Fields of the Nephilim: album reviews and ratings

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Reviews & Recommendations

"I knelt down where I burned before" -- FotN	Fields of the Nephilim

Artist Listing:

S - Z

"... an astonishing, deeply arcane British unit which produced some of the most powerful and beautiful spiritual music in my experience. Beginning with a basic interest in ritual magic and progressing through an increasingly tighter focus from the Apocrypha, angelology and the legend of the Nephilim, to Sumerian lore, to Crowley/Spare atavism into chaos magic and thence to where none may follow, the band was a faithful mirror of the spiritual journey of its shamanic leader, Carl McCoy.
(...) Death and relative sanity, and their intersection, are favorite FotN themes, and circled back to the fore on the second album, 1988's "The Nephilim". In every way this second LP expresses the band's increased sense of direction, identity and control. Time and experience not only developed and refined their music but gave them the confidence they needed to open the door a bit wider, and the result is magnificent. Dark, rich, evocative, containing McCoy's first open references to Sumer and Cthulhu and arriving packed in a beautiful Frontier Gothic sleeve, The Nephilims well named: a true reflection of its creators."

-- Paula O'Keefe, 11/91, spookhouse.net/angelynx/nephilim/neph.html

Milestones:
1984: FotN is formed by Carl McCoy (Vocals), Tony Petitt (Bass), Paul Wright (Guitar), Nod Wright (Drums), and Gary Wisker (Saxophone);
1986: Peter Yates (guitarist) replaces Gary Wisker
1991: FotN disbands
1992: Peter Yates, Tony Petitt, Paul Wright & Nod Wright, joined by vocalist Andy Delaney release their first album as the guitar oriented band Rubicon
1996: Carl McCoy releases the first Nefilim death metal album Zoon.
1997: Rumors run that the Fields of the Nephilim are to reform under the name The Nephilim. The original members start touring in the following years.
2000: Fields of the Nephilim, the original line up minus Peter Yates, release the EP 'One More Nightmare' containing radical re-works of Darkcell and Trees Come Down from their debut EP 'Burning The Fields', as a preview to their resurrection album.
2001: Release of the the rework album: "From Gehenna to Here", compiled from their debut 12" EP 'Burning The Fields' ('85) and their second EP 'Returning To Gehenna' 12" ('86).
Nod Wright and Paul Wright form their own band Last Rites, and release their debut album 'Guided by Light'.
2002: The Fields of the Nephilim's official site launched. A new album titled 'Fallen' was released in Oct 2002, on Jungle Records (Europe) and Metropolis-Records (USA).
2003: Bassist Tony Pettitt, teams up with Drummer Simon Rippin (ex-Nefilim) and vocalist Peter 'Bob' White (ex-Sensorium) to form a new goth outfit NFD (Noise for Destruction), and release their first album 'No Love Lost' later in 2004.
2005: Carl McCoy is back with a new line-up for the Fields of the Nephilim and a new album titled 'Mourning Sun'.

Fields of the Nephilim Discography - Album / CD Reviews

½ 1987: Dawnrazor
"(...) Dawnrazor, the band's first record with the label [Beggars Banquet] captures the band at a point of self discovery. With just a hint of the mid- 1980s hidden deep in their music, Fields of the Nephilim steered away from the repeated samples and poppy keyboards of the era and focused more on flowing and icy guitar and bass. Stir this up with with lead singer Carl McCoy's deep, groaning vocals and a few rocking beats, and you've got one powerful concoction. Contained here are a few of the classic Nephilim tracks-- from the oft- mimicked guitar riffs of "Preacher Man," to the foot- stomping "Power," it's easy to tell what keeps the band's fans dedicated."

-- Skaht Hansen, pitchforkmedia.com

1988: The Nephilim
"(...) 'Endemoniada', the discs opening number, starts off as a lurid introduction to the land where the Nephilim rule, before kicking into a rowdier, more upbeat picture of where giants roam. It's imagery that continues for the majority of The Nephilim, until the record very melancholically closes with the ever uplifting "Love Under Will" and "Last Exit for the Lost," two songs that amazingly enough, haven't yet been blamed for teen suicides."

-- Skaht Hansen, pitchforkmedia.com

1990: Elyzium
"(...) This release witnesses the band's already awe inspiring song writing skills played out to full fruition. Picture the best moments of Pink Floyd's epic songs combined with the gothic stylings of The Sisters of Mercy and you will have a pretty good idea of what this album sounds like. Notably, the vocals are much more subdued and brooding. The fire still burns within Carl's belly but the presentation is less harsh. Coupled with the music one is left with the impression of smoldering embers glowing in the twilight, occassionally bursting back to life and burning in full fury. There are only four songs on this album, broken into eight tracks (although the soon to be re-release will contain the "Psychonaut" single) yet it is a full album's worth of material, building to stunning crescendos and falling back again. "

-- Alex (aka clarkah), via amazon.com

Fields of the Nephilim - Earth Inferno (live)

1991: Earth Inferno (live)
"(...) Inferno, the Nephilim's final official release before their late 1991 breakup, captures songs from three separate 1990 shows, artfully combined in one powerful document. If the band never exactly performed a full set like this, then they definitely should have. Including three of the four main Elizium numbers in full versions -- "For Her Light," "Submission," and "Sumerland" -- Inferno also draws upon established past hits as "Preacher Man," "Moonchild," and "Psychonaut," plus album cuts "Love Under Will," "Last Exit for the Lost," and the concluding "Dawnrazor," made even more majestic and commanding than the studio version, if that's possible. (...) McCoy's wracked vocals are that of a man possessed, Nod Wright's huge drumming doesn't let up, Paul Wright and Yates' guitars know when to hold back and when to completely let loose, and Pettitt's bass provides the moody undertow for it all."

-- Ned Raggett, AMG

1993: Revelations
"(...) Fields of the Nephilim are the type of band a listener can be fully consumed by and Revelations does a masterful job of that. Haunting, hypnotic and beautiful, this compilation captures the band's best moments throughout the years. Whether you are a newcomer to the band or a longtime fanatic, Revelations is an excellent "best of" package that deserves all the praise one can heap upon the band."

-- John Chedsey, Chedsey.com, 9/00

2000: One More Nightmare (single)
"An intriguing hors-d'oeuvre to wet our appetite for more of the new reformed FotN. This EP includes reworks of Trees Come Down and Darkcell, taken from their debut EP 'Burning The Fields'. The sound is definately harder than the original versions with more grinding guitars...lets' hope that the upcoming album will not incorporate some of The Nefilim's death rock influences to what is considered today as one of the most influencial dark bands that ever walked this Earth Inferno!"

-- Said Sukkarieh, musicfolio.com, 11/00

Fields of the Nephilim - From Gehenna to Here

2001: From Gehenna to Here
Track Listing: Trees Come Down - Back In Gehenna - Darkcell - Laura - Power - Laura 2 - Secrets - The Tower - Returning To Gehenna.
"The 'FROM GEHENNA TO HERE' album is compiled from their debut 12" EP 'Burning The Fields' issued in the UK in 1985 and their second release, the 'Returning To Gehenna' 12" EP issued in Italy in 1986. It is being released on the Italian Santeria label via Jungle, and comes in a regular jewel-box version, a limited digipak version with different artwork, and on vinyl. "

-- jungle-records.demon.co.uk

½ 2002: Fallen
Track Listing: 1-Dead To The World 2-From The Fire 3-Thirst 4-Darkcell AD 5-Subsanity 6-Hollow Doll 7-Fallen 8-Deeper 9-Premonition 10-One More Nightmare

"Almost four years after the doomed attempt to reunite the original Fields of the Nephilim quartet (McCoy/Petitt/Wright brothers), this controversial album is put together by Jungle Records and presented as the latest offering by the Fields of the Nephilim. With a total run time of 40min including the two songs released in 2000 on the 'One More Nightmare' single (Trees Come Down AD & Darkcell AD), 'Fallen' offers only 31min of previously unreleased material.

To the more dedicated fans some of the tracks will sound familiar as they were released on demo tapes and/or were floating around on P2P internet swapping services for a while now. The CD sleeve inside gives performance and production credit to Carl McCoy and Tony Pettit, includes a special thanks to Nod and Paul Wright for their contribution on Darkcell and One More Nightmare, and thanks Paul Miles, Simon Rippin, & Cian Houchin (all ex-Nefilim line-up) for their contribution to track 6, Hollow Doll. Both McCoy's official mailing list and the Wright brothers dismissed their direct involvement in compiling or polishing the finished product.

Regardless whether the material was put together from studio offcuts or not, it is unmistakably genuine, with McCoy's signature vocals all over it. Does it measure up to early FotN releases? It falls short of the sophistication and the sheer perfection of their first three studio albums, but it still includes a collection of majestically imposing songs. Strong moments like the eerie 'forte' that is the opening track Dead to the World, the fabulous Hollow Doll, and the first single From The Fire, far outshine the album's shortcomings."

-- Said Sukkarieh, musicfolio.com, 9/02

2005: Mourning Sun
TrackListing: 01. Shroud (Exordium) 02. Straight To The Light 03. New Gold Dawn 04. Requiem XIII-33 ( Le Veilleur Silencieux ) 05. Xiberia (Seasons In The Ice Cage) 06. She 07. Mourning Sun. - Bonus Tracks (Limited Edition) : 08. In The Year 2525 09. Bonus Video Clip
"... Almost christ-like. (...) The face of McCoy, at the center of the picture. It is a curious form of introduction for a man who previously hid himself behind the myth, and the mystery - that refused pictures of himself on the two principal studio albums; hid himself behind curtains of fog onstage; covered himself with flour to better disguise his mortal outlines. While this picture already imposes a rupture in the tradition, perhaps it also portrays the dis-incarnation of Fields Of The Nephilim, as a "band." The physical break-up of the original group, a disintegration for a recomposition of the FOTN entity around its lone and glorious leader. None of the original members of Fields Of The Nephilim, except Carl, officially took part in the new venture... at least until we have proof of the opposite. (...) at present it officially seems that none of the persons that worked with McCoy in the making of the three initial studio releases survived his artistic and personal requirements. (...) The first "true" album since 'Elizium,' this disc will have generated all the expectations: the one of nostalgia, draped in a mourning from days gone by, eager to rediscover the dense psychedelic feeling that dominated the flowing guitars of the third opus. (...) The mix sometimes appears as collages, and one wonders if the majority of the drums are not programed. But in spite of these types of reserves, the overall result ends up imposing a form enjoying a new and true edge. And 'Mourning Sun' finishes by winning, in the long run. First statement, pretty obvious: our man partially abandoned the harder framework of the project The Nefilim. The colors that dominate the new album compare themselves more to Fields Of The Nephilim than to the latter project. The epigraph of a certain clarity, whether in the layerings of guitars or even in the vocal exercise, creates the coldest, iciest of atmosphere (Requiem XIII-33 (The Silent Watcher))... the "new" Fields Of The Nephilim plays with the gimmicks of the past to mutate into a more modern and electronic style. (...) In the end, this that blossoms forth as 'Mourning Sun,' shows the force of Carl's convictions. This man carries in his hands an intangible, magic concept."

-- Emmanuel, Obskure.com, 10/05

(translated by Ravyn Navarro and Thomas Bauderet)

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