Great essay, despite having travelled through many musical obsessions in the decades since it came out, most a million miles away from goth, Elizium remains a sublime experience, and an album that often gets played in full, far far too loud, at too late a time on the rare occasions I have the house to myself.
Yes! I've always thought of FotN albums as being immersive rituals, they certainly sit outside the wider goth genre in this respect as like you say, the atmospherics, themes and theatrics command an atmospheric weight that is rarely seen by any other acts. I have a similar feeling to Coil's music, but as much as I enjoy some of their work, it hits from a very different, queasier angle! Very much looking forward reading what you have to say about Killing Joke.
Thanks Mark. I came to Psychic TV / Throbbing Gristle / Coil quite late, and TBH Coil is the only outfit within that ecosystem that I can get on with musically. Some of the later stuff is really beautiful.
Really enjoyed this post. I love Fields of the Nephilim! Saw them live in the 1980s when they toured the U.S. & it was an amazing show. Looking forward to future posts on Killing Joke (one of my cats is named after Jaz Coleman!) & Richard Stanley.
Great essay, despite having travelled through many musical obsessions in the decades since it came out, most a million miles away from goth, Elizium remains a sublime experience, and an album that often gets played in full, far far too loud, at too late a time on the rare occasions I have the house to myself.
Haha, likewise! I rarely listen to pure goth these days, but if I do it's usually FoTN, and almost always Elizium.
Yes! I've always thought of FotN albums as being immersive rituals, they certainly sit outside the wider goth genre in this respect as like you say, the atmospherics, themes and theatrics command an atmospheric weight that is rarely seen by any other acts. I have a similar feeling to Coil's music, but as much as I enjoy some of their work, it hits from a very different, queasier angle! Very much looking forward reading what you have to say about Killing Joke.
Thanks Mark. I came to Psychic TV / Throbbing Gristle / Coil quite late, and TBH Coil is the only outfit within that ecosystem that I can get on with musically. Some of the later stuff is really beautiful.
Really enjoyed this post. I love Fields of the Nephilim! Saw them live in the 1980s when they toured the U.S. & it was an amazing show. Looking forward to future posts on Killing Joke (one of my cats is named after Jaz Coleman!) & Richard Stanley.
Thanks Kimberly. Good to meet another FoTN + KJ enthusiast, and you clearly have great taste - especially when it comes to cat-naming!