cradle of filth

8/14/2019 cradle of filth

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Cradle of Filth are a heavy metal band formed in Suffolk, England in 1991. Theyhave been embraced and disowned with equal fervour by various metalcommunities[attribution needed], and their particular subgenre has provoked agreat deal of discussion. The band's sound evolved from black metal to a cleanerand more "produced" amalgam of gothic metal, symphonic black metal and otherextreme metal styles, while their lyrical themes and imagery are heavilyinfluenced by gothic literature, poetry, mythology and horror films. The band havesuccessfully broken free of their original niche by courting mainstream publicity

(often to the chagrin of its early fanbase), and this increased accessibility hasbrought coverage by the likes of Kerrang! and MTV, frequent main stage appearancesat major festivals such as Ozzfest and Download, and in turn a more "commercial"image. They have sometimes been perceived as satanic by casual observers, althoughtheir outright lyrical references to satanism are few and far between, and use ofsatanic imagery has arguably always had more to do with the shock value than anyseriously-held beliefs. According to Metal Hammer magazine, they are the mostsuccessful British metal band since Iron Maiden

Early years

Cradle's first three years saw three demos and a rehearsal tape recorded amidstthe sort of rapid line-up fluctuations that have continued ever since (Cradle has

generally had around half a dozen members at any one time, but can boast more thantwenty musicians in its history). The band also recorded an unreleased albumentitled 'Goetia' prior to the third demo and their style shift, which was set forrelease on Tombstone records. Tombstone unfortunately went bust and couldn'tafford to buy the recordings from the studio and all tracks were wiped. The bandeventually signed to Cacophonous Records and their debut album, The Principle ofEvil Made Flesh, was also Cacophonous's first release in 1994.[2] A step up interms of production from the rehearsal quality of most of their demos, the albumwas still nevertheless a sparse and embryonic version of what was to come, withlead singer Dani Filth's vocals in particular bearing little similarity to thestyle he was later to develop. The album was well-received however, and asrecently as June 2006 found its way into Metal Hammer's list of the top ten blackmetal albums of the last twenty years.

Cradle's relationship with Cacophonous soon soured; the band accusing the label ofcontractual and financial mismanagement. Acrimonious legal proceedings took upmost of 1995,[3] and the band finally signed to Music for Nations in 1996 afteronly one more contractually obligated Cacophonous recording: the EP Vempire orDark Faerytales in Phallustein which, it has since been conceded, was hastilywritten as a Cacophonous escape-plan.[3] Despite the circumstances of its releasehowever, its handful of tracks are staples of the band's live sets to this day,and "Queen of Winter, Throned" was listed among twenty-five "essential extrememetal anthems" in a 2006 issue of Kerrang! magazine.[4] The EP also marked SarahJezebel Deva's debut with the band, replacing Andrea Meyer; Cradle's first femalevocalist and self-styled "satanic advisor".[5] Deva has appeared on everysubsequent Cradle release and tour, but has never been considered a full band

member,[6] having also performed with The Kovenant, Therion and Mortiis, andfronted her own Angtoria project along with Cradle's current bass player, DavePybus.

Music for Nations era

Dusk...and Her Embrace followed the same year: a critically acclaimed breakthroughalbum that greatly expanded the band's fan-base throughout Europe and the rest ofthe world.[7] A concept album of sorts based generally on vampirism and


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specifically (though loosely) on the writing of Sheridan Le Fanu, Cradle'sinaugural album for Music for Nations set the tone for what was to follow. Thealbum's production values matched the band's ambition for the first time, whilstDani's vocal gymnastics were at their most extreme.

The increasingly theatrical stage shows of the 1997 European tour helped keepCradle in the public eye, as did a burgeoning line of controversial merchandise;not least the notorious[attribution needed] t-shirt depicting a masturbating nun

on the front and the slogan "Jesus is a cunt" in large letters on the back. Ahandful of fans have faced court appearances and fines for wearing the shirt inpublic, and some band members themselves attracted a certain amount of hostileattention when they wore similar "I Love Satan" shirts to the Vatican.[8] AlexMosson, the Lord Provost of Glasgow from 1999-2003, called the shirts (and byimplication the band) "sick and offensive". The band obviously approved, using thequote on the back cover of the 2005 DVD Peace Through Superior Firepower.In 1998, Dani began his long-running "Dani's Inferno" column for Metal Hammer, andthe band appeared in the BBC documentary series Living With the Enemy (on tourwith a fan and his disapproving mother and sister)[9] and released its third full-length album Cruelty and the Beast. A fully-realised concept album based on thelegend of the "Blood Countess" Elizabeth Bathory, the album boasted the castingcoup of Ingrid Pitt providing guest narration as the Countess: a role she first

played in Hammer's 1971 film Countess Dracula. The album led to Cradle's U.Sdebut,[10] and Dani claimed it in 2003 as the Cradle album of which he was mostproud, although he conceded dissatisfaction with its sound quality.[11]

The following year the band continued primarily to tour, but did release its firstmusic video, PanDaemonAeon, and an accompanying EP, From the Cradle to Enslave,featuring the music from the production. Replete with graphic nudity and gore, thevideo was directed by Alex Chandon, who would go on to produce further Cradlepromo clips and DVD documentaries, as well as the full-length feature film Cradleof Fear. The band released their fourth full-length studio album on Hallowe'en,2000. Midian was based around the Clive Barker novel Cabal and its subsequent filmadaptation Nightbreed.[12] Like Cruelty and the Beast, Midian featured a guestnarrator, this time Doug Bradley, who starred in Nightbreed but remains best known

for playing Pinhead in the Hellraiser films. Bradley's line "Oh, no tears please"from the song "Her Ghost in the Fog" is a quote of Pinhead's from the firstHellraiser ("No tears, please. It's a waste of good suffering...")[13] and Bradleywould reappear on later albums Nymphetamine and Thornography. The video for "HerGhost in the Fog" received heavy rotation on MTV2 and other metal channels, andthe track also found its way onto the soundtrack of the werewolf movie GingerSnaps. Midian created a rift in fan opinion which has only increased with time:whilst taking the band to new heights of commercial popularity, it also provokedcries of "sell-out" from die-hard fans of the early albums.[14]

Sony interludeThe longest-ever interim period between full-length Cradle albums was nevertheless

a busy time for the band. Bitter Suites to Succubi was released on the band s own "Abracadaver" label, and was a mixture of four new songs, re-recordings of threesongs from The Principle of Evil Made Flesh, two instrumental tracks, and a coverof The Sisters of Mercy's "No Time To Cry." Stylistically similar to Midian, thealbum is unique among Cradle albums in featuring exactly the same band members asits predecessor, but is generally regarded as an EP and often overlooked in theband's canon.[15] Further stop-gap releases followed in the form of the "best of"package Lovecraft and Witch Hearts and a live album; Live Bait for the Dead.Finally, the band (principally Dani) also found time to appear in Cradle of Fearwhile they negotiated their first major-label signing with Sony Music. Damnationand a Day arrived in 2003; Sony's heavyweight funding underwriting Cradle's


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undiminished ambition[16] by finally bringing a real orchestra into the studio(the 80-strong Budapest Film Orchestra and Choir replacing the increasinglysophisticated synthesisers of previous albums) and thus marking the band's belatedgestation - for one album only - into full-blown symphonic metal. Damnationfeatured the band s most complex compositions to date, outran its predecessors by a good twenty minutes, and produced two more popular videos: the vankmajer-influenced Mannequin, and Babalon AD (So Glad For The Madness), based onPasolini's infamous Sal . Roughly half the album trod the conceptual territory of

John Milton's Paradise Lost - showing the events of the Fall of Man through theeyes of Lucifer[10] - while the remainder comprised stand-alone tracks such as theNile tribute "Doberman Pharaoh"[17] and the aforementioned "Babalon AD"; areference to Aleister Crowley. "Babalon AD" was the first DVD-only single to reachthe U.K. top 40, according to the Guinness Book of Records of British Hit Singlesand Albums. Feeling that Sony's enthusiasm quickly palled however, Cradle jumpedship to Roadrunner Records after barely a year.[18]

Roadrunner2004's Nymphetamine was the band's first full album since The Principle of EvilMade Flesh to not be based around any sort of overarching concept (althoughreferences to the works of H. P. Lovecraft are made more than once). Cradle'sbassist Dave Pybus described it as an "eclectic mix between the group's Damnation

and Cruelty albums with a renewed vigour for melody, songmanship [sic] and plainfucking weirdness spat into the smelting bowl."[19] Cradle's growing acceptance bythe mainstream was confirmed when the album's title track was nominated for aGrammy award,[20] but the band's cover version of Cliff Richard's "Devil Woman"for the Nymphetamine special edition did little to convince its detractors of theband's integrity.[14]

The band's most recent album, Thornography, was released in October 2006.According to Dani Filth, the title "represents mankind's obsession with sin andself... An addiction to self-punishment or something equally poisonous... Amania."[21] On the subject of the album's musical direction, Filth told Revolvermagazine, "I'm not saying it's 'experimental', but we're definitely testing thelimits of what we can do... A lot of the songs are really rhythmical - thrashy,

almost - but they're all also really catchy."[22] A flurry of pre-releasecontroversy saw Samuel Araya's original cover artwork scrapped and replaced in May2006, although numerous CD booklets had already been printed with the originalimage.[18] Thornography received a similar reception to Nymphetamine, garneringgenerally positive reviews, but raising a few eyebrows with the inclusion of acover of Heaven 17's "Temptation"[23] (featuring guest vocals from Dirty Harry),which was released as a digital single and accompanying video shortly before thealbum.

Long-term drummer Adrian Erlandsson departed the band in November 2006. Accordingto an official Roadrunner press release, Erlandsson left with the intention ofdevoting his energies to his two side projects Needleye and Nemhain (the former ofwhich is now defunct): "I have enjoyed my time with Cradle but it is now time to

move on. I feel I am going out on a high as Thornography is definitely our bestalbum to date".[21] On July 1st, 2007, the German band Samsas Traum stated thatErlandsson would be playing drums on the new album, Heiliges Herz Das Schwert der Sonne, and its subsequent tour.

The band's official message boards recently revealed parts of an interview withPaul Allender, conducted by M diaMatinQu bec: "We already have four new songs ready and I have to say that they are... much faster than the songs onThornography. [They] sound like old Cradle of Filth..."


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[edit] GenreCradle of Filth's first three demos bore a death metal feel, with occasionalsymphonic elements.[24] However, when they released their fourth demo, TotalFucking Darkness, their genre became more akin to black metal. Their "true" blackmetal status however, has been in debate since near the time they becamepopular.[25] Dani, in a 1998 interview for BBC Radio 5 for example, said "I usethe term heavy metal, rather than black metal, because I think that's a bit of afad now. Call it what you like: death metal, black metal, any kind of

metal...",[26] while Gavin Baddeley's 2006 Terrorizer interview states that "fewfolk, the band included, call Cradle black metal these days."[27]

Their format differs from most black metal, and they have thus, at one time oranother, been labeled symphonic black metal;[28] extreme gothic metal;[29] melodicblack metal;[30] satanic metal;[31] vampyric metal;[32] speed metal;[33] deathmetal;[34] brutal death metal;[35] melodic death metal;[36] horror metal;[37] anddark metal,[38] some of which are regarded by critics and fans alike as entirelyapocryphal categories.

However, the band's evolving sound has allowed them to continue resistingdefinitive categorisation. They are audibly influenced by Iron Maiden, havecollaborated on projects like Christian Death's Born Again Anti-Christian album

(on the track "Peek-A-Boo"), and have even dabbled outside of metal music withdance remixes ("Twisting Further Nails", "Pervert's Church" etc), although thesehave fallen by the wayside in recent years. In a 2006 interview with Terrorizermagazine, current guitarist Paul Allender said "We were never a black metal band.The only thing that catered to that was the make-up. Even when The Principle ofEvil Made Flesh came out you look at Emperor and Burzum and all that stuff we didn't sound anything like that. The way that I see it is that we were, and stillare now, an extreme metal band."[21]

Appearing on the BBC music quiz Never Mind the Buzzcocks on April 9 2001, Danijokingly claimed Cradle's sound as "heavy funk", and in an October 2006 interviewstated "We'd rather be known as solely 'Cradle of Filth', I think, rather than behampered by stupid genre barriers."[

Album for 2008The band has issued the following update:

"The world tour for the 'Thornography' album, which last saw COF in Russia,Ukraine, UK, Romania, Slovakia and North America with GWAR is now complete. Theband has now returned home to start writing for a new record over the dark monthsin the rehearsal room. The new album, which is not yet titled, will be releasedsome time in 2008 via Roadrunner Records."[40]

cradle of filth

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