Fields of the Nephilim's new album, Mourning Sun, finally dropped through the letterbox today. It pretty much continues from where Elizium finished in 1990 - slow-burning, gothic rock centred around McCoy's gravelly vocals - and eschews the speed metal attempts from Zoon. None of the songs are under five minutes and the album closes* with the 10 minute title track. There's a few new flourishes, such as a choir and female vocals thrown into the mix, but if Elizum was your bag, this one should be too.

* The Limited Edition comes with an extra track, a nine-and-a-half minute version of Zager and Evans's In the Year 2525, which follows in the hallowed footsteps of The Sisters of Mercy's covers of Emma and Jolene. It also comes in a totally black CD case (apart from the cardboard slipcover).

http://www.mourningsun.co.uk

The First disc sounds pretty good - they should swap Goldfrapp's Ooh La La for Number 1 and drop Babyshambles though. The second disk... erk: Coldplay, Keane, Athlete and Embrace? They're practically the same band. And The Tears? Seriously, just reform Suede.

“Disc 1
1. Kaiser Chiefs - 'I Predict A Riot'
2. Gorillaz - 'Feel Good Inc.'
3. Goldfrapp - 'Number 1'
4. Franz Ferdinand - 'Do You Want To'
5. Kasabian - 'Club Foot'
6. The Killers - 'Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine'
7. Hard-Fi - 'Living For The Weekend'
8. Bloc Party - 'Two More Years'
9. Scissor Sisters - 'Take Your Mama'
10. Babyshambles - 'Fuck Forever'
11. The Automatic - 'Recover'
12. Queens Of The Stone Age - 'Little Sister'
13. The Ordinary Boys - 'Boys Will Be Boys'
14. The Futureheads - 'Hounds Of Love'
15. The Bravery - 'Unconditional'
16. Razorlight - 'Somewhere Else'
17. The Subways - 'Oh Yeah'
18. Test Icicles - 'Circle Square Triangle'
19. Maximo Park - 'Apply Some Pressure'
20. Paul Weller - 'From The Floorboards Up'


Disc 2
1. Coldplay - 'Speed Of Sound'
2. The Magic Numbers - 'Forever Lost'
3. Oasis - 'The Importance Of Being Idle'
4. New Order - 'Waiting For The Sirens' Call'
5. Keane - 'Everybody's Changing'
6. Athlete - 'Wires'
7. Embrace - 'Ashes'
8. Snow Patrol - 'Spitting Games'
9. Turin Brakes - 'Fishing For A Dream'
10. Beck - 'E-Pro'
11. Doves - 'Black And White Town'
12. Stereophonics - 'Devil'
13. Kubb - 'Wicked Soul'
14. Super Furry Animals - 'Lazer Beam'
15. Elbow - 'Forget Myself'
16. The Tears - 'Lovers'
17. Bedouin Soundclash - 'When The Night Fills My Soul'
18. Supergrass - 'St Petersburg'
19. Feeder - 'Tumble And Fall'”

NME.COM - News - NME's Essential Bands CD out now

(oh, and Slowdive's old CDs have been re-released)

I'm quite enjoying Sigur Rós's Hoppípolla - unfortunately, I can't find hide nor hair of it on the Intarwebs apart from a 29-second clip on XFM. Instead you'll just have to watch the video for Gorillaz Dirty Harry, which is nowhere as good but decent it its own way.

• Bloc Party's Reading set is up on iTunes.
• Muse are going to release a DVD of the Absolution Tour.
• And Mogwai's next album will be called Mr. Beast.

A small confession: back in the 80s I was marginally a Goth. I never wrote poetry or a journal on how depressing my life was (not least because it wasn't), I just wore black jeans, black T-shirts and - even at school, rebelliously - black boots. Mainly I was in it for the music. The Sisters of Mercy were fairly huge and I saw them at Wembley Arena. Likewise their erstwhile offspring The Mission in the same venue (but a different date, obviously).

One band of the era I wished I seen were Fields of the Nephilim who struggled manfully against critical derision (the NME had a weekly spoof devoted to them) despite seemingly lacking any sense of humour whatsoever themselves, and managed to release three albums of increasingly complex and longer songs (or more proggy if you wish) before splitting due to the usual musical differences (lead singer Cark McCoy felt he was the music; everyone else felt differently).

McCoy - who's singing voice was so deep even Barry White was impressed - went on to gather some session musicians and record an industrial/metal album under the name The Nefilim. The rest of the band recruited a new singer and released two albums as Rubicon.

There were some re-union rumblings in the late 90s and a disowned selection of out-takes released by a disgruntled record label. Early this year, the official Neph website (est. 2003) said sole remaining member McCoy would be releasing a Fields of the Nephilim album this year. After a few regular checks of the site showed no movement, I'd almost given up expectations - but apparently Mourning Sun is landing later this month.