Note that this is REAL Gothic rock, not in any way to be compared to say, "Switchblade Symphony." While that too is Goth, it's another type altogether.

Nephilim is based on true Gothic genre. The blending of ancient magick (the lead singer is an avid occultist), H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu, the Necronomicon, Aleister Crowley, and other diverse influences, is but the pinnacle.

Lead singer McCoy is a shaman of sorts, who leads his band into this aura of otherwordliness. His voice, dark, and often sepulchral, is not to be paralleled, and makes most of the music much more electrifying.

The musicianship by all, in fact, is excellent, not to be biased.

McCoy takes on different roles in the songs. At times, he becomes his infamous yet mysterious "preacher" figure, next, a desperado torn between his powers of life and death, standing at the brink of apocalypsic doom and gazing into the abyss, or, as in the track "Vet For The Insane," he becomes an imprisoned psychotic who sings about "the flowers in your kitchen they weep for you..."

One of the most outstanding songs on here is Psychonaut Lib, an entrancing work which features a prayer to bring on "Leviathan" and conjurs the spirits of the earth and sky through McCoy's singing and riveting 6000 year old chants...

Truly bizarre, truly enrancing, and above all, a word which few dare use anymore: truly ROMANTIC gothic.

No love songs on here, and well, I am happy, for one, that this band focused more on the true meaning of Gothic than moping about in black and singing pretty songs about breaking up. Break up songs are not romantic, everybody breaks up.

It's different when you actually see past the world you live in, and break through to the other side.

Much like Morrison, another shamanic figure, McCoy leads us into a dreamscape which doesn't seem that far from out own reality at present...


The Initiation   February 20, 1999
 7 out of 11 found this review helpful

This album, bought -- if I recall correctly -- entirely on a whim, was the beginning of my infatuation with Fields of the Nephilim, a relationship that has grown over the years.

Coming across this album at the same time I was developing a fascination with all things occult, particularly the ceremonial magick of Crowley, I found it to be the perfect soundtrack for my readings and experimentations -- powerful, brooding, dark, mystical, and always with the sense of something strange and unknown hidden just out of reach. Song titles like "Psychonaut Liber 111," "Love Under Will," and "Moonchild" kept up the Thelemic romance, not to mention the hints at a Lovecraftian universe and the voice of the old Beast himself (in otherwords, Aleister Crowley).

All in all, an album beyond compare, as all the FoTN works are, and certainly worthy of far better than the sneering reviews from 'experts' that Amazon has provided us with.

Get a copy, and prepare for your own initation into the mysteries of the Nephilim.


Not just a briliant Goth band   January 13, 2005
 6 out of 10 found this review helpful

Fields Of The nephilim are and never were just a band that became what the word Goth means in the music world.They were and still are a place where one can go to gain knowledge through musical soundscapes about the ancient world ,The ocult, and other forces that still have a place in this world we live in.The musicianship is first class. The lyrics are thought provoking and dare the listener to step out of their comfort zone and take a trip into the history lessons that were never taught in school.Carl Mcoy the vocalist and lyric writer is the driving force that started this band.He was raised by parents that were deeply religous and as a child he heard the word "Nephilim" alot, which set him on a path less traveled,Drawing from his experience and knowledge about these little known entities that were said to be the offspring of "The Watchers" who were fallen angels that came to earth after the ice age and were said to have influenced the first civilisation of humankind, The Sumerians. Mcoy named his band after them,but was also influenced by ancient shamanisn and the ocult and in the vidio that acompanied the song "Psychonaut'a reinactment of the saux indians initiation where one is strung up by hooks embedded in the chest is displayed. The vidio was banned for awhile from certain telivision vidio programs because it was considered too shocking to show.The band hardly ever got regular airplay but dispite this became one of the most influentinal bands of our time.In protest of how other bands presented an image, "The Nephilim "created a style of dress that depicted the cowboys in old spagheti westerns, wearing long frock coates and hats covered with flour to creat an old world feel.This image was copied not just by fans but also became the main charachter in the comic book "Dark man"directly modeled after Carl.Sadly they only toured the united states once ,but now all can view their stage shows by picking up the self titled DVD,where one can also view The vidio "psychonaut" and many others,however keep in mind that vidios of this time were in their infancy and cannot be compared with todays technical advantsments .It doesn`t matter realy which CD you pick up because all of them are steller.They do have an official website that I`m sure you can find on your own and I can tell you it isn`t at all like any others I have visited.If your ready for an adventure please pick up this and other CD`s because a whole new world awaits.


Intelligent textural goth   January 24, 1999
If you area fan of gothic music and have not heard this band, you are seriously missing something. This "greatest hits" package is a good place to start, but if you want a great album experience, pick up Elizium, a truly landmark album.