Fields of the Nephilim

   Also known as the Nephilim or Nefilim.

   British rock band established in 1983 who came to prominence with the gothic subculture of the late 1980s and early 1990s—with devoted fans to the present. The Nephilim (Hebrew for “the fallen ones”) are announced in the Book of Enoch, and Carl McCoy, lead singer and lyricist for the band, describes them as the first shamans. McCoy is an occultist and neo-shaman whose inspiration derives from the Western occult tradition and indigenous sources. The title of the song “Moonchild” (1988) is derived from occultist Aleister Crowley’s novel of the same name. “Psychonaut,” allegedly recorded in ritual-like circumstances by candlelight and accompanied by incense, is also the title of a book on Chaos Magick by Phil Carroll. The song includes an incantation “zi dingir kia kanpa / zi dingir anna kanpa,” meaning “spirit, god of the earth, remember / spirit, god of the sky, remember,” allegedly in Sumerian/neo-Babylonian and from the Necronomicon (originally by H. P. Lovecraft), and the video includes footage of McCoy in a sun dance rite. The Nephilim’s enigmatic and mystical lyrics engage with magical, shamanistic, and occult themes, some of them sourced from McCoy’s automaticwriting experiences, and both McCoy’s art and lyrics are often inspired by the work of the occultist and artist Austin Osman Spare.