Elizium was Fields of the Nephilim's third full- length for Beggars Banquet, and is now part of a series of reissues from the label. Amongst other artists treating 1998 as the year of revival, Fields of the Nephilim are planning a reunion tour and a new album.

Well- experienced and focused on their vision by the time of this album's 1990 release, Elizium found the band with a much more treated studio sound and slightly fewer guttural vocals from frontman Carl McCoy. The only thing wrong with this scenario is that there are points where the album slips into a sound that's not too far from late- '80s glam rock. The track "Submission," for example, jumps into a flailing guitar solo midway through before dropping to a quieter moment, then gradually builds back up to more steel- string masturbation.

Getting off on your instruments doesn't necessarily make for a bad album, though. Although it comes off as out of place for a band that likes to hide in the shadows, sometimes it's just darn fun. And there are other fun things on this album, like the clever play of "(Paradise Regained)," a jangly- dancy kind of guitar song and easily the most likable cut on the album. However, when the tracks average in at around 7 and- a- half- minutes per song, a cute jangly- dancy guitar song might be a needed break from the intensity of the rest of the disc.

Fields of the Nephilim is a band that wants to hide in your dreams, to implant itself into surreal images of your subconscious. Although they fail at that particular goal on Elizium by taking a step out of the shadows, perhaps they achieve it by making sure their tunes get stuck in your head. And they will, once you get to know them. So say hello, introduce yourself, and prepare for the visions of the Nephilim.

-Skaht Hansen