The third album
from Fields of the Nephilim, released in 1990, could be viewed as a departure
from, or an evolution of the band’s sound.
After a brief intro (Dead But Dreaming), we get For Her Light, a
standard issue goth track, though here Carl McCoy actually sings more than
gargling with broken glass. At the Gates
of Silent Memory follows seamlessly, and is quite portentous. Slow and doomy. This is rounded off with (Paradise Regained)
which sparks into life. Much of the
album is sequenced like one long track.
Submission
opens with a low bassline and a faint keyboard line. Between this and McCoy’s intonation “where have I been” you are
reminded of Joy Division’s Decades, though you also get squalling guitars in
the midsection. It’s a decent track,
though it’s a few minutes longer than it needs to be. Sumerland (What Dreams May Come) has intricate
gothy guitar work, building up deliberately to great effect for an entire 11 minutes. The final two tracks are the closest songs to
Pink Floyd that McCoy and co released.
Wail of Sumer plods like mid 70s Floyd, leading into And There Will Your
Heart Be Also, another long, seven minute plus song. This one has a particularly haunting melody, probably the most
emotional on the album.
It’s a kind
of long moody album with not much variety, tracks all kind of evolve from each
other. Not a bad thing by any means,
it’s just different from its predecesssors.
There are fewer peaks and standouts and thus is a bit harder to get into
than Dawnrazor or the Nephilim.
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