TRACKS:
1. No Angel
2. Train to Satanville
3. Alone, I Honeymoon
4. Fade Away
5. All That Glitters
6. Ode to Temptation
7. The Sacrifice
8. Talking to Solitary
9. Can't Count on You
10. Sleepwalking

Nicole- vocals, rhythm and lead guitar, piano
Stevo- vocals, lead, rhythm and slide guitars, toy piano
Marcus Rogers- acoustic and electric bass
Ian Tiles- drums
Kevin Rose -acoustic guitar

One of the many independently released compact discs currently available from Vancouver bands but one of the more intriguing. Fronted by Nicole Steen, who does most of the band's writing. Coal must be getting used to the obvious but arbitrary comparisons to CENSORED -as it does have that hushed, dusky, tremulous bluesiness about it. Appropriately, Coal is darker, the music swampier and the impact of the Twin Peaks soundtrack suggests itself, as does Pink Floyd's Set the Controls fro the Heart of the Sun on Sleepwalking.
-THE PROVINCE-

Coal is cool, no doubt about it.Ideal for late night listening, this 10 song self-titled CD takes you deep into the darkness but never lets go of your hand. Singer Nicole Steen's ghostly voice haunts the subtle soundscapes deftly shaped by fellow band members Stevo (acoustic and slide guitar), Marcus Rogers (bass) and Ian Tiles (drums) and Kevin Rose (acoustic guitar). Just when you think the band's painted itself into a corner, Stevo takes over on vocals and stirs things up. The production by Rose and Rogers is beautifully understated and stand-out tracks include "No Angel" and "Alone, I Honeymoon."
-NITE MOVES-

Sit around the campfire, do a couple of Halcion, pull out the ol'acoustic and you've got the slo-mo country sounds of Coal. Nicole's vocals are simply beautiful as they soar over the sparse yet crisp instrumentation. The music has an incredible gothic texture that brings it to the realm of ambient blues-very somber and truly painless. Not what one would expect form Vancouver but then again Toronto gave birth to the Cowboy Junkies and Atlanta has the Jody Grind. But what do they think of these bands in Nashville?
-EXCLAIM MAGAZINE-

It's impossible to overlook the surface similarities between this Vancouver band and the CENSORED same morphine cool; same sorrowful country laments; same 3 am atmospherics. But there's a pop sweetness to Nicole Steen's voice that makes it a more accessible and varied-if less mysterious-instrument than CENSORED monochromatic whisper and guitarist Stevo throws in the odd subtle jazzoid and rockablilly riff to flesh out the country blues and give Coal a character to call it's own.
-GLOBE AND MAIL-