It’s certainly not the first time to round off the gig going year with a show from the Nephs. They do like playing as close to the Summer and Winter solstices as possible. Indeed, a poster behind me reminds of when they played this same venue on the 21st Dec 2016 with Balaam And The Angel. I don’t remember it being this bloody cold though and not even the sound of Western themes greeting us from the PA before bands could warm us up. Of course there’s some great and very apt snowbound examples of the genre and its impossible not to shiver whilst thinking of them.
Support tonight is The Membranes and the place is suitably busy as they come on. They kindly talk about giving us flowers and discuss ‘The Magical and Metaphysical Properties of Plants.’ A keyboardist who I don’t recall from last time I saw the band has a garland of them round her head and a veil over her face. She also provides some rafter hitting vocals at times during the set which gives it a diverse twist from them being just coming from frontman John Robb. I never really appreciated this band until they reformed in 2009 and a couple of their more recent albums found their way to me but the songs with themes of science and nature such as ‘What Nature Gives… Nature Takes Away’ are certainly intriguing. They move through twitchy energetic post-punk groovers to dub laden brooders which remind a bit of a versatile mix of everything from The Clash to PiL. One-second they are telling us all about Snow Monkey’s from Japan the next screaming about the murder of trees. It’s educational as well as groovy and obviously they have a message that’s hard to ignore. I wasn’t sure what the audience thought of this bunch of post-punk, eco-hippies but I enjoyed them and sure enough they wrap things up to plenty of applause. A good choice of support for this short run of dates.
Now tonight it was something slightly different from the headliners. Fields Of The Nephilim are transporting us back to 1988 and playing the whole of their second album ‘The Nephilim.’ They have done this sort of thing before and there are many of us old enough to remember seeing songs played live around release date. It’s an album that sits comfortably between the more vicious video nasty bravado of Dawnrazor (1987) and the astral and ephemeral Elyzium (1990). If I was pushed to choose it also contains my favourite number by the band so expectations are high.
Space is at a premium and people are guarding it but as soon as ‘Endemoniada’ chugs into gear I realise there is space in the pit for those who want to get active. Let’s face it where else would you want to be to bounce around to it all? It’s obvious the band are tight and this is well rehearsed with the clarity of every note being felt and heard. Not only is the sound spot on but so is the lighting during the set moving from pastel tangerine to green, dark blues and reds. Visually there is not an overkill of dry ice and you can see the band pretty clearly. McCoy is obviously the centre of attention; we hang on every word and as he abruptly finalises the first number with the command “stop” everyone thrusts fingers in air on point.
There’s a good balance of material on the album. We have the frenzied gun-slinging power of ‘Phobia’ and the hit, seeped in Crowley’s lore, that is ‘Moonchild’, the first chant of that title sending shivers down the spine. ‘Chord Of Souls’ is one to really go wild at, an underrated anthem full of ice. Thankfully as it churns away it is as close to a religious experience, and one tearing our fucking hearts out as suggested, the pit is much better natured than in days gone by. Anyway, there’s time to calm down with ‘Shiva’ and ‘Celebrate’ a couple of songs that although loved by many never quite did it for me like the rest of the album. Everything builds towards that epoch defining funeral song that is ‘Last Exit For The Lost’ we start slowly, caught up in the flow which becomes ever faster twisting over as it builds into a massively powerful finale. Only a couple of people have attempted standing on shoulders tonight, there are no pyramids but by this everyone is enraptured and the audience are left suitably breathless.
I believe they had only played a couple of extras by way of encore after this last regress on the other couple of nights. Tonight, we got three from ‘Preacher Man’ stalking the irradiated wasteland to the trembling ‘Blue Water’ and finally the eerie chainsaw buzz of ‘Dawnrazor’ I doubt anyone left feeling anything less than very satisfied. Each Nephilim gig is special in its own way as well as an incredibly evocative experience. I’ve seen them countless times and this was up with the best especially on a personal level as I found myself fully engaged and swept along without the distractions of taking photos or notes. A fine way to exit the year!
Review: Pete Woods
Photos: With thanks Guy Smallman
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