Experimental music group Coil have released a remastered reissue of their 1987 album, Gold is the Metal (With the Broadest Shoulders), via Mute in partnership with Threshold House. The release is available across digital formats, compact disc, and limited-edition vinyl.
Originally assembled by John Balance, Peter Christopherson, and Stephen Thrower, the album represents the final entry in a thematic trilogy that commenced with Scatology (1984) and continued with Horse Rotorvator (1986). The material incorporates textural, instrumental, and collage-based pieces derived from sessions during that era, incorporating field recordings and electronic manipulation.
The reissue marks the start of a broader archival initiative between Mute and Threshold House, the imprint established by Coil and reactivated by Thrower and Ossian Brown in conjunction with the estates of Balance and Christopherson. The series is slated to encompass four early releases, including the soundtrack for Derek Jarman’s The Angelic Conversation, unreleased music composed for Clive Barker’s Hellraiser, and the compilation Unnatural History.
The package features reconstructed artwork and sleeve notes assembled by Thrower and Brown, integrating archival photography, documents, and personal notes. Accompanying the release is an archival music video for the track ‘Cardinal Points,’ assembled by Brown and Davide Pepe using footage captured in 1988 by Alexander Oey and René van der Eijk.