Unheard Coil: Expanded “Hellraiser” Rituals Unearthed
A previously unheard ‘expanded ritual’ edition of Coil’s legendary, ill-fated score for Hellraiser – trust that even if you own the OG 10” and tape, you’ve never heard lots of this material before.
Back in 1987, Clive Barker’s supernatural body-horror classic Hellraiser hitted cinemas worldwide and introduced audiences to the demonic Cenobites. Barker was a devoted COIL fan (Peter Christopherson and John Balance), and he famously said they were the only band he’d ever heard on record whose music he’d had to take off because, in his words, “they made his bowels churn.”. He initially invited them to compose the film’s music, and the group began recording cues. But the producers at New World Pictures ultimately rejected the material in favor of a more traditional approach, bringing in Christopher Young, whose final score remains excellent, if less experimental. What remains from Coil is an unfinished soundtrack with surviving fragments and rough ideas, abruptly left behind mid-process, a glimpse into an alternate Hellraiser movie, one we can only fantasize into existence.
Nearly 40 years later, key long-term collaborators and Coil’s “secret third member” Danny Hyde located the original Hellraiser studio session tapes, and the bonus material recovered from them is presented here as an “expanded ritual” edition, reassembled into a standalone, possibly defnitive and strangely beautiful nightmare suite. Play it in the dark and experience the consequences of raising hell…
For fans of pain & pleasure, Throbbing Gristle, lost horror soundtracks & haunted electronics.
Tracklist:
A1. Attack Of The Senmapods
A2. The Box Theme (Mix 2)
A3. The Main Title
A4. Zither Theme
A5. The Hellbound Heart (Mix 1)
A6. No New World
A7. The Box Theme (Mix 1)
B1. Arcade Sound
B2. CCardinal Points
B3. Atmospheric Stuff
B4. Hellraiser Theme (Mix 2)
B5. Flutey Theme
B6. Unearthly Hell
Musique Pour La Danse will release The Unreleased Themes From Hellraiser [expanded ritual] on May 29, 2026