas … I don’t know exactly why, but it just clicks. It resonates. It’s something that I find very fascinating, and I enjoy thinking about it and meditating on, so that when I start writing music or jotting down dream ideas, a lot of it does seem to come back to that idea of “what’s the biggest picture going on?”

EP Review

Released as a single last year, opener Liminal Self hisses and crackles through a mesh of distortion – a propulsive blend of urgent drums, weighty synthesiser and enormous, anthemic vocals. “If God is dead, who do I thank for his suicide?” Koglin shouts into the void – the first of many references to a higher power, however you want to interpret it.

A synth pulses and squelches to open If We Die Tonight. Spoken word samples tag-team with Koglin’s synthesised vocals – calm, tuneful and upbeat – before the guitars build to a thunderous climax. First vignette (find) begins, and we hear someone driving to a venue. As revellers drink and chat, a man sings over the piano – “Pray there’s nothing to be found” – and receives rapturous applause.

God Mirror is five-and-a-half minutes of glorious TOOL worship. A deep, gnarled guitar riff repeats over an off-kilter snare, and the track slowly builds and swells – Koglin’s vocals soaring over the top. A goth anthem that will also give you a phenomenal neck workout, the sheer scope of this track is impressive. Guitar leads are layered over chugging riffs, shifting back and forth from slamming grooves to epic soundscapes. This is all the more impressive when you remember that this can be performed by one guy alone onstage, with only his instruments and beard for company.

From here we dive straight into one of the highlights of this EP, G O R E F I E L D. A malevolent drum beat and synth pulse under Koglin’s vocals, crackling through the distortion. “I’ll kill your god, and eat what’s left / It’s been too long, since you’ve seen death.” His guitarwork here could best be described as “restrained shredding” – intricate, but minimal – before devolving into a MESHUGGAH-style rhythmic shudder. The track writhes and seethes, like a madman about to break free of his restraints. Koglin begins to intone in another language over a furious fretboard workout, and the track spasms and mutates, before collapsing into silence.

We move into (search), the second vignette. We hear footsteps crunching. Someone gets into a car and starts driving. There’s a voice on the radio – he’s talking about god. The driver changes the station, and we hear upbeat dance music, with the same familiar lyrics. “Pray there’s nothing to be found …”

*Click*

The radio is turned off.

From the silence comes a meditative synth and some plinking keys – Amazonia. A man’s voice whispers from behind the notes, indecipherable. A relaxing, languid beach guitar strums across the waves of synths, and Troy’s vocals stretch out. Where G O R E F I E L D was tightly-coiled rage, Amazonia is its peaceful, serene counterpoint. But we soon learn that the serenity is temporary, as a harsh, angular synth cuts through the quiet. It’s time for A Face Full of Stars. Where Liminal Self is propulsive, A Face Full of Stars takes its time, but it’s another great example of the CHEAP COFFINS sound – eerie synths, distorted vocals, and a chorus that sounds absolutely massive, laid over a gargantuan guitar riff that wouldn’t be out of place on a RAMMSTEIN record. When he shouts “Tonight, we arise,” you believe him. The song builds to a deafening crescendo, before crashing down into the black.

Through the silence, we hear the sound of waves rolling up on a beach. A vehicle draws near and comes to a stop. A door opens. Footsteps. Something is removed from the boot. A lighter sparks. Flames crackle. Troy’s voice, distorted almost beyond recognition, sings as the fire burns. “They began the search in circles, and kept the dogs’ noses to the ground. They prayed that they’d find nothing. They prayed there was nothing to be–”

A deafening burst of noise shatters the serenity, jarring the senses – think the final note of Hurt by NINE INCH NAILS – before we are left with the sound of the ocean. It’s over.

The Verdict

The interplay between Koglin and producer Neil Foley is stellar. Every second of this record feels finely crafted. There are no rough edges. Those who like things spelled out for them might find this to be a frustrating experience, but if you’re open to being teased (and maybe a little bewildered), this EP is an intriguing beast. Rich in depth, Terror Amazonia is a stunning opening salvo to the world.

8/10

Terror Amazonia is out NOW!

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