Lisnaholic

Elizium by Fields of the Nephilim:

Well, Between me and TH, I think we prove that old saying, “Beauty is in the ear of the beholder“, because where TH hears beauty, I’m afraid I don’t. A completely new band to me, so I came in with zero expectations, apart from what the cover might suggest: "probably not Dolly-Parton style music."

First track: very effectively sets a mood, but also gives me a sense of foreboding: this is not a mood I particularly want to spend time in.
Second track: at least it has a faster tempo than I expected, but introduces the vocals, which I found to be the weakest aspect of the album.
Actually some of TH’s positive responses are exactly my negatives:-
When the vocalist took a break, I liked Gates, Sumerland and Wail of Sumer best.
For me, the lead-guitar playing was the best bit about the songs: surprisingly smooth with a hint of Pink Floyd about it, but then also there were moments when I thought, “Oh, right – that’s why I don’t bother listening to PFloyd any more.” I think that feeling surfaced most often when those slow, massive, drums came in, like the cue for some big stadium-rock lightshow.

The lyrics:As an atheist, I hear quite enough about god from the established religions: I am really not interested in hearing about, what exactly? Pretend, HPLovecraft gods of some kind?
It’s a bit of a cheap shot to pick on lyrics out of context, but when the singer says: "Tell me, what is reality?" I feel like replying,“It’s what happily awaits me when I can be done with all your suffocating, heavy-handed theatricality.”

My short appraisal: some very accomplished musical interludes swamped by a vocalist determined to conjure up some gloomy goth mood which I found pretty tedious. If we are giving ratings, I’ll give this 5/10, because the music is very competent throughout and because I don’t want to annoy SGR, but tbh this is not an album I would return to.

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"Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953