Cradle of Filth - Existence is Futile (2021)

The cover art to Existence is Futile offers a lot to unpack, some sort of devilish orgy processing center against the burning wastes of Hell, with the unfortunate tortured and ravished souls farting ravens out of their butts before being fed to the Big Guy. A little unusual, but in that classic, literary sense that Cradle of Filth are such proponents for, and clearly the most interesting that Artūrs Bērziņš has yet created for the band. But what isn't nearly so strange is how absolutely killer this album is. They'd been cruising along with newfound success and critical respect for (in my estimation) the six albums before this one, but Existence is Futile is so dynamic and well-released that it almost instantly thrust to the top echelons of their entire discography, and it's since grown into my fave that they've written since 2000's formidable Midian.

By this point you know exactly what to expect, the Brits' hybrid of black, thrash, death and Gothic metal dowsed in synth-driven symphonics, poetic lyrics and the vocal array of a flight of imps of various shapes and sizes. But with this record, everything is just so flawlessly integrated that there's never a single second where I feel like a keyboard or effect oversteps its place. A lot of albums making such heavy use of orchestration run the risk of drowning out their metallic core, but not here, as every sinister lick is crystal clear, the bass lines brood along effectively and Skaroupka's drums are at their usual peak, like a storm hovering over a decaying castle on a rain-slicked hillside. The female choirs, the arrangements, this record is probably the closest they've come to a true 'symphonic metal' style, without going too overboard and ridiculous like a Dimmu Borgir or Fleshgod Apocalypse when they went into arguably hyper-orchestrated territory on certain efforts. This just feels 'right' the entire time, like you're signing up for a full, cinematic experience, a silent lost horror epic which has been given an entire score by the filthy libertines, and you are never jerked from its grasp.

In fact, though I won't say the album is perfectly catchy throughout its near hour of material, it is quite hard to pick out particular favorites because all the tunes are so bloody consistent. I love that technical thrash riffing that pulses below the orchestration of "Crawling King Chaos", or the Sabbat (UK)-like thrash and melodies that catapult into "Black Smoke Curling from the Lips of War", but even the softer interludes with their piano lullabies are good, and I loved the doomy swagger within "The Dying of the Embers". It's really just one that I'll happily spin fore to aft, with a great Scott Atkins production and the usual high standards for layout and packaging. It falls short of a masterpiece, perhaps, but Existence is Futile easily joins Midian, Dusk and Her Embrace and the 'Re-Mistressed' version of Cruelty and the Beast as a go-to album from these persistently entertaining ghouls.

Verdict: Win [8.75/10]

https://www.cradleoffilth.com/

Cradle of Filth - Midnight in the Labyrinth... (2012)

Cradle of Filth's music already has such a natural sweep and bombast to it that converting the metallics into sheer orchestration only seemed natural to me around the time Midnight in the Labyrinth, or Songs for the Recently Dead and Arisen showed up. This has always been a band refined at marketing, putting out elaborate products, focusing in hard on their videos, image, and so forth, and thus you shouldn't expect any less when they drop the heaviness to release a two-disc, 2 hour 20 minute collection of cuts across transformed into pure symphonic cheese from across their catalogue to date (in 2012). Unfortunately, while so much of this release is exactly what they promised, I can't help but feel that only the second of the two discs was actually necessarily...

Now, both of them are nearly identical, with the first one track longer, but the issue for me is that I had absolutely no interest in wanting to hear the narration from Dani Filth and Sarah Jezebel Diva. Filth is still putting sinister filters on his vocals as if he was still singing to the Gothic/black metal version, even going into a growl or two, and the whole thing seems boisterous, blustery and tremendously goofy. Did anyone really ask for this? One can certainly argue for the choir parts, they definitely contribute to the rousing evil feel of these epic compositions, but I am more than happy with the second disc, which simply converts a lot of the band's great tunes into pieces I can now use as a backdrop for a Gothic horror RPG, or even a glorified and more heavily produced dungeon synth album. Hearing "The Forest Whispers My Name", "Cruelty Brought Thee orchids" and "Dusk and Her Embrace" in this format is wonderful, really justifies the product, and they even keep the choirs though they are placed a little lower against the synthesized orchestra.

You can tell that some of the tunes here would be better with more natural instrumentation, but despite that I still think their material renders down to this version quite sincerely, as its obvious when they're composing a lot of the metal material they've got a Dark Wagnerian vision in mind to begin with. The organs and other tones simmer against the roiling storm-clouds of the bands' twisted British poetic imagination, making this perfect for a period piece vampire battle or some other Transylvanian epic, it's not all evil and creepy sounding, so bear that in mind; it's not such a great score for some unnerving Lovecraftian horror, but for something more historical it's wonderful. If only a little of the ego had been held in check, and they'd instead given us TWICE the songs in the pure instrumental/choral realm, this would be a home run release, but it ends up partly as corny as the digitized cover photo. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe there's a group of CoF devotees who really want to hear Dani's lustrous, demented narration while they bob for apples and compare spider-web tattoos, but I think Midnight in the Labyrinth is brought lower than its potential for this overindulgence.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

https://www.cradleoffilth.com/

Cradle of Filth - Cryptoriana - The Seductiveness of Decay (2017)

Hammer of the Witches in 2015 was a pivotal album for Cradle of Filth in that it garnered them a lot of the respect they had been missing since the 90s...for some of the prospective audience, maybe the respect they had always been missing. I enjoyed that one myself, not that it sounded much different than what they had already being steering towards since they 'righted the ship' in 2008 with Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder, but because I've always been a fan of the immense amount of detail and effort they put into the entire 'package' of their albums, and Hammer was no exception. Its successor, Cryptoriana - The Seductiveness of Decay furthered all that goodwill, even if it didn't generate quite the same level of buzz, and I'm going to admit that I like this one every bit as much as its predecessor, and appreciate that it's a sliver more atmospheric.

Insanely well-produced, Gothic black metal which is never shy on ambition, the album surges open with the thrilling, operatic "Exquisite Torments Await" and then never lets you free from its talons as you traverse its depths of vampiric myth and horror. In terms of orchestration and melody, I think this one does surpass the 4-5 albums prior to it. They very tastefully implement the choirs here seamlessly alongside blast beats and other bombastic swells of strings, horns, and other aural artifacts that populate their ceaseless Transylvanian/Victorian horror mindset. The guitars blaze along with plenty of riffing and technicality, sometimes bold enough to stand above the rest of the considerable arsenal, but just as often blending into the overall arrangement and structure...the point is, even if you're paying more attention to the eerie, angelic voices off in the distance, there's still a tasty little lick or lead that can impress you if you'll just isolate it, and as with previous albums the riffs themselves blend in a lot of heavy metal which you could trace directly back to NWOBHM gods like Iron Maiden, only sped up and amplified and thrust into the context of the darkness and narrative that this band alone seems to spawn.

It's big budget...lascivious Hammer Horror vibes translated into the cinematography of Dracula Untold or the Underworld series. Only with a little more substance than mere special effects and Gothic posturing by the attractive leads. Dani Filth plays his role as Snarling Laureate with aplomb, spitting out lines like 'She was the game, sublime' or 'The planchette is promissory' with a sanguine vigor between impish black metal rasps and his more death-metal-Martin-Walkyier guttural whispers and barks. There is no weakest link here. Marthus has become insane in his time with the band, just as adept as his formerly predecessors on the kit, and the fact that he's also so much involved in the synthesizers and general orchestration of the disc is critical. Guitarists Ashok and Shaw, who when you think about it sound like a pair of diabolic London occult detectives, work in perfect tandem, even where their tones are slightly thinned against the operatic backdrop. Lindsay might sound a little too committedly corny on a few of her vocal lines, which has long been a slight fault in the band, but she's certainly a little easier to take seriously than some of her own forebears.

It's not always the catchiest affair, and does suffer from a lazier or uninspired section in a couple of the tracks, but the amount of work Cradle put into this is unquestionable, and I'll always admire bands like this, proverbial shock rockers or visual artists who aim for a more imaginative package than your average four guys in black t-shirts at the bar. Not that there's anything wrong with them, mind you, but I've long enjoyed a good spectacle and these Brits rarely squander the opportunity to deliver us one.

Verdict: Win [8/10]

https://www.cradleoffilth.com/

Cradle of Filth - Midian (2000)

Midian was the second album in a row where I felt Cradle was dropping the smutty Gothic vampire Wordsworth mentality to explore some more compelling concepts that fit their musical style pretty well. I'm not saying that there isn't still a bit of that libertine sizzle in there, or that the delivery of the lyrics or the instruments had changed terribly much from efforts like Dusk and Her Embrace or Cruelty and the Beast, but I can't think of many bands that, from their inception, were pretty much destined to pay tribute to their countryman writer Clive Barker than this one. If the album title didn't give it away, he was a huge influence on this, with a healthy helping of Lovecraft for good measure. The cover artwork on this might not be their sexiest or highest quality photography; the creature looks a little cheesy as does the figure up in the purple clouds, but at least it has some detail to it and a nice color scheme that differentiated it from their others, with their awesome logo just at home as on any other of their releases.

What isn't in any question for me is the quality of the writing here, because SPOILER ALERT, Midian is my favorite album of their nearly three-decade career to date. The compositions are rich in variety, with a salvo of riffs in every track that instantly stamped me as memorable. This also has to be one of their best incorporations of pianos, synthesizers and ethereal female vocals that work in lockstep with the metal instruments, never coming across quite like a gimmick but rather a stew of components that would seem mandatory to create such a paean to the horror material which inspired them. I think the production also holds up quite well, especially at higher volumes, despite everything going on I can hear all the little guitar zips, every percussive strike, all the panoply of schizoid Dani Filth vocals and the numerous guest vocalists like Sarah Jezebel Deva and Mika Lindberg. Having Pinhead himself narrate on three of the tracks could have proven goofy if handled incorrectly, but instead he gives us a tone like the deepest lines of his iconic Cenobite and it blends right in. And while Cradle of Filth by this period was already a target of mockery for the black metal gatekeepers, before they seemed to magically reclaim acceptance in the late 'Oughts, Midian was sure as shit more creepy and evil sounding than a lot of the other bland purist third wave black metal spewing forth from Europe and the States by the turn of the century.

But it's the SONGs, the songs that draw me back to this one time and time again, and I've made it a habit that I listen to this one every October, a staple to go alongside the first five King Diamond discs, the first two Danzigs, Keeper of the Seven Keys, you know the drill. It's a perfect haunted house sort of sound, only more like a haunted labyrinth with unknowable Escher-like dimensions. "Her Ghost in the Fog" is one of top Cradle tracks, with its snake-charmer rhythms that range between warm and chilling, excellent flow of keyboards and some of the best Dani vocals ever which maniacally shift between throaty whispers, petulant sneers and guttural shadows. "Cthulhu Dawn" is one of their most impressive, charging nocturnal black metal pieces with great tremolo guitar lines and an almost weirdly Wagnerian vibe to the synthesizers, plus some of the more spooky female vocal harmonies they've ever used behind the surging verses which still have Filth plastered all over them. When it breaks into that high speed organ bit and the guitar melodies burn back in I swear I felt like I was in a tryst with with Peter Cushing, Vincent Price and Christopher Lee simultaneously. There is no track I would toss out of this..."Death Magick for Adepts", the more brutal "Lord Abortion", the thundering "Tortured Soul Asylum", even the purely instrumental synth piece "Creatures That Kissed in Cold Mirrors" is fucking Tales of the Crypt-level wonderful.

That the lyrics absolutely rule is no surprise, that's been the case for almost everything they've put out, even their most mediocre records like Midian's followup Damnation and a Day can be fun to read through; Filth puts more thought and time into composing these than almost anyone in the entire genre, and even if the guy could be teased for having the presence of a Gremlin tearing up the display shelves at a Hot Topic, I would probably just buy books of his lyrics alone, even if no songs were written to accompany them. A Byron to counter the twerk generation, as fluent in penny dreadfuls and occult lexicons as he is those most acclaimed Major British Dead Guys. Midian really puts the third-time charm in their most pivotal streak of records beginning with Dusk and Her Embrace, and for the life of me, even though I've enjoyed their last decade or so of albums from Godspeed to Cryptoriana, I can't tell you with a straight face that they've ever surpassed or progressed beyond what is written here. All mere permutations on peak Filth, platitudes for the appreciators of their perverse pantomimes. Jesus, now I'm beginning to sound a lot like this motherfucker, put a stake in me.

Verdict: Epic Win [9/10] (Dawn discovered her there)

https://www.cradleoffilth.com/

Cradle of Filth - Hammer of the Witches (2015)

Although I personally felt that Cradle of Filth regained its footing on the 2008 album Godspeed and the Devil's Thunder, after a string of pretty average releases (after Midian), I think the consensus is clearly that Hammer of the Witches was their most impressive outing since the 90s. A lot of folks that had written off the band forever seemed to be back on the wagon, and it even garnered a measure of respect from some of the band's longtime detractors. I don't think it's hard to tell why, as this was arguably the heaviest and most focused recording they'd released in many years, and even though I might not harbor the same level of reverence as others, I've grown to appreciate more than the albums that lead up to it, Darkly, Darkly Venus Aversa and The Manticore and Other Horrors, both of which I do enjoy and might even hold up as a little more creative than this successor.

That's not to take away from what the band accomplished here, a 56 minute rager of a record which played to me like a natural successor to their classic Dusk and Her Embrace, albeit with a better integration of the symphonic and haunted castle components and a broader selection of riffs which built upon everything the group had really accomplished in the years between. Most importantly, I think the production here was a step above so many of their works...generally I might have an issue with one or two instruments or vocal 'personalities' taking a back seat to the rest, but I cannot think of a better example than this of when they all were balanced so well together. The grunts, growls and gremlin snarls of Dani Filth, the professional if still somewhat goofy female operatic parts, the panoply of shimmering synths and organs, and rapid fire drumming of Marthus Skaroupka, and of course the riff selection, which continues to walk the line between thrash, death, black metal and even some more aggressive heavy metal parts. That Cradle has all this weaponry at its disposal and can seamlessly plug it all into the whole of their aesthetic remains impressive.

For me, the favorite aspect to this band has always been Dani's florid lyrical treatments, this idea that he was like a Wordsworth of occultism, dark mythology and salacious Gothic smut, and as usual, even on the band's weaker records, the stuff he's written here is a pleasure to pore over line for line. Lots of verses here in tunes like "Deflowering the Maidenhead, Displeasuring the Goddess" invoke Martin Walkyier's vile meter and inflection, but of course Filth partitions this out into the various little personas created by his gutturals and higher pitched, effeminate rasping. He reacts well to just about every riffing change-up through the album's duration, which is saying a lot because the guitar duo packs in a lot of value for each track...individually, they might not seem complex, but there's just such an exhibition of riffs flying by on any region of this recording that it's hard not to be floored by the sheer effort it must take at remembering them all. Bass doesn't always stand out here as much, unless it's given the chance during a break, but you can always hear it hovering along and keeping the few fractional spaces between the guitars busy and the ears trained. Skaroupka's drumming is just ridiculous, and that he's also performing the keys and arranging the orchestration goes to show how overall valuable he's been as he's evolved through the band over the prior decade.

Hammer of the Witches is a pleasure to experience on the whole, though if we were to really break it all down, it's a refinement of riffing progressions, and a set of balancing scales between aggression and eloquence that won't be new to anyone familiar with their output. I myself found few of the sequences here to be truly memorable among old favorites from records like Midian, but even having said that it's an effort that I continue to sit through on occasion and listen to entirely rather than just cherry-picking individual tunes. The creepy orchestration and operatic interludes are very well done if you want something to conjure up that Transylvanian landscape you no doubt associate with the British veterans, and the prowess of the instrumentation and cohesion of the compositions is undeniable when you sit back and realize the scale of what they write, and how much is going on in so many of these songs. Love them or hate them, this album doesn't sound like they've lost an ounce of energy since they dropped their debut over 20 years before it...in fact it sounds like they've only ramped up their lascivious frenzy.

Verdict: Win [8/10] (pressed to confess from the pain)

https://www.facebook.com/cradleoffilth

Cradle of Filth - Thornography (2006)

Thornography arrived in the midst of that nebulous era in which I had lost all interest in anything Cradle of Filth had to say. I had been a fairly strong advocate for the band, much to the increasing dismay of several of my more vocal vestie friends, up through the record Midian which I thought was their most seamless integration of atmosphere and riffing. Yet, even though I bought Damnation and a Day on the day it dropped, a number of listens in I could find almost nothing to enjoy about it beyond the production and sheer presentation quality, and Nymphetamine further consolidated the indifference until such a time as Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder and Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa arrived and seemed to rekindle the band's missing sparks into something progressively more appealing. Going back to this album now, I can see both strong and weak points that seem to cancel one another out...competently written and executed, but there are simply too few of those hilarious, over-the-top Gothic/black metal surges that infect my imagination to the point that I can't stop jamming the replay button.

The symphonic accoutrements that have defined most of the band's legacy were fully intact here, but the actual construction of the songs seemed to focus more on a straight up hybrid of heavy and thrash metal with the infusion of a few melodeath or melodic black metal tremolo picked guitars that sadly went nowhere except for the most predictable destinations. The guitars stand at the fore, pounding or chugging or occasionally searing along while the keys are used somewhat sparingly, and Dani Filth tries to imbue each of the lines with his trademark personality; anathema to some, beloved by others. It's all very clean and tidy and produced at the level a band like Cradle of Filth aspires towards (even though their name would and should imply otherwise), and that's kind of where I fell off from this. Because without really interesting riff structures that constantly dial my number, I find myself reliant too much on atmospheric aesthetics, which for some reason Thornography doesn't deliver beyond mere 'appearances'. Sure, the string arrangements and swell of "Under Pregnant Skies She Comes Alive Like Miss Leviathan" (for fuck's sake, be sparing with the lines of poetry as song titles, people) sound professional and really impeccable, or the deeper metal immersion of the orchestra in a tune like "The Byronic Man", but I just kept waiting for it to be 'catchy'...and it's not. Almost ever.

Dani Filth does do a decent job with his pitch here, striving for a little higher definition to many of his verse lines (not the screams), which surprised me because I thought this was around the time his voice was supposed to have fallen off, but he managed well enough in the studio. Lyrically, these tunes are just as strong as anything prior or since, diving into the band's stronger subjects of Gothic Horror...Stoker, Lovecraft, plus a little bit of sacrilegious fare. Of course, when you've got a tune called "Libertina Grimm" it's hard not to feel like Filth is just pandering to its Witchy Halloween Industry Horror-Goth ghoulfriends, but that's always been the case...Cradle of Filth is the evolution of Tim Burtonites inflicted with the poetic register of Byron and Wordsworth...if that offends your cold, raw, can't get laid Nordic sensibilities then of course you're going to hate the shit out of them; but if you've got a soft spot for Beetlejuice, Elvira, or the commercialization of Cthulhu then they tend to take on a more endearing, 'pet Gothic/black metal band' quality that is hard to get upset with. But, yeah, the guy just spends so much time on his lyrics...they are perfect for the image this band represents and frankly a lot smarter than many of their peers.

Unfortunately, that alone is nowhere near enough to make Thornography a good album. It gets off to a solid start with "Dirge Inferno", and truth be told there are a dozen or so decent riffs among the many on parade, but none that just blow you away like "Nocturnal Supremacy" or "Desire in Violent Overture" or "Her Ghost in the Fog". The drums sound a little too sterile and polished, the bass lines are nothing more than a footnote in the mix, and while the compositions seem aesthetically fluid with their neighbors, and there's nothing really wrong with them exploring the more pronounced heavy metal riffing and leads (which, frankly, they had done numerous times already), there just lacks a sense of character here. Simply put, not their best set of songs. Grist for the mill, keeping the career on track but not capitalizing on any of that creative momentum they had established up through the turn of the century. In revisiting this, I discovered a few tunes or individual riffs that might warrant inclusion on a longer Cradle playlist, but since I half-enjoy the sort of kitsch this band carries along with it, I expected this one to surprise me, and apart from a few moments, like the weird robotic filtered vocals in "I Am the Thorn" or the morph into straight up Gothic/heavy metal in parts of "The Foetus of a New Day Kicking" it was all normative. I'd listen through it without much aggravation if someone wants to, and even open the booklet to read the lyrics on occasion. It is arguably a little better than its predecessor Nymphetamine, but there are a half dozen other albums in the band's discography which scratch that festering Gothic horror itch a lot better.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10] (the poison in the font)

http://theorderofthedragon.com/

Cradle of Filth - The Manticore and Other Horrors (2012)

England's eloquent Gothic horror metallers Cradle of Filth have been on quite a tear of late, producing two of their most potent and practiced albums in Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder (2008) and its successor,  Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa (2010); at least since striking a creative peak with their lush Lovecraftian homage Midian in 2000. I'd even go so far as to say that the band's steady determination and consistency have won them back quite a number of naysayers who quickly dropped the group from rotation once it became 'cool' to do so. At least I know a few people whose averted fondness for their early albums has come full circle these past few outings. Love their image, loathe their image, envy the fact that succulent, saucy faux-Goth fan(g)girls will cuddle up to their records while you spend Friday night at home with your right hand (or left...or...both). Cradle of Filth could be geriatric gargoyles spit upon IV tubes and piss-pots: their music speaks for itself, and if anything, their tenth opus, The Manticore and Other Horrors goes further to cement their commitment to continued quality.

This is, at its heart, a bit less of a flagrant, flamboyant odious operetta than its recent siblings, but probably only because the band has become stronger at incorporating its symphonic textures into the metal riffing. To whit, it's not as seeped in boisterous orchestration as Dimmu Borgir's latest, or as overtly excessive as the latest Fleshgod Apocalypse; but rather tastefully slung over pieces like "Illicitus" or "Frost on Her Pillow" with everything from a flute-like presence to a simmering full-string bombast (as in the full haunted house treatment of intro "The Unveiling of O" or the piano-veiled outro "Sinfonia"). Choir vocals here are well arranged as a backbone rather than attempting to steamroll the core instrumentation, and the sultry female lines provided by Lucy Atkins, returning from the prior album, are also well fitted and far less evocative of the lamer drama present on some of Sarah Jezebel Diva's collaborations with the band. Most impressively, Dani Filth has really dialed back his performance to cut out much of the excess that alienated many from his timber in the past. You'll still get a taste or two of his impish, wheezing petulance, or a shrill scream, but he lays most of the verses out with a more smoky, laid back menace, or brief snips of gutturals, both of which are in truth far more intimidating. Lyrically, he's still one of the best penmen of poetic, horror tinted imagery strong on antiquity, myth and seduction:

Vast boudoirs here
Are mastered by the minatory
Walls plastered with the base relief
Of baser glories

What many will undoubtedly champion here, though, is the rock solid riffing foundation being laid out by Paul Allender, who has essentially bridged the gap between pure thrashing violation, an almost epic 'power metal' influenced architecture molded into the orchestration, and the expectant walls of tremolo picking or Nordic Bathory-styled chord batteries we usually associate with black metal in the 90s (beyond the more punkish Hellhammer/Mayhem roots). Granted, there are such an array of styles at war with one another in this music that you'll get no argument from me that it doesn't belong in any one category beyond the basic necessities for filing. On the whole, I wouldn't claim that all of the guitar progressions really stick. There are a few of the more base, thrash-punk like pummeling patterns that feel derivative or uninteresting in their payoff, but the guy is constantly firing off enough melody, business and variation that you'll never have to sit through any of the duller implements for more than a few measures. He's even got some progressive metal tendencies threaded through numbers like the titular "Manticore" which really play into the vastness of the experience.

The bass playing has never been a prime factor in Cradle's sound, and it hasn't much improved on this record beyond the fact that the instrument pumps along dutifully to the rhythm guitar. As for Marthus though, he's really cemented his seat behind the drums, laying out as professional and persistent thundering as you are apt to hear on such a higher visibility extreme metal record, even if the snares and kicks feel a bit too sterile to really feel them below the weight of the keys and guitars; and of course, he's also primarily responsible for most of the former, so the guy's just really earned his keep here these past six years, helping Dani emerge from the mediocrity of records like Thornography and Nymphetamine with class. On the whole, they've put the usual enormous level of work into the structure and production of the record, so that whether the group is hammering out some over the top orchestrated anthem with choir, or swerving into a more humble breakdown, it's all quite level and equidistant from the listener's ears. The choral contributions are really involved here, and it took a few listens to place them all, since they're not so brazen in the mix; but choices like the keening wail in "For Your Vulgar Delectation" really add a lot to the muscular drive of the guitar.

Now, as consistent and versed as this album comes off, it's not likely to place among my favorites in their lexicon, primarily because there aren't individual songs here that really stand to memory on the level of classics like "Beauty Slept in Sodom", "Desire in Violent Overture", "The Forest Whispers My Name" or "Her Ghost in the Fog". In fact, after about a dozen listens through the substantial 52 minutes of content, I couldn't name any of these to a career highlight reel. In that way, it reminds me a lot of Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder, an album which reinstated my own interest in their music but didn't exactly clout me over the head with fond impressions. As is often the case, I think I found the lyrics more compelling than the riffs or choruses. Yet, as a unified work, there's really no weak point to any one component. Whether I were to count myself among the band's legion detractors, or swooning vamps, the effort Cradle of Filth puts into their writing and themes is clear, and inspirational. Everything sounds seasoned, in place, and busy enough that The Manticore and Other Horrors should warrant numerous, if not infinite migrations off the CD shelf. Not their best (Midian would like a word), but easily on par with titles like Cruelty and the Beast or Darkly, Darkly Venus Aversa.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10] (a beast of naked flame)

http://theorderofthedragon.com/

Cradle of Filth - Cruelty and the Beast (1998)

Countess Báthory Erzsébet and Cradle of Filth have something in common. Elizabeth purportedly murdered young virgin girls to bathe in their blood and ensure her own immortality. Thus, one might conclude that she was one of history's 'vampires'. Dani Filth and his merry band of Gothic outcasts also wanted to be vampires, pretty hard. Just look at their pictures, in and out of their album packaging from the 90s. So it's only too fitting that the one might create a tribute album to the other, and this manifest rather early in the UK band's career, with '98's Cruelty and the Beast, an album that arrived during the estimable height of their popularity, as smoke shop haunting mall teens began snapping up their t-shirts and pissing off their families, friends, and clergy.

Cruelty and the Beast is vintage Cradle, performing in that confused blend of black and Gothic metal aesthetics that caused one of the biggest rifts in the band's once cult following. Primarily, this is a symphonic black metal in the vein of Emperor or Dimmu Borgir but with a lot more ingredients of traditional or power metal riffing thrown into the mix. You'll still get a lot of the band's vicious tremolo picking speed akin to Dusk and Her Embrace or the debut, dowsed in synthesizers, choirs and Sarah Jezebel Diva's operatic backups, but it certainly seemed here that the band were content with 'stretching' themselves and their Romantically adorned lyrical concepts into a wider array of moody, historical haunted house flavors and Dani Filth's schizoid garden of snarls, grunts and growls back when the guy could actually pull most of his 'character' off on stage.

Her likeness hung in the black gallery
Commanding unease
Demanding of Death to breathe....

When it works, as with the excellent "Desire in Violent Overture" (one of my individual favorites across the band's discography), it truly excels. A firm escalation of violent, spattered riffing born from black and grind is slathered with wild leads and a blast bridge (about 1:00 in) that explodes into this glorious, Iron Maiden-like dual power metal melody. I don't like the actual production of the drums on the album, but Nicholas Barker blasts and double basses with the best of them regardless of its rather hollow sound. Other highlights here would be "Cruelty Brought Thee Orchids", a thundering atmospheric piece which swaggers about numerous tempos; "Beneath the Howling Stars", which has some of the better faster picked riffs on the album and the band's heavily symphonic, Gothic centerpiece "Bathory Aria" which manages to survive 11 minutes of existence without trampling the listener into a puddle of muddy mascara.

Unfortunately, not all tracks here are created equally, and there are a few like the post-intro opener "Thirteen Autumns and a Widow" or "Lustmord and Wargasm (The Lick of Catharsis)" which amount to little more than scatterbrained fits of Goth-core that bite off a little more than they can actually chew. The intros and interludes are fitting enough symphonic ligaments for this sort of conceptual beast, but aside from possibly the intro ("Once Upon Atrocity") they seem a bit foppish and forgettable. The instruments are all well defined in the mix, and yet I admit I would have gone out for a more fulfilling guitar and drum tone, both of which often feel as if they're about to drown under the overflowing tub of bloodshed created by the vocals and keys. The ensuing effort Midian handled this range of elements and instruments far better, though it was a superior album all around.

Deep red hissed the cat whips
On the whim of ill-will
Whilst She entranced, nonchalant, abliss
Flayed further songs of overkill

As usual, one of my favorite ingredients to a Cradle of Filth album are the lyrics, and those written for Cruelty and the Beast might number among Filth's very best, loaded with imagery worthy of the saga's idealized, part-fictional Hungarian backdrop and the horrors of this particular noblewoman's sanguine vices. A smutty, seductive play upon the classic styles of poets like Wordsworth, Milton and Gray, and there can be no question of the effort spent in scribing them. It's a shame so many people hate this band on principle, since I feel that even their vocal opposition might enjoy thumbing through the lyrics themselves. All told, this is the album the Brits really needed to make in this period: dynamic and slightly more accessible than the last, yet not abandoning the ripping speed and chaotic conflagration of the band's earlier vision. It suffers a bit from inconsistent writing and being 'flanked' by superior works (Dusk, Midian), but there are at least a few examples here of properly drawn virgin plasma to soak in through the years.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10] (no paler a rose)

http://theorderofthedragon.com/

Cradle of Filth - Evermore Darkly EP (2011)

Evermore Darkly might not be the first of Cradle's filler EPs, but it's probably the most substantial, packing a bonus DVD that includes a video documentary, their live performance at the June 2011 Graspop festival in Belgium, and the incredibly cheesy video for the track "Lilith Immaculate" from last year's surprisingly tight full-length Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa. The live tracks are actually not so bad, as I've certainly heard worse from Dani's oft-ailing vocals that only rarely seem to sound as good as on the studio efforts, and they mix up present and past material rather well. On the other hand, the official video is a testament to awful Gothic metal vanity, and not worth bleeding your eyes out to experience...but then...this is the problem with about 90% of metal videos. I'm always amazed that a band like CoF can put so much effort into lyrics and concepts but then shit out videos which look like overblown fetish lingerie commercials.

Anyway, of far more importance to the Cradle of Filth fan will be the first disc in this set, upon which the Brits ply their trade with a selection of 'remixed' or extended album tracks and a few unreleased pieces. "Lilith Immaculate" gets blown out to beyond 8 minutes, 2 more than the full-length version, and frankly the added bits of orchestration aren't all that necessary. The more rock driven "Forgive Me Father (I Have Sinned)" is given two alternates: one, the 'Elder' version mix, and the other a pretty cheesy techno-trance rendition. While I've no opposition to snarls or growls over dance music or industrial (have dabbled in it myself), the mix of Dani and Caroline here seems only to detract from what might be half-decent generic club electro, glow stix not included. There are more of the 'Elder' versions for the tracks "The Persecution Song" and "The Spawn of Love and War", but while these aren't necessarily bad, the differences are just so inconsequential that they feel like their job is simply to fill space...

Of the non-album material, there's a sampled monologue intro piece called "Transmission to Hell" which relates the tale of some fell Siberian mining expedition, but the interjections of 'hell' into the narrative render it silly rather than spooky. Then there's "Thank Your Lucky Scars", a pretty straight shot of black metal for Cradle of Filth which has a lot more driving orchestral melodies and tremolo riffs than they generally use (think back to Dusk and Her Embrace), but still breaks into a groove. Lastly, there is the orchestral/instrumental version of "Summer Dying Fast" from way back on The Principles of Evil Made Flesh. This is perhaps the most interesting single track on this release, if only because the other good songs are already better received on the recent full-length, and this 'Midnight in the Labyrinth Breadcrumb Trail' mix at least makes for passable, corny Halloween music...

Sadly, there's just not enough here that I'd recommend to anyone who isn't already a serious fan of the band, and who would be interested in the various tweaks and takes that they've decided to sell you. Do you really need or want remakes of this material? Similar to their 2001 album Bitter Suites to Succubi, which featured some similar revisits, my answer to this is no. It's not short on content, I'll grant them that. The live set is cool, the cover art classy perhaps, but in the end, the carrots at the end of this stick are spotty at best, and if the band's not dishing out a cool concept album like Cruelty and the Beast or Midian, I couldn't care less.

Verdict: Indifference [5.5/10]

http://theorderofthedragon.com/

Cradle of Filth - Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa (2010)

The time has come around for another Cradle of Filth album, and if your head is not already dowsed in a pail of your own vomit, you might be pleasantly surprised to discover that the the band has built upon the strengths of the previous Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder, writing not only their best album since 2000's Midian, but perhaps one of the better of their career. Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa is yet another of the band's conceptual works, this time homing in one of what is undoubtedly one of their favorite subjects: poor Lilith, the pissed off first wife of Adam, and perhaps the poster child for brunette animosity towards blonds throughout history? Roll your eyes back in your heads, folks, because as usual, you can disregard the mascara sloshed masses of Hot Topic mummification and simply lose yourself in the bewitching poetry and rapid juggling about of searing axes, intense blasting, symphonic orchestration, harpy calls and Dani Filth's charismatic personality disorder.

Darkly, Darkly Venus Aversa is hardly going to win over any new blood to the Cradle of Filth audience, but if you're enamored of Dusk and Her Embrace, Midian, Damnation and a Day, or Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder, then I can't think of any reason you'd want to skip out on this action, because it's thoroughly entertaining with only the faint flaws of a few stagnant riffing sequences that, while spring-loaded to the fangs with carnal malevolence, simply don't resonate deeply into the memory. It helps that the band have largely stuck to the same lineup here, the one addition being Ashley Jurgemeyer of Abigail Williams on keyboards and backing vocals, who has molded herself in rather well here. The choir and orchestration of this album seems to invoke a more effective trespass than the similar Dimmu Borgir's later opus, if only because there is a measure excitement in the interplay between campy keyboards and thrusting devil riffs, the latter so often engorged with their own thrashing weight.

"The Cult of Venus Aversa" blazes an initial trail through the dark depths of history, through the rank and devouring abyss, where Lilith awaits her revenge on the Man, Woman and Mankind that have spurned her porcelain beauty. The guitars squirm about like a spastic carousel that even Bal-Sagoth would be proud of, while the synths hang on edge like angelic war heralds, and Martin Škaroupka's drumming really begs the question: why would Superman associate himself with such a legion of night fiends? The orchestral segues here, complete with Filth's vicarious fuming and tongue lashing (like a crack-addicted Martin Walkyier) are the usual fluffy haunted house fare, make no mistake about it, but nonetheless a lot of fun, and a number of other pieces here offer equal escape velocity: "Lilith Immaculate", "The Nun with the Astral Habit", and the hammering "Harlot on a Pedestal". Of course, the delightful misogyny would hardly be served by a lack of dynamics, so there are some slower rocking, moodier pieces here like "Forgive Me Father (I Have Sinned)" and the pompous "Spawn of Love and War" maintaining balance.

Act now and you'll get a bonus disc with four tracks that are nearly the rival of those on the full-length, plus a video for "Forgive Me Father (I Have Sinned)", only adding to the overall value of the release, and I particularly enjoyed the hilariously apt "Mistress from the Sucking Pit". As usual, Cradle of Filth have put an enormous amount of effort into the finishing touches: the cover art is fairly typical of their releases, but still gorgeous. The lyrics are well plotted, interesting, 'colorful' and angry, par for the course for Daniel Lloyd Davey, the William Wordsworth of the black metal mainstream. The production is also well managed across the varied components, without ever sounding too glitzy or dumbfounded. The final factor is really you and I. Do we enjoy this notorious band, despite the political pratfall they've received by the underground? Cradle of Filth are good at what they do, but they could certainly do better than this, and have done so in the past. Darkly, Darkly Venus Aversa just has the advantage of being a damned solid effort with numerous moments of bitch slapping, envious joy from the queen of demons herself.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10] (the worm was turning)

http://www.cradleoffilth.com/

Satyricon / Septic Flesh, Grand Ballroom @ the Regency Center, 2/10/09

Let me start off by saying that the Grand Ballroom at San Francisco's Regency Center is both a horrible and excellent place to see metal. The venue is a bit big, and never quite fills up, which can leave the sound a bit wanting. They also place their stacks up high and pointed down at the crowd from the sides of the stage, which means that if you're about forty feet back, you're going to get the best sound. Anyone standing front and center will be sorely disappointed.

The crowd at this show was as you might expect. Near-Juggalos in "corpse paint" and assorted Hot Topic wear lined up outside in the drizzle to catch a glimpse of Danny (Dani? Seriously?) Filth's areolas. There were even girls in the front row with glow-stick headbands on. What the fuck?

Anyway, my friends and I waded our way in through the veritable food court of lameness and took a spot stage right and far enough back for good sound. We had managed to find a kickass parking spot and get in right before the show started. Off to a good start.

Septic Flesh

Not being a fan of Septic Flesh previous to this show, I didn't really know what to expect from the Grecian Death Metallers. What I got was an absolute treat. You know how every band that plays before your favorite band can't ever quite live up to them? How you spend the opening sets counting songs and wishing they would go by just a bit faster? Not so with Septic Flesh, who managed to come out of the gates swinging, tight and technically spot on for a half an hour of symphonically charged, groove-laden death.

They were, sadly, playing to a tape of some sort, since they lacked a keyboard to accompany them. I was impressed, however, that they managed to stay so perfectly synchronized with the samples throughout the entire set. Not a missed beat to be had here.

The singer, one Spiros Antoniou, seemed to be channeling almost a 1980's hardcore punk vibe, with spastic hand movements and crazed facial expressions between bass riffs. The guitars were a bit low in the mix, and the bass thundered over everything else, when he bothered to stop fingering an invisible vagina in front of his face and play it.

I couldn't really say much about the contents of their set, not being familiar with the band until now. I know they played "Communion", "We The Gods", and some song where everybody chanted "BURN!" a lot. Good shit, though. The guy in the pit who looked just like John Locke from Lost (shirt off and all) seemed to enjoy it. I did, too, and I would happily see them again. It's a rare experience to be surprised by an unknown band, but Septic Flesh earned it.

Satyricon

My friends and I forced our way forward, braving untold amounts of hair extensions, platform boots, and goggles. Not to be denied our Norwegian black metal by a bunch of under-developed, over-fed retards, we managed to get about three people from the front. Satyricon came out to much fanfare and shouting of "MOTHER NORTH!"

"Repined Bastard Nation" is a good fucking way to open a Satyricon set. Satyr looked like some sort of fascist German rocker, all rigid fury and hawk-eyed stares. His trident mic stand looked like it was missing some corpses hanging off of the side, but it was plenty intimidating none the less. Frost is as insane as I imagined, and though Satyricon certainly isn't the best demonstration of his technical abilities, he plays live with a passion other black metal drummers would benefit to imitate.

Satyricon tore through their songs, one after another with barely a break between them. I am old enough now to enjoy a short, sweet live show, and I have no complaints. Their setlist consisted entirely of material from their last three albums, so the more traditional black metal will have to wait until their headlining tour this fall. "Die By My Hand" still doesn't quite grab me, but they seem to love playing it. Playing the opening three tracks from Now, Diabolical, a healthy smattering of their newest material, and a pair of Volcano's better songs gave me plenty of time to throw claws in the air and bang my head like I'm not going bald.

Satyr gives up guitar duty live to engage the crowd a little bit more, and he does so in the standard metal fashion. "HEY!" chants and calls for jumping are so fucking tired, I wish metal would just let that shit go. Save it for Manowar and Amon Amarth, guys, you're supposed to be all grim and frostbitten. Drunk people love to yell and jump around though, so I guess it works.

You can tell that Satyr is a bit remiss over losing his strings to the capable live band. He picks up an axe later in the set for "The Pentagram Burns", but also spends a fair amount of time watching the guitarists longingly (accusingly, too) and playing air guitar to his own riffs.

"Fuel For Hatred" closed Satyricon out strong. This song has long been a favorite of mine from the much-maligned Volcano, and hearing it live only reinforced my love. Satyricon all lined up at the front of the stage and bowed out, making special efforts to thank the crowd. Frost has 300 abs, I swear to you. That dude is cut.

Cradle of Filth

What, you think I stayed for Cradle of Filth? Hahahaha.

Cradle of Filth - Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder (2008)

Cradle of Filth have always received an unwarranted amount of loathing from the metal underground, in particular the black metal scene. Yet they have never swerved from their direction of creating interesting, often conceptual albums in a hybrid of black and goth, with a death metal undercurrent and thoughtful lyrics rooted deeply in classic British poetry and prose. The problem is of course they've made some money doing it and scored a lot of the goth chicks, and we all know that's not acceptable. This has never nulled my enjoyment of several of their albums: The Principle of Evil Made Flesh, Cruelty and the Beast, and Midian all come to mind as noteworthy efforts.

Like Cruelty and the Beast or Midian before it, this is a concept album focusing on a fascinating historical figure, in this case the French noble Gilles de Rais. Rais fought with Joan of Arc but became controversial later in life as a occultist, prolific serial killer and all-around pervert. So, in other words, the perfect subject for Dani Filth's lyrical adventures.

Sentries and gentry, afforded the bloom
Of a red setting sun and a bloodletting moon
Applauded, then accorded them
Portents of doom

As you can see, Filth is once again up the task. Musically, the album is reminiscent of the earlier works such as Dusk and Her Embrace, anchored in brutal blast beats and fast, vampiric guitar work all adorned in Filth's dripping, ghastly multi-layered vocals. Some of my favored tracks here are the slower "Ten Leagues Beneath Contempt" with its glorious melodies; the bombastic "Honey and Sulphur" with its thrashing symphonic, choral misanthropy; and the monstrously catchy "Midnight Shadows Crawl to Darken". The mix of the album is solid, each orchestral touch is distinct and never befuddles the core metal elements.

This is a far better album than the rather lacking past few efforts Thornography and Nymphetamine, and likely on par with Midian as one of their best overall works (slightly less catchy though). It's got an interesting subject at its focus, who you don't read or hear about all the time. It's pure Cradle of Filth, and love them or not, they are good at what they do, and they are here to stay.

Verdict: Win [7/10] (torture garden rules of thumb apply)

http://www.cradleoffilth.com/