Fields of the Nephilim – Mourning Sun
Oblivion/SPV – SPV 63832 CD – 27.11.05
By Anna Novitzky
I have a dirty little secret. I call myself a goth – I wear black, I spend hours every day applying eyeliner, and I own more corsets than there are days of the week – but I’ve never really listened to
Fields of the Nephilim. As such, I may never fully understand the true import of the return of the goth-rocker’s goth-rock band from fifteen years of discographic oblivion, but believe you me, my more conscientious lace-clad cronies are creaming themselves – and I can see why.
Mourning Sun is fifty-five minutes of pure goth heaven. Distorted guitars, tapping bass and layered synths blend together and drip through the aural tract like midnight-coloured caramel, seasoned with Carl McCoy’s gritty vocals – one moment soulful and rich, the next channelling the ominous voice of the summoned demon in a certain class of horror film. Slipping seamlessly from one track to the next,
Mourning Sun is a complete listening experience – close your eyes and you can see the goths weaving to and fro across smoke-filled rooms. If that sounds a touch pretentious, it is; but that, in the end, is what the genre is all about, and if you can’t take it with a pinch of salt you should really find some other way to spend your time.
As an introduction to a band who set the tone for a decade’s-worth of teenage navel-gazing poetry, it would be hard to better
Mourning Sun; and established fans will welcome it like an old friend. So go, don your winkle-pickers and spread the word:
Fields of the Nephilim are back, and the boys done good.
8/10
UM’s Review Rating Scale
Official Website of Fields of the Nephilim
Official Website of SPV
get this!
