FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM AND SPECIAL GUESTS INKUBUS SUKKUBUS & PYTHIA
LONDON SHEPHERDS BUSH EMPIRE 12 & 13/08/08
An announcement a few months ago that Metal Hammer were sponsoring two very special nights of Fields Of The Nephilim was met by quite a bit excitement and it also got the rumour mill overflowing big time. The two shows were to be billed as Ad Mortem and Ad Vitam and hypothetically people were saying one show would be old and one new material, one would be slow and one fast and that even big fan and singer from Him, Ville Valo would be joining Carl McCoy on stage for a duet. I sit here writing this review in the wake of the first night and neither of the first couple of things occurred and fingers crossed that fan Ville will stay in the audience tonight. There was no question of not attending both nights, I have seen Fields Of The Nephilim at virtually every London show including a memorable 3 nights including New Years Eve in a row at the Marquee when it was in Wardour Street. Many were fanatical about this lot 17 years ago and many turned up for last years Astoria reformation and were coming from all over Europe and further for these shows. Before I step outside myself lets talk about the supports.
Obviously female fronted bands are the flavour of the day, Octavia Sperati were at the Astoria and this time round we had Inkubus Sukkubus on the 12th and Pythia the 13th.
I have never managed to see Inkubus Sukkubus and really feel bad about this considering the fact they have been around for over 15 years. Well I couldn’t have had a better seat as they came on being in the photo pit and I was immediately enchanted by singer Candia, dressed like the Queen Of The May and beaming away obviously very happy to be here. I was not actually expecting a trio with a drum machine but luckily this did not detract from the performance and the sound was full and bombastic as they bit us with their brand of ‘Vampire Erotica’. The singer was happy to pose away for the couple of us snapping away and happily the group didn’t shroud themselves away in dry ice. The crowd who had been in the venue for up to 90 minutes (and at Ł3.80 a pint that’s not the best situation to be in) seemed to react well and enjoy the show, no doubt relieved to get some music at last.
Tossing her garland into the crowd Candia danced around the stage shadow boxing and was rewarded with a blow up guitar for her efforts from the crowd, for some reason there were a lot of inflatable Nimo’s about too, so we had no problem finding that particular fish tonight. I was not expecting a cover of ‘Paint It Black’ a song I normally cannot abide but here delivered with such a sassy fuelled gusto one could not help being taken over by the merry jig. I have to admit that the amount of songs on the set list stuck to the stage floor seemed a tad over ambitious and I was pleased that they did squeeze one I knew ‘Wytches’ into a most enjoyable set. ‘Blessed Be’, indeed!
When your first couple of shows are supporting Tarja and Ministry as was the case for Pythia you are hardly going to take a step back and play the capitals toilet venues. Funnily enough with the venue a lot emptier than the previous night, this may have been Pythia’s smallest audience to date. They wowed those not in the pub with their brand of bodice ripping fairytale metal which tonight saw singer Emily Alice dressed up a bit like Bo Peep. Luckily the band were no sheep and opener ‘Sweet Cantation’ was shaking the ornate theatre right to the rafters. The downside is that without any recorded output this band are only really familiar to those who have caught them previously or perhaps checked out the songs prior to the show tonight on their myspace page. The audience did not seem to be lapping this up on the whole and perhaps the metallic edge was lost on some. Indeed closer ‘Ride For Glory’ might have gone down better if the group had been opening for the likes of Saxon rather than these legendary Goths. Those that took the time and made the effort to get into this no doubt came away with a new band name on their lips; it will be interesting to see where Pythia go from here.
So onto death, Ad Mortem and the first of the Fields Of The Nephilim shows. I was obviously trying to dodge dry ice and get as many shots as I could in the allotted short time I had and was not instantly wowed. The group seemed tighter with a solo guitar intro taking us into the new song ‘Shroud (Exordium) from most recent album Mourning Sun. I almost feared the worst when they followed this up with ‘Straight To The Light’ and worried that they were perhaps going to cater to the new breed of Metal Hammer fans and play the whole album. Mind you it has to be said this flavoursome anthem virtually reeks of aged flour and has grown on me a lot since first hearing it but what we were all waiting for was to come….
Things really kicked off with a trip right back in time with ‘Trees Come Down’ going right back to the band’s roots (sorry), a track over twenty years old and still sounding fantastic. This was one of a few numbers aired tonight that I honestly never expected to hear live again. Managing to concentrate at last it was evident that the charismatic front-man was stealing the show and vocally sounded brilliant but it has to be said that compared to the Astoria show the re-jigged line up had obviously practised and were both more adept and confident. The new players are on the whole pretty much unknown. It was noted that Gizz Butt was no longer playing and had rather oddly swapped his position with band mate Gav King from The More I See. As for the others, John ‘Capachino’ Carter, Tom Edwards, and Lee Newell of Sacred Mother Tongue certainly do not deserve to go unmentioned.
This was illustrated by the more adventurous and more complex set-list. Revisiting the classic ‘The Nephilim’ album Endemoniada was full of gun-slugging bravado building up to the cranky “STOP” it ploughed away bass heavy like an out of control wagon. For me however the highlight of this (and maybe both) shows was the Elyzium material which I was gutted not to have seen included at the Astoria. It may have been a chill summer evening and one that was also wet but the warmth flowing from ‘Wail Of Summer’ and ‘And There Will Your Heart Be Also’ was nothing short of jaw-dropping. These had me shoegazing and off in another dimension. For some reason I always picture this, one of my favourite albums, alongside the visuals of one of my all time favourite films, ‘The Wicker Man’ and I was off to Summerisle with the fairies when they played this. Drugs were not necessary, what a trip to another dimension.
After this anything else was just a slight bonus and I have to admit the likes of Psychonaut and Moonchild (never a song I particularly cared for) could not follow such mighty majesty although they did spur some human pyramid building into action. There was one other major surprise apart from the seemingly now obligatory ‘Zoon’ material included in the set and that was ‘From The Fire’ a song from the ‘Fallen’ album put out by Jungle Records without Carl’s consent and a song that for all intents and purposes I was under the opinion had been disowned by the singer.
So what is to come in a few hours? Well ‘Dawnrazor’ numbers and ‘Last Exit For The Lost’ perhaps, we shall see……
Onto Ad Vitam and to quote another well known song by another legendary band, ‘All We Ever Wanted Was Everything’ and I knew I was going to get exactly that as the intro of ‘The Harmonica Man’ eerily peeled out the speakers. Having learnt by my own mistakes the previous night (crap pictures) I spent every second of my three song time thankfully getting better photos, however this was slightly difficult as I was also enraptured by and singing along to ‘Preacher Man’ as loud as possible. In fact tonight saw the merry audience really getting into things and with a few more well known historical anthems in the set there was a lot of singing going on. None of course could better the real McCoy. The audience were also busy worrying the security, by building human pyramids whilst the group played shrouded in eerie blue backlight.
The sound again was crystal clear and if all gigs sounded this sparkling I would be very happy, it was perfect in the mix and everything sounded absolutely fantastic. There was a bit of a crossover with ‘Moonchild’ and ‘From The Fire’ being played again and if I made one criticism it would be that a couple of songs from ‘The Nephilim’ such as ‘Chord Of Souls’ would have been a welcome addition to the set.
The best of the new songs from ‘Mourning Sun’ (in my opinion) ‘Xiberia (Seasons In The Ice Cage)’ futuristically bristled and steamed through the crowd with a heavy anger behind it. This is virtually bordering on death metal and the speed which it flew out may have caught the unwary by surprise (more like this on the next album please). You could not see the western sky for the dry ice but when ‘Dawnrazor’ hit it shredded and was probably the moment many had been waiting for, there was some healthy pit action this evening too with shirts off and circles falling over in the centre of the dance-floor; just like when this number first bullied its way through a crowd like a chainsaw through butter. Following this with ‘The Sequel’ just prolonged the mayhem and this was another totally unexpected bonus.
There really could only be one song included in the encore and sure enough ‘Last Exit For The Lost’ finished us off in style or it would have done if we were not allowed the calming touch of ‘Celebrate’ before wandering out dazed after two legendary shows. Funnily enough outside the venue I was introduced to Ville from HIM who had really enjoyed the gigs, thanking him for staying off the stage was the icing on the cake of a couple of fantastic shows. Here is to plenty more in the future.
Review by Pete Woods
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