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Rating: "The strangers came and they were not like us. Something else, but wearing the skins of men, the eyes of men, their hands. We took collecting the sounds of them in our flesh, the aorisms of power, without substance, yet entirely substance; an unexplored integrity of sound. In these waveforms of kelestic symmetry, we felt the remote passing into definite. We saw the wings of change form within the ichor of their sounds; a thick smoke, sweet upon the tongue, curling into unimagined shapes that suggested surrender, ecstasy, pain, renewal.......
Our bodies begin to pulsate to a subliminal rhythm and we feel the imminence of contained energy, soon to be released. We dilate our throats to the air and resonate the ancient names. We convoke the Nephilim, and they come to us, strangers with the eyes of men..."
Extract from "The Coming of the Watchers", Mesopotamia circa 4000 BC.
"Earth Inferno" has a truly unique flavor, both for being the last release of the Fields of the Nephilim in their original lineup (let me say, both "Zoon" under the name Nephilim and the last work dated 2005 titled "Mourning Sun" have nothing to do with, indeed they tarnish, the name of a legend long dead and thus even more fascinating and shrouded in an aura of dust and darkness) and because it is a live album that in just nine tracks, with a total duration of about 78 minutes, captures the epic of a band that in just three full-length albums (plus a myriad of singles, EPs, and "posthumous" collections), in my opinion, has managed to give modern music something infinitely original, transcendental, unclassifiable and ethereal at the same time. From the beginnings flavored with strong bluesy and western legacies, with references to Sergio Leone's spaghetti western, to the majestic and epic "Sumerian" gothic rock of "Elizium", they have been able to distinguish themselves remarkably within a new wave/dark/gothic scene still heavily indebted to the tradition-breaking post punk/electro derivation and leave behind numerous proselytes who nevertheless never knew how to reach the compositional peaks of our men (see the equally excellent Garden of Delight).
The live album in question was recorded by combining the performances of the Fields of the Nephilim on three different dates around the fall of 1990, namely at the Brixton Academy, Wolverhampton Civic Centre, and Hamburg SportsHalle and represents the sublime testimony of their ability to create evocative atmospheres, sometimes cathartic, sometimes cosmic, varying between frantic, shamanic and/or reflective rhythms, through clean guitars capable of drawing arpeggios that know how to evoke ancient past suggestions (see preamble) or distorted, for scorching solos of clear blues/rock '70s matrix, all bound by the charismatic, deep, perfectly dominant presence of a monstrous Carl McCoy on vocals, baritone and hoarse narrator/high priest of our men's transcendental sound.
I think it's completely useless to describe "Earth Inferno" song by song (I imagine that the potential reader of this review is quite familiar with the group's discography, as well as their sound proposal, otherwise it's better to start from the alpha, therefore from "Dawnrazor" and not the omega, i.e., the LP under review), so I will limit myself to providing the tracklist:
•· Intro (Dead but Dreaming) - For Her Light (At the Gates of Silent Memory - Paradise Regained)
•· Moonchild
•· Submission
•· Preacher Man
•· Love Under Will
•· Sumerland
•· Last Exit For The Lost
•· Psychonaut
•· Dawnrazor
In conclusion, from a purely technical point of view, the audio quality of the album is extremely high (perhaps too much, so much as to arouse some doubts about its actual live production without the use of post-production overdubs), the individual technique is amazing as is the cohesion and compactness of the individual instrumental components, orchestrations included. The artwork is also noteworthy and evocative, containing an excerpt from an ancient testimony of a scribe of the temple of Ishur Ninku concerning the invocation of the mythical figures of the Nephilim (see preamble), moreover present and mentioned even in the Bible.
Nothing to say, a top-quality product that marks the end of the long artistic journey of a great band.
A must-have.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Intro (Dead but Dreaming) / For Her Light / At the Gates of Silent Memory / (Paradise Regained) (16:10)
02 Moonchild (05:25)
Moonchild...
Well it's a righteous dream
But out of mind, yeah
A righteous dream
But out of mind, yeah
Tend the horses
Let 'em crawl
Put 'em in their cages
That's righteous for the soul
Open your eyes
And despite what's deep
Longevity
Well, that's righteous for the weak
Moonchild
Lower me down, lower me down
Moonchild
Lower me down down down down down down
Well it's a righteous day
But out of mind, yeah
And I give your last rite
Oh, it's a righteous day
Never return, I will wait no more
Take no prisoners in the promised war
You'll die for this
Die for this
Take them
Moonchild
Lower me down, lower me down
Moonchild
Lower me down
Moonchild
Lower me down,
Moonchild
Lower me down down down down down down
Moonchild
Here come the silver pieces
Can't you see
You're losing me
Moonchild
Lower me down, lower me down
Moonchild
Lower me down
Moonchild
Lower me down,
Moonchild
Lower me down down down down down down
Moonchild
Lower me down,
Moonchild
Lower me down down down down down down
Revisit to an empty hall
You can't see I've been burned before
Well they tear you down and they'll bear your shame
Longevity hear my pain
Moonchild (lower me down)
And I'm waiting, and I'm raging,
And I'm waiting, and I'm raging,
And a white moon falls, a black moon calls,
Waiting to defy the One
Moonchild (lower me down)
Longevity, longevity,
I melt down where I burned before
Longevity, longevity,
I melt down where I burned before
And I know where you lay
I melt down where I burned before
And I know where you lay (down, down, down)
Okay
Moonchild
04 Preacher Man (04:51)
Well he talks in confusion
and he faults your point of view
You talk about his apparition
and he talks
hear him laughing at you
Contamination and radiation
Let it crawl while the city sleeps
Your turn to lay for bait for a while
Now you're melting through your burning fields
and all my people say oh
Stop!
When he talks
connected scars reopen
A thousand fingers
reach out for you
We don't feel no contamination
We don't feel no contamination
We don't feel no contamination
We don't feel no contamination
Oh keep talking
You're a hunter I'm a wolf
Yeah keep talking
I'm the preacher you're a fool
Contamination and radiation
Let it crawl while the city sleeps
Your turn to lay for bait for a while
Now you're melting through your burning fields
That's when my people say oh
We don't feel no contamination
Radiation, contamination
Radiation, contamination
Radiation, contamination
Radiation
07 Last Exit for the Lost (10:19)
Would you pay life's pleasures to see me
Does it hurt for I want you to remain
I run your hair through in another decade
Sumerland holds me in sumerian haze
Pain in places where the lovers mourn
Arranging the play things up and down the hall
Forever remain for every day
My honour remains
Forever remain
Between the spaces along the wall
Appearing faces that disappear at dawn
We're getting closer I can see the door
Closer and closer Kthulhu calls
Forever remain
Forever remain
You'll seek it it'll take a while
You'll seek this if it's a thousand miles
Take what fate brings eternal and desire
I'll change those faces then I take their smile
We're getting close to you I can see the door
Closer and closer or is it there at all
Forever remain
Forever remain
This could be my last regress
Last exit for the lost
This could be my last regress
Last exit for the lost
This could be my last regress
Precious for the lost
08 Psychonaut (09:05)
Wildly guessing:
pray now for how long we're falling from ecstasy like changelings freedom returned for new souls hereafter well enrapture me and i'll change this temple i'll hold inside you this temple i'll hold beside you let it spill from my mouth sweet nectar for a thousand young are you ready for this here i come pray now for hours pray for me could you love we're falling from ecstasy you did suffer leviathan you did suffer leviathan we are children now but our curses come and glory days our kingdom come you look older turned to stone freedom sold us pray now for how long pray for me could you love we're falling from ecstasy you did suffer leviathan you deserve us leviathan pray for me let us gather hallucinations from our private minds let us witness the reincarnation of the sun may the mountains shake you to the core xi dingir anna kanpa xi dingir kia kanpa pray for leviathan leviathan pray for leviathan leviathan pray for leviathan leviathan pray for leviathan i hear him call pray now pray now yes I do pray for me pray for me and you did suffer and you did suffer
09 Dawnrazor (09:08)
Cutting razors and violence
Recalling cutthroats razor sin
Ee're watching heaven as the sun goes down
I watch the sun burst it hits the ground
You've gone too far
Dawnrazor's falling brush their skin
Dawnrazor's falling brush their skin
Dawnrazor
Dawnrazor well now
Dawnrazor
Dawnrazor well now
Only dreams survive
Been lost before
Only dreams survive
Been cut before
Cutting razors and violence
Recalling cutthroats razor sin
You've gone to far
Dawnrazor's falling brush their skin
Dawnrazor's falling brush their skin
Dawnrazor's falling brush their skin
Our dark angel has fallen brush their skin
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