Determindedly not a nostalgia act, the Nephilim are venturing forth into a brave new world. 

11 years to the day since his last appearance in England, and over 16 years since The Fields Of The Nephilim last appeared on British shores , Carl McCoy strides on stage 10 minutes after the rest of the band, looking as if he has beeen suspended in formaldehyde for the past decade and a half, and begins to sing. Around him, his band of anonymous, unnamed session musicians unleash a storm of atmospheric goth-prog metal, whilst, in a melee of fog, smoke, strobe lights and...

....and it's 1991 again. Around me, far too many people are dressed in black hats and making pyramids. In front of me, barely ten feet from the stage, two blokes chat loudly during all the new songs and hop around for the oldies.  Even in 1991, it seemed to me that people only wanted to hear the 'classics' and were frowning upon the new songs. Some things never change.

If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's a duck.. This then, is the all-new, reborn Fields of The Nephilim : a improbable amalgam of semi-metal and prog rock with extended instrumental riffage and quasi-spiritual lyricism about mythology. It's as bonkers as it sounds, and absolutely brilliant in it's oddness.

At one remove, you have to step back and admit that this is, like all rock, by it's very nature, an absurd artifice, and be willing - in much the same way as anyone would with a Hollywood blockbuster - to suspend disbelief and ride the rollercoaster. To knowingly accept the contradiction of rock music in it's telegraphed spontaneity and 'buy in' to the spectacle. Then again, it's very easy with music like this - weighty instrumental passages of inticate textures - to close your eyes, and lose yourself in the meditational collage of light and sound. It's possible to lose yourself - or find yourself - in the space between the music.

Having never seen the original line up of the Fields Of The Nephilim, this elusive, and unprolific act (bearing one official album and three live shows since 1996) don't feel or sound like anything but a genuine band. The all new lineup plays with an assurance that doesn't betray first night nerves. Riffs serrate, vocals soar, and the underpinning, driving bass pushes forward the music to achieve a unique vision.

This, their first show since in seven years - and with a new album to support - is, in the main, plucked from "Mourning Sun"'s epic grooves, (and that of it's predecessor, 1996's "Zoon"). The opening trio of "Shroud", "Straight To The Light" and "Penetration" are dispatched with a brutal efficiency, straddling the middle ground between G**h and Death metal with convincing power.

Most importantly, FOTN 2007 are determindedly not a nostalgia act : the lineup is absolutely modern with a sole constant of Carl McCoy, the presentation is starkly minimal and effective, and the set eschews traditional classics such as "Blue Water", "For Her Light", "Sumerland", "Power" and "Laura" in favour of a concentrating on recent material. It would be easy, obvious and lazy to assemble musicians to perform covers of old material to please the masses, to their credit, the Nephilim have chosen instead to present their new work in a live context where it sparkles.

The one drawback is that the band's better known hits are ignored in favour of a set tailored to the modern material. The absence of the spell-binding "Psychonaut" is baffling but, in context of a brave new world for the Nephilim as they power forward to follow a new artistic vision and choose not to rest on their laurels, can be applauded as a brave move. There is a thin line between bravery and stupidity.

Comments

Written by ajinglis on 2007-06-01 16:21:38 thanks for a pretty damn accurate review of the nights proceedings. I've never bought into goth but FOTN are a little bit special. To be honest I felt that this would in all likelihood be a crushing disappointment. A bunch of sad old goths rehashing some hits for the floured up mascara-ed masses.  I was wrong.   As you say -you have to suspend disbelief and immerse yourself in the aural and visual specacle. You have to enter the 'zone'. That isnt easy when you are 37 and have somewhat billhicksian view on life. As soon as you realise you are there you've lost it as you self analyse and come back to earth.  The last time I was able to really do this was Mogwai and before that Julian Cope a long time ago,  Here I had no problems, fuck the audience , fuck the stupid sad old goths poncing about making pyramids. Here I was in the zone enjoying one of the best gigs I have ever been at.  Period.

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