Which band has been the most influential:The Sisters Of Mercy or Fields of the Nephilim
I have to go for The Sisters, even though they’ve totally trashed their reputation since the 80s and The Neff have made more, and better ellpees than them. I’m listening to Garden of Delight and Merciful Nuns these days. Copyists of both but very very good ones.
“White man, white woman, white baby.
Black man, black woman, black baby.
White man, black woman, black baby.
Black man, white woman, black baby”
….. er, sorry, wrong Black Planet….
Fear Of A Goth Planet
Influence wise, it has to be The Sisters, if only because I can’t really think of anyone influenced by the Neff.
Musically though….oooh, this is a tough one alright. The Sisters made two great albums and a clutch of brilliant EPS, but are let down by Vision Thing (which would have been a decent EP if it was only the first two songs and then the last two), whereas the Nephilim don’t have a stinker like that in their catalogue, even if Dawnrazor does show their workings a bit too clearly. And The Sisters never made an album as ambitious (or as good) as Elyzium. But the Nephilim just don’t have that fabulously witty and cynical celebration of apocalypse that The Sisters embodied…can I call it a draw?
The Sisters probably are more influential, but at least FOTN keep (slowly) releasing new music. Morning Sun might have been a few years ago now but it is a terrific album, and McCoy is promising more to come.
Kudos to Eldritch for Floodland (their best by a mile), but now he seems to be so busy saying “I’m not goth, me” and “All music companies are bad” that he doesn’t actually bother to record anything. As he never tours in my neck of the woods, my Sisters experience stops at Vision Thing. Cheers, Andrew…
Well I’d argue that given how Fields of the Nephilm were strongly influenced by the Sisters of Mercy then anyone influenced by the Nephilm must have been indirectly influenced by the Sisters as well. So Eldritch wins!
(This is the Goth version of the “every metal band owes a debt to Black Sabbath” argument)
The Neff, I suppose. Better players, better writers. But, ver Neff were just too enamoured with Crowley to make a record as accessible and just so damn catchy as ‘Floodland’. How much of that was Steinman, how much Eldritch? Eldritch certainly never matched it.
Yes, I’ve often wondered that myself: how much did Steinman contribute? His monumental production worked so perfectly with Eldritch’s dark chrome vision but it was never to be replicated, sadly. Before this, I just thought ‘Meatloaf, shite’.
Something like More certainly appears to betray the hand of Steinman (beyond his writing credit, I mean) – it’s 8:21 on Vision Thing and could easily be halved, but presumably there is some sort of arch Eldritch humour in having it so much longer than is necessary.
I always think that First Last and Always is the worst of the Sisters albums, which immediately marks me out as some sort of know nothing idiot, but although I prefer the Neph, the Sisters are way more influential.
That’s the default stance of Sisters Heads, they were so disappointed with FALAA after the classic run of eps.
I think it depends on your mood… FALAA is the definitive Sisters album in many ways, the following albums Eldritch’s Floodland and then the new band with VT. As I loved the early/mid eighties I still look back on that early era fondly. The Nephs seemed at the time to be copyist goths, but have proved to me since that they are due a great deal of respect. They’re both good – but I agree the Sisters have it!