Fields of the Nephilim--Gehenna to Elizium

Fields of the Nephilim--
Gehenna to Elizium

[Updated October 1005--very long abandoned--look for occasional updates only.
UPDATE OCTOBER 2007--repairs to missing files on the photos page, very sorry about those.]

For five years the rock band I loved best was Fields of the Nephilim, an astonishing, deeply arcane British unit which produced some of the most powerful and beautiful spiritual music in my experience. Beginning with a basic interest in ritual magick and progressing through an increasingly tighter focus from the Apocrypha, angelology and the legend of the Nephilim, to Sumerian lore, to Crowley/Spare atavism into chaos magick and thence to where none may follow, the band was a faithful mirror of the spiritual journey of its shamanic leader, Carl McCoy. I've written extensively about their work, and you can read about the band's history as well as their deep mythological substrates, here. However, when the Fields disbanded, singer/songwriter/seer McCoy resurfaced five years later with a reincarnation called the Nefilim. Their only LP, Zoon, an intense retelling of "The Descent of Inanna", is a challenging and deeply rewarding ride. The research and writing of my essay on it - Venus Decomposing - was a harrowing experience, itself a version of Inanna's journey to the Dark City-- which for all I know was McCoy's intent.

You can read them all here.

Gehenna To Elizium, my history/discography of the Nephilim.
Leviathan Chained, the lore and mythology of the band's music.
Venus Decomposing, my walk through the album Zoon.
Substance From Our Shadow, my first impression of the single "Chaocracy".

Read Metallurgy Magazine's great ZOON-era interview with Carl, plus pix.
Go on to my collection of Nephilim photos.

Some useful and interesting Nephilim web sites.
a wonderful essay on ZOON.
Elizium For the Sleepless Souls - beautiful site; home of The Watchman FOTN mailing list.
Also includes a translation of Zillo magazine's 9/97 Nephilim interview.
Rummel's Cemetery Gates has an Autumn 1997 interview - with photos.
The Ultimate Band List's FOTN page.

..go back to Angelynx Archive.

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