Toad the Wet Sprocket - Coil

Coil is probably Toad's darkest and weirdest album. When I bought it, I was really hoping for another Dulcinea, but was disappointed. I actually hated this entire album for a couple of years and may or may not have actively tried to pawn it off on friends who wouldn't take it during that time.

After hating the album for a while, the song "Whatever I Fear the Most" became fairly important for some of the things I was going through. It was extremely therapeutic, and it opened the door for the rest of this album. It wasn't until I spent some time in Southeast Asia that I understood all the Buddhist undertones on this album (and not just the overt ones in "Little Buddha") and really began to appreciate it for what it is: a Buddhist existentialist pondering over the meaning of life, the universe, and everything as well as the effects of actions already taken. Coil may not be Toad the Wet Sprocket's best album (though it doesn't lag far behind their best) but it is their most philosophical. It's lyrically interesting and musically very good, so you can surely do much worse.