Offmessage

I’ve been literally waiting 15 years for this. Earth Inferno (the last ‘real’ Nephilim album) was released in 1991. Since then, like the collapse of the Sisters of Mercy, there have been side projects, acromonious exchanges, failed reunions and rumours of a new album just around the corner. 15 years is a long time. I bought Zoon when it came out (and if I’m honest, hated it) and then I gave up waiting. Brief returns to the official site showed little or no activity and despite continued rumours on fan sites there was nothing to hold my interest and I stopped even checking. Which was obviously a mistake, because in November of last year the new album finally arrived. And then immediately became unavailable.

It was worth the wait and the �12 off ebay though. Seriously this is old school Fields of the Nephilim, on a par with The Nephilim, if not Elizium. Floyd-esque soundscapes with Carl McCoy’s gravelly vocals pouring arcane spells over powerful bass and pounding drums. This is a real and unexpected return to form.

The other good thing is that although I can no longer take all this pomp and ceremony quite as seriously as I did back then, it appears that like Andrew Eldritch Carl McCoy has gained a bit of a sense of humour. The 9 minute epic reworking of Zager and Evans’ dystopian kitsch classic “In the year 2525” is simultaneously both classic Nef and fucking hilarious. No doubt those among the Watchmen that long ago I used to call my friends will disown me for saying it, but it is, and the album’s all the better for it.

Truly the great have returned, even if hardly anyone noticed.