On Fields of the Nephilim's second album, released in 1988, if anything they dialled UP the drama, from their debut. Although there were fewer uptempo songs this time around, the drop in tempo wasn't matched with a drop in intensity.
It opens with a true epic, the seven-minute Endemoniada. The layered guitars build up slowly, picking out swirling arpeggios, then 4 minutes in the pace quickens to introduce Carl McCoy's low growl. It’s a great introduction to the album and it's followed up by the moody atmospheres of The Watchman which builds gradually to pounding intensity. After the breakneck speed goth 'Ace of Spades' of Phobia, the band’s hit follows, Moonchild. The song has a classic gothy riff, and actually crashed into the charts back in 1988. The lyrics are strange enough but the track has an excellent doomy atmosphere. And it's followed by another fast belter in Chord of Souls.
So what of the slower material? Celebrate represents a complete departure. McCoy sings (sings!) rather than growls over a moody bassline and very little else. Shades of Joy Division. Snatches of spooky chants and sinister organ introduces Love Under Will, a slow, lengthy epic with an excellent riff, some fine guitar playing here. At times it's hard not to think of the Sisters of Mercy, though that's not such a bad thing. The pacing is excellent with dramatic pauses in the instrumentation as McCoy sings "I'll send my child my last goodbye ".
There's still time for another epic with the final track, the almost 10 minute Last Exit for the Lost. It builds very slowly on sparse, ringing guitars as McCoy groans gloriously "this could be my last regress". The song simmers for six minutes or so before speeding up dramatically, McCoy losing it to great effect as he sings "we're getting closer.... last exit for the lost!" with real passion and feeling. It's an incredible ending to the album, what is probably the band’s most representative collection of songs.
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