Cradle of Filth
Encyclopedia
Extreme metal
Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. The term usually refers to a more abrasive, harsher, underground, non-commercialized style or sound nearly always associated with genres like black metal,...
band, formed in Suffolk in 1991. The band's musical style evolved from black metal
Black metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....
to a cleaner and more "produced" amalgam of gothic metal
Gothic metal
Gothic metal or goth metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music that combines the aggression of doom metal with the dark melancholy of gothic rock. The music of gothic metal is diverse with bands known to adopt the gothic approach to different styles of heavy metal music...
, symphonic black metal
Symphonic black metal
Symphonic black metal is a black metal subgenre that emerged in the mid to late 1990s. The genre is known for its symphonic and orchestral elements and is centralized in Europe.-Characteristics:...
, and other extreme metal
Extreme metal
Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. The term usually refers to a more abrasive, harsher, underground, non-commercialized style or sound nearly always associated with genres like black metal,...
styles, while their lyrical themes and imagery are heavily influenced by gothic literature, poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
, mythology
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
and horror films.
The band has broken free from its original niche by courting mainstream publicity (often to the chagrin of its early fanbase), and this increased accessibility has brought coverage by the likes of Kerrang!
Kerrang!
Kerrang! is a UK-based magazine devoted to rock music published by Bauer Media Group. It was first published on June 6, 1981 as a one-off supplement in the Sounds newspaper...
and MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
, frequent main stage appearances at major festivals such as Ozzfest
Ozzfest
Ozzfest is an annual festival tour of the United States featuring performances by many heavy metal and hard rock musical groups. It was founded by Ozzy Osbourne and his wife Sharon Osbourne, both of whom also organize each yearly tour with their son Jack Osbourne...
, Download
Download Festival
The Download Festival is a three day rock music festival held annually at Donington Park, England . It usually takes place in June...
, and even the mainstream Sziget Festival, and in turn a more "commercial" image. They have sometimes been perceived as Satanic by casual observers, although their outright lyrical references to satanism
Satanism
Satanism is a group of religions that is composed of a diverse number of ideological and philosophical beliefs and social phenomena. Their shared feature include symbolic association with, admiration for the character of, and even veneration of Satan or similar rebellious, promethean, and...
are few and far between, and use of satanic image
Image
An image is an artifact, for example a two-dimensional picture, that has a similar appearance to some subject—usually a physical object or a person.-Characteristics:...
ry has arguably always had more to do with literary allusion and the shock value
Shock value
Shock value is the potential of an action , image, text, or other form of communication to provoke a reaction of disgust, shock, anger, fear, or similar negative emotions.-Shock value as humor:...
than any seriously held beliefs.
Early years (1991-1996)
The Principle of Evil Made Flesh
The Principle of Evil Made Flesh is the debut album by English extreme metal band Cradle of Filth. Its sound is significantly rawer than the style the band would subsequently develop, and Dani Filth had yet to find the voice he would use on future recordings...
, was also Cacophonous's first release in 1994. A step-up in terms of production from the rehearsal quality of most of their demos, the album was still nevertheless a sparse and embryonic version of what was to come, with lead singer Dani Filth
Dani Filth
Dani Filth is the lyricist, vocalist and founding member of the metal band Cradle of Filth.-Personal life:...
's vocals in particular bearing little similarity to the style he was later to develop. The album was well-received however, and as recently as June 2006 found its way into Metal Hammer
Metal Hammer
Metal Hammer is a monthly heavy metal music magazine published in the United Kingdom by Future Publishing, and in several other countries by different publishers. Metal Hammer articles feature both mainstream bands and more unusual acts from the whole spectrum of heavy metal music...
s list of the top ten black metal albums of the last twenty years.
Cradle's relationship with Cacophonous soon soured; the band accusing the label of contractual and financial mismanagement. Acrimonious legal proceedings took up most of 1995, and the band finally signed to Music for Nations
Music For Nations
Music For Nations was a British independent record label focusing mainly on rock and metal. They were a subsidiary of the larger label distributor Zomba Records who in turn is owned by BMG....
in 1996 after only one more contractually obligated Cacophonous recording: the EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
V Empire (Or Dark Faerytales in Phallustein)
V Empire (or Dark Faerytales in Phallustein)
V Empire is an EP by British metal band Cradle of Filth, and their first release following their 1994 debut album, The Principle of Evil Made Flesh. It was the band's final release for Cacophonous Records, and was hastily written and recorded for that label as a contractual obligation, before the...
which, it has since been conceded, was hastily written as a Cacophonous escape-plan. Despite the circumstances of its release however, 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 extreme metal
Extreme metal
Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. The term usually refers to a more abrasive, harsher, underground, non-commercialized style or sound nearly always associated with genres like black metal,...
anthems" in a 2006 issue of Kerrang!
Kerrang!
Kerrang! is a UK-based magazine devoted to rock music published by Bauer Media Group. It was first published on June 6, 1981 as a one-off supplement in the Sounds newspaper...
magazine. The EP also marked Sarah Jezebel Deva
Sarah Jezebel Deva
Sarah Jane , better known by her stage name Sarah Jezebel Deva, is a British vocalist. She was the female vocalist in Cradle of Filth for 14 years and also fronts her own band, Angtoria. In 2009, Deva started her self-titled solo project. The debut album A Sign of Sublime was released in February...
's debut with the band, replacing Andrea Meyer, Cradle's first female vocalist and self-styled "satanic advisor". Deva appeared on every subsequent Cradle release and tour until Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa
Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa
Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa is the ninth studio album by English extreme metal band Cradle of Filth. It was released on November 1, 2010 by Peaceville Records...
, but was never considered a full band member, since she also performed with The Kovenant
The Kovenant
The Kovenant is a Norwegian black metal band from Oslo/Hamar. The band originally formed as Covenant in 1993, but in 1999 were forced to change their name to The Kovenant due to a dispute with a Swedish electronic band of the same name....
, Therion
Therion (band)
Therion is a Swedish symphonic metal band founded by Christofer Johnsson in 1987. The word "therion" comes from the Greek therion , meaning "Beast," i.e., that of the Christian Book of Revelation...
and Mortiis
Mortiis
Mortiis is a band from Notodden, Norway fronted by Håvard Ellefsen, who is also known as the namesake of the band. The name is a misspelling of the word 'mortis', which is the pronunciation used by the band. However, Mortiis started as the solo project of Ellefsen as a means to convey a story...
, and fronted her own Angtoria
Angtoria
Angtoria is a symphonic metal band composed of British singer Sarah Jezebel Deva and Swedish brothers Chris Rehn , and Tommy Rehn ....
project along with Cradle's current bass player, Dave Pybus
Dave Pybus
Dave Pybus .Pybus's first band was called Anul Death which later changed its name to Darkened.From 1990-1994 Dave worked at Peaceville Records as a graphic designer...
.
Music for Nations era (1996-2001)
Dusk... and Her Embrace followed the same year: a critically acclaimed breakthrough album that greatly expanded the band's fan-base throughout Europe and the rest of the world. A concept albumConcept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
of sorts based generally on vampirism and specifically (though loosely) on the writing of Sheridan Le Fanu
Sheridan Le Fanu
Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu was an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels. He was the leading ghost-story writer of the nineteenth century and was central to the development of the genre in the Victorian era....
, Cradle's inaugural album for Music for Nations set the tone for what was to follow. The album's production values matched the band's ambition for the first time, whilst Dani's vocal gymnastics were at their most extreme.
The increasingly theatrical stage shows of the 1997 European tour helped keep Cradle in the public eye, as did a burgeoning line of controversial merchandise; not least the notorious t-shirt depicting a masturbating nun
Nun
A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...
on the front and the slogan "Jesus is a cunt" in large letters on the back. The t-shirt is banned in New Zealand, a handful of fans have faced court appearances and fines for wearing the shirt in public, and some band members themselves attracted a certain amount of hostile attention when they wore similar "I Love Satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
" shirts to the Vatican
Vatican City
Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...
. Alex Mosson
Alex Mosson
Alex Mosson, is a former Lord Provost of Glasgow.He was an official of the Transport and General Workers' Union and a member of the Labour Party and elected councillor for Anderston in 1984....
, the Lord Provost of Glasgow from 1999–2003, called the shirts (and by implication the band) "sick and offensive". The band obviously approved, using the quote on the back cover of the 2005 DVD Peace Through Superior Firepower
Peace Through Superior Firepower
Peace Through Superior Firepower is a DVD by Cradle of Filth released in 2005 through Roadrunner Records. It contains a full concert filmed on 2 April 2005 at Elysée Montmartre, Paris. It also contains six music videos and extra features including footage of a signing session and a...
.
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
documentary series Living With the Enemy (on tour with a fan and his disapproving mother and sister) and released its third full-length album Cruelty and the Beast
Cruelty and the Beast
Cruelty and the Beast is the third studio album by English extreme metal band Cradle of Filth. It is a concept album based on the legend of the Hungarian "blood countess" Elizabeth Báthory...
. A fully realised concept album based on the legend of the "Blood Countess" Elizabeth Bathory
Elizabeth Báthory
Countess Elizabeth Báthory de Ecsed was a countess from the renowned Báthory family of Hungarian nobility. Although in modern times she has been labelled the most prolific serial killer in history, the number of murders has been debated...
, the album boasted the casting coup of Ingrid Pitt
Ingrid Pitt
Ingrid Pitt was an actress best known for her work in horror films of the 1960s and 1970s.-Background:Pitt was born Ingoushka Petrov in Warsaw, Poland to a German father of Russian descent and a Polish Jewish mother. During World War II she and her family were imprisoned in a concentration camp...
providing guest narration as the Countess: a role she first played in Hammer
Hammer Film Productions
Hammer Film Productions is a film production company based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic "Hammer Horror" films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Hammer also produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and comedies and in later...
's 1971 film Countess Dracula
Countess Dracula
Countess Dracula is a 1971 Hammer horror film based on the legends surrounding the "Blood Countess" Elizabeth Báthory. It is in many ways atypical of Hammer's canon, attempting to broaden Hammer's output from Dracula and Frankenstein sequels....
. The album led to Cradle's U.S debut, and Dani claimed it in 2003 as the Cradle album of which he was most proud, although he conceded dissatisfaction with its sound quality.
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
, PanDaemonAeon
PanDaemonAeon
PanDaemonAeon is a DVD by extreme metal band Cradle of Filth, originally released on VHS in 1999, and surfacing on disc in 2002. It is primarily a showcase for the band's first ever promo video for the song From the Cradle to Enslave, taken from the EP of the same name...
, and an accompanying EP, From the Cradle to Enslave
From the Cradle to Enslave
From the Cradle to Enslave is an EP by Cradle of Filth. It contains two original tracks; the title track and "Of Dark Blood and Fucking". The rest of the disc consists of two cover versions and a re-recording of a track from the album Dusk... and Her Embrace...
, featuring the music from the production. Replete with graphic nudity
Nudity
Nudity is the state of wearing no clothing. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic. The amount of clothing worn depends on functional considerations and social considerations...
and gore
Graphic violence
Graphic violence is the depiction of especially vivid, brutal and realistic acts of violence in visual media such as literature, film, television, and video games...
, the video was directed by Alex Chandon
Alex Chandon
Alexis Chandon is a film director, writer and digital artist.-Directing career:His early films, Drillbit and Bad Karma featured many musicians from the UK anarcho punk scene, notably Ben Bethell, Dan MacCintyre, William 'Bill' Corbett and Julian Portinari from, The Apostles and Pallor,...
, who would go on to produce further Cradle promo clips and DVD documentaries, as well as the full-length feature film Cradle of Fear
Cradle of Fear
Cradle of Fear is a 2001 horror film directed by Alex Chandon. Taking inspiration from the portmanteau films produced by Amicus in the 1970s it features three separate half-hour segments, linked by a fourth story. The main narrative involves imprisoned serial-killer Kemper wreaking vengeance on...
.
The band released their fourth full-length studio album on Hallowe'en
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
, 2000. Midian
Midian (album)
Midian is the fourth studio album by Cradle of Filth, released on Halloween 2000. The album marks the return of Paul Allender and Gian Pyres to the band and the introduction of Adrian Erlandsson and Martin Powell...
was based around the Clive Barker
Clive Barker
Clive Barker is an English author, film director and visual artist best known for his work in both fantasy and horror fiction. Barker came to prominence in the mid-1980s with a series of short stories which established him as a leading young horror writer...
novel Cabal and its subsequent film adaptation Nightbreed
Nightbreed
Nightbreed is a 1990 American fantasy horror film written and directed by Clive Barker, based on his 1988 novella Cabal. The film features Craig Sheffer, Anne Bobby and David Cronenberg. The story centers in a community of mutant outcasts that hides from humanity, known as the...
. Like Cruelty and the Beast, Midian featured a guest narrator, this time Doug Bradley
Doug Bradley
Douglas William "Doug" Bradley is an English actor best known for his roles in the Hellraiser film series.- Early life :Bradley was born in Liverpool, England...
, who starred in Nightbreed but remains best known for playing Pinhead
Pinhead (Hellraiser)
Pinhead is a fictional character from the Hellraiser series. Created by Clive Barker and portrayed by Doug Bradley, Pinhead is a prominent figure in the series, mostly featured as the main antagonist....
in the Hellraiser
Hellraiser
Hellraiser is a 1987 British and American horror film based upon the novella The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker, who also wrote the screenplay and directed the film. Hellraiser explores themes of sadomasochism and morality under duress and fear. The film spawned a series of sequels...
films. Bradley's line "Oh, no tears please" from the song "Her Ghost in the Fog" is a quote of Pinhead's from the first Hellraiser ("No tears, please. It's a waste of good suffering...") and Bradley would reappear on later albums Nymphetamine, Thornography, and Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder. The video for "Her Ghost in the Fog" received heavy rotation on MTV2
MTV2
MTV2 is a cable network that is widely available in the United States on digital cable and satellite television, and is progressively being added to analogue cable lineups across the nation...
and other metal channels, and the track also found its way onto the soundtrack of the werewolf movie Ginger Snaps (it would also feature, much later, in the video game Brütal Legend
Brütal Legend
Brütal Legend is an action-adventure/real-time strategy game created by Double Fine Productions and published by Electronic Arts for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The game was released during October 2009 in North America and Europe...
).
Sony interlude (2001-2004)
The longest-ever interim period between full-length Cradle albums was nevertheless a busy time for the band. Bitter Suites to SuccubiBitter Suites to Succubi
Cradle of Filth's Bitter Suites to Succubi is essentially an EP—or "transitional mini album" as the band's singer Dani Filth would have it; bridging the gap between Midian and Damnation and a Day while the band negotiated their label change from Music for Nations to Sony...
was released on the band's own "Abracadaver" label, and was a mixture of four new songs, re-recordings of three songs from The Principle of Evil Made Flesh, two instrumental tracks, and a cover of The Sisters of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy are an English rock band that formed in 1980. After achieving early underground fame in UK, the band had their commercial breakthrough in mid-1980s and sustained it until the early 1990s, when they stopped releasing new recorded output in protest against their record company...
's "No Time to Cry". Stylistically similar to Midian, the album is unique among Cradle albums in featuring exactly the same band members as its predecessor, but is generally regarded as an EP and often overlooked in the band's canon. 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
Live Bait for the Dead
Live Bait for the Dead is a live album by Cradle of Filth, recorded at Nottingham Rock City on April 14, 2001. The same gig is included on the DVD Heavy, Left-Handed and Candid. Following the same format as Lovecraft & Witch Hearts, the main album is supplemented by a second disc of rare tracks and...
. Finally, the band (principally Dani) also found time to appear in Cradle of Fear while they negotiated their first major-label signing with Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
Music.
Damnation and a Day
Damnation and a Day
Damnation and a Day is the fifth studio album by Cradle of Filth. It features the 40-piece Budapest Film Orchestra and 32-piece Budapest Film Choir, is partly based on John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost, and was Cradle's only full-length release for the major label Sony before they transferred...
arrived in 2003; Sony's heavyweight funding underwriting Cradle's undiminished ambition by finally bringing a real orchestra into the studio (the 80-strong Budapest Film Orchestra and Choir replacing the increasingly sophisticated synthesizers of previous albums) and thus marking the band's belated gestation - for one album only - into full-blown symphonic metal. Damnation featured the band's most complex compositions to date, outran its predecessors by a good twenty minutes, and produced two more popular videos: the Švankmajer
Jan Švankmajer
Jan Švankmajer is a Czech filmmaker and artist whose work spans several media. He is a self-labeled surrealist known for his surreal animations and features, which have greatly influenced other artists such as Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam, the Brothers Quay, and many others.- Life and career :Jan...
-influenced Mannequin, and Babalon A.D. (So Glad for the Madness)
Babalon A.D. (So Glad for the Madness)
Babalon A.D. is a DVD single by Cradle of Filth.The video is an homage to Pier Paolo Pasolini's notorious final film Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom, based on the Marquis de Sade's novel...
, based on Pasolini's infamous Salò
Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom , commonly referred to as Salò, is a controversial 1975 Italian drama film written and directed by Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini with uncredited writing contributions by Pupi Avati. It is based on the book The 120 Days of Sodom by the Marquis de Sade...
. Roughly half the album trod the conceptual territory of John Milton
John Milton
John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
's Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse...
— showing the events of the Fall of Man
The Fall of Man
In Christian doctrine, the Fall of Man, or simply the Fall, refers to the transition of the first humans from a state of innocent obedience to God to a state of guilty disobedience to God. In Genesis chapter 2, Adam and Eve live at first with God in a paradise, but the serpent tempts them into...
through the eyes of Lucifer
Lucifer
Traditionally, Lucifer is a name that in English generally refers to the devil or Satan before being cast from Heaven, although this is not the original meaning of the term. In Latin, from which the English word is derived, Lucifer means "light-bearer"...
- while the remainder comprised stand-alone tracks such as the Nile
Nile (band)
Nile is an American death metal band from Greenville, South Carolina, formed in 1993. Their music and lyrics are inspired by Ancient Egyptian/Near Eastern mysticism, history, religion, and art, as well as stories by H. P. Lovecraft.- History :...
tribute "Doberman Pharaoh" and the aforementioned "Babalon
Babalon
Babalon—also known as The Scarlet Woman, The Great Mother, or the Mother of Abominations—is a goddess found in the mystical system of Thelema, which was established in 1904 with English author and occultist Aleister Crowley's writing of The Book of the Law...
AD"; a reference to Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley , born Edward Alexander Crowley, and also known as both Frater Perdurabo and The Great Beast, was an influential English occultist, astrologer, mystic and ceremonial magician, responsible for founding the religious philosophy of Thelema. He was also successful in various other...
. "Babalon AD" was the first DVD-only single to reach the U.K. top 40, according to the Guinness Book of Records of British Hit Singles and Albums. Feeling that Sony's enthusiasm quickly palled however, Cradle jumped ship to Roadrunner Records
Roadrunner Records
Roadrunner Records is an American record label that concentrates primarily on heavy metal bands. It is currently a subsidiary of Warner Music Group.-History:...
after barely a year.
Move to Roadrunner (2004–2010)
2004's NymphetamineNymphetamine
Nymphetamine is the sixth album by English extreme metal band Cradle of Filth, released on September 28, 2004. Nymphetamine marks the first recorded appearance of guitarist James McIlroy on a Cradle of Filth album. He would later record guitar for the band's 2010 release Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa...
was the band's first full album since The Principle of Evil Made Flesh to not be based around any sort of overarching concept (although references to the works of H. P. Lovecraft
H. P. Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....
are made more than once). Cradle's bassist
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
Dave Pybus
Dave Pybus
Dave Pybus .Pybus's first band was called Anul Death which later changed its name to Darkened.From 1990-1994 Dave worked at Peaceville Records as a graphic designer...
described it as an "eclectic mix between the group's Damnation and Cruelty albums with a renewed vigour for melody
Melody
A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...
, songmanship [sic] and plain fucking weirdness." Nymphetamine debuted at #89 on the Billboard Top 200 chart selling just under 14,000 copies, and the band's growing acceptance by the mainstream was confirmed when the album's title track was nominated for a Grammy award.
Thornography
Thornography
Thornography is the seventh full-length studio album by Cradle of Filth released through Roadrunner Records in October, 2006. The album is produced by Anthrax guitarist Rob Caggiano, engineered and co-produced by Dan Turner and mixed by Andy Sneap, and once again features narration by Doug Bradley...
, was released in October 2006. According to Dani Filth, the title "represents mankind's obsession with sin and self... an addiction to self-punishment or something equally poisonous... a mania." On the subject of the album's musical direction, Filth told Revolver
Revolver (magazine)
Revolver is a bi-monthly rock and heavy metal magazine published by Future US. Before covering heavy metal, rock & hard rock solely, it was a more mainstream oriented magazine. The magazine is structured in a manner similar to publications such as Spin while covering many avenues within the heavy...
magazine, "I'm not saying it's 'experimental', but we're definitely testing the limits of what we can do... A lot of the songs are really rhythmical - thrashy
Thrash metal
Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...
, almost — but they're all also really catchy." A flurry of pre-release controversy saw Samuel Araya's original cover artwork scrapped and replaced in May 2006, although numerous CD booklets had already been printed with the original image. Thornography received a similar reception to Nymphetamine, garnering generally positive reviews, but raising a few eyebrows with the inclusion of a cover of Heaven 17
Heaven 17
Heaven 17 are an English synthpop band originating from Sheffield in the early 1980s. The trio comprises Martyn Ware , Ian Craig Marsh and Glenn Gregory...
's "Temptation" (featuring guest vocals from Dirty Harry
Dirty Harry (musician)
Dirty Harry is a British rock singer, who is now based in Los Angeles, California, United States.-Early life:...
), which was released as a digital single and accompanying video shortly before the album. Thornography entered the Billboard chart at #66, having sold nearly 13,000 copies.
Long-term drummer Adrian Erlandsson
Adrian Erlandsson
Adrian Erlandsson is a prolific Swedish heavy metal drummer, who currently plays in Brujeria, Netherbird, with his wife in Nemhain and in Yorkshire doom metal band Paradise Lost...
departed the band in November 2006, with the intention of devoting his energies to his two side projects Needleye and Nemhain
Nemhain (band)
Nemhain is a London-based rock/punk/gothic rock influenced band named after Nemhain, the mythological Celtic goddess of battle fury. It was formed by Adrian Erlandsson, then with Cradle of Filth, and his wife, model Morrigan Hel in 2006....
. The official press release from Roadrunner saw Erlandsson state "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 best album to date". He was replaced by Martin Škaroupka.
Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder
Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder is the eighth studio album by English extreme metal band Cradle of Filth. It was released on October 27, 2008 by Roadrunner Records. A special edition containing bonus material was also released...
, began early that year following a GWAR
GWAR
Gwar is a satirical heavy metal band formed in Richmond, Virginia, United States, in 1984. The band is best known for its elaborate science fiction/horror film inspired costumes, obscene lyrics and graphic stage performances, which feature humorous enactments of politically and morally taboo...
-supported tour which took in Russia, the Ukraine, the UK, Romania, Slovakia and North America.
Godspeed was a concept album based around the legend of Gilles de Rais
Gilles de Rais
Gilles de Montmorency-Laval , Baron de Rais, was a Breton knight, a leader in the French army and a companion-in-arms of Joan of Arc. He is best known as a prolific serial killer of children...
, a 15th-century French nobleman who fought alongside Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc
Saint Joan of Arc, nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans" , is a national heroine of France and a Roman Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France who claimed divine guidance, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, which paved the way for the...
and accumulated great wealth before becoming a satanist, sexual deviant and murderer. Kerrang!
Kerrang!
Kerrang! is a UK-based magazine devoted to rock music published by Bauer Media Group. It was first published on June 6, 1981 as a one-off supplement in the Sounds newspaper...
preferred the album to the "relatively weak" Thornography, calling it "grandiose and epic", while Metal Hammer
Metal Hammer
Metal Hammer is a monthly heavy metal music magazine published in the United Kingdom by Future Publishing, and in several other countries by different publishers. Metal Hammer articles feature both mainstream bands and more unusual acts from the whole spectrum of heavy metal music...
said it had "genuine narrative depth and emotional resonance", and Terrorizer called it "cohesive, consistent and convincing". It sold 11,000 copies in its week of release, entering the Billboard 200 at #48.
Peaceville Records (2010-present)
Cradle's relationship with Roadrunner came to an end in April 2010, with the announcement that the band's next album would be released by the British independent label Peaceville RecordsPeaceville Records
Peaceville Records is a British independent metal-oriented record label. The label was founded by Paul "Hammy" Halmshaw in 1987, in Dewsbury, England...
, using Cradle's own Abracadaver imprint. Dani Filth cited "the artistic restrictions and mindless inhibitions imposed by a major label" as the band's reason for going independent. Early press releases named the new album All Hallows Eve, but by August 2010 the title was confirmed as Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa
Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa
Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa is the ninth studio album by English extreme metal band Cradle of Filth. It was released on November 1, 2010 by Peaceville Records...
. Released on November 1, 2010, it is a concept album in the same vein as its predecessor, Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder; this time centering on the demon Lilith
Lilith
Lilith is a character in Jewish mythology, found earliest in the Babylonian Talmud, who is generally thought to be related to a class of female demons Līlīṯu in Mesopotamian texts. However, Lowell K. Handy notes, "Very little information has been found relating to the Akkadian and Babylonian view...
, the first wife of the Biblical Adam
Adam
Adam is a figure in the Book of Genesis. According to the creation myth of Abrahamic religions, he is the first human. In the Genesis creation narratives, he was created by Yahweh-Elohim , and the first woman, Eve was formed from his rib...
, and also making reference to Greek
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
, Egyptian
Egyptian mythology
Ancient Egyptian religion was a complex system of polytheistic beliefs and rituals which were an integral part of ancient Egyptian society. It centered on the Egyptians' interaction with a multitude of deities who were believed to be present in, and in control of, the forces and elements of nature...
and Sumerian mythology, the Knights Templar
Knights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
and the Carmelite Nuns. The label referred to it as "a dark tapestry of horror, madness and twisted sex", while Filth called its sound "creepily melodic, like Mercyful Fate
Mercyful Fate
Mercyful Fate was a Danish heavy metal band from Copenhagen. Initially active from 1981 to 1985, they reunited in 1992. The band went on hiatus again in 2000, when frontman King Diamond decided to continue his solo career...
or a dark Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band from Leyton in east London, formed in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. Since their inception, the band's discography has grown to include a total of thirty-six albums: fifteen studio albums; eleven live albums; four EPs; and six...
". Metal Hammer
Metal Hammer
Metal Hammer is a monthly heavy metal music magazine published in the United Kingdom by Future Publishing, and in several other countries by different publishers. Metal Hammer articles feature both mainstream bands and more unusual acts from the whole spectrum of heavy metal music...
's Dom Lawson felt it was "another sumptuous and spectacular eruption of gothic melodrama, perverted sonic schlock and balls-out extreme metal bombast", and likened it to an "instalment in an ongoing series of novels."
An EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
entitled Evermore Darkly
Evermore Darkly
Evermore Darkly is an EP by the British extreme metal band Cradle of Filth, released in October 2011. A companion piece to the 2010 album Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa, it contains two new tracks in "Transmission from Hell" and "Thank Your Lucky Scars", plus alternate versions of some Venus Aversa...
, featuring "new tracks and rarities", was released in October 2011. The package included a DVD with a tour documentary, live DVD recorded at 2011's Graspop
Graspop Metal Meeting
Graspop Metal Meeting is an annual metal festival in Dessel, Belgium that has taken place each year since 1996. Despite the small size of the festival grounds the festival draws a large number of international spectators, with a total of 142,000 visitors in the course of the 2011 edition...
festival, and the video for "Lilith Immaculate". The band has also announced an upcoming orchestral album titled Midnight in the Labyrinth
Midnight in the Labyrinth
Midnight in the Labyrinth is a forthcoming orchestral album by English extreme metal band Cradle of Filth. According to vocalist Dani Filth, it will "reinvent" tracks from the band's first four albums and include "full soundtrack-quality stuff.....
, which, according to Dani Filth, will "reinvent" tracks from the band's first four albums as "full soundtrack quality stuff... with choirs, strings and some narration". The album was approaching completion in November 2010 and is set to be released in 2011. The orchestral Midnight version of "Summer Dying Fast" is included on Evermore Darkly as a teaser for the full album.
A new studio album is in preparation for a 2012 release. Paul Allender told Ultimate Guitar
Ultimate Guitar Archive
Ultimate Guitar Archive, also known as Ultimate-Guitar.com or simply UG, is a large guitarist community website known for its large amount of guitar and bass tablature, reviews of music and equipment, interviews with notable musicians, online written and video lessons, and forums...
that "The last thing we want to do is come out with another album that sounds like the last two. We decided to change direction and go back to what we used to do with the female vocals; all the strong melody lines and harmonies... I've put a lot of punk orientated riffs back into it again. It's really gone quite dark and pretty hardcore."
Genre
Cradle of Filth's particular subgenre has provoked a great deal of discussion, and their status as a black metalBlack metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....
band or otherwise has been in debate since near the time that the group rose to fame Filth, in a 1998 interview for BBC Radio 5
BBC Radio 5 Live
BBC Radio 5 Live is the BBC's national radio service that specialises in live BBC News, phone-ins, and sports commentaries...
for example, said "I use the term heavy metal, rather than black metal, because I think that's a bit of a fad now. Call it what you like: death metal, black metal, any kind of metal...", while Gavin Baddeley
Gavin Baddeley
Gavin Baddeley is an ordained Reverend in the Church of Satan, and an experienced journalist who has worked for The Observer and Metal Hammer. He is the occult authority for the BBC and Channel 4, has addressed Cambridge University, and has been profiled in The Independent and The London Evening...
's 2006 Terrorizer interview states that "few folk, the band included, call Cradle black metal these days."
The band's style has been described as symphonic black metal
Symphonic black metal
Symphonic black metal is a black metal subgenre that emerged in the mid to late 1990s. The genre is known for its symphonic and orchestral elements and is centralized in Europe.-Characteristics:...
, gothic black metal, and dark metal. However, the band's evolving sound has allowed them to continue resisting definitive categorisation. They are audibly influenced by Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band from Leyton in east London, formed in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. Since their inception, the band's discography has grown to include a total of thirty-six albums: fifteen studio albums; eleven live albums; four EPs; and six...
, have collaborated on projects like Christian Death
Christian Death
Christian Death is an American deathrock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1979. The band was founded and fronted by Rozz Williams. Christian Death is most notable for their first album Only Theatre of Pain....
's Born Again Anti-Christian album (on the track "Peek-A-Boo"), and have even dabbled outside of metal music with dance remixes ("Twisting Further Nails", "Pervert's Church" etc), although these have fallen by the wayside in recent years. In a 2006 interview with Terrorizer magazine, current guitarist Paul Allender
Paul Allender
Paul Allender is the lead guitarist of the British extreme metal band Cradle of Filth.-Early life:...
said "We were never a black metal band. The only thing that catered to that was the make-up
Corpse paint
Corpse paint or corpsepaint is a style of black-and-white makeup, used mainly by black metal bands during live concerts and photo shoots. The makeup is used to intensify the bands' imagery of evil, inhumanity, and corpse-like decay. It is most commonly used just on the face, but also on arms and...
. Even when The Principle of Evil Made Flesh came out — you look at Emperor
Emperor (band)
Emperor was a Norwegian black metal band formed in 1991. They dissolved in 2001, but reunited in 2006 and again in 2007 for a few festival dates and brief US tours. The group was founded by Samoth and Ihsahn .-Biography:...
and Burzum
Burzum
Burzum is a musical project by Varg Vikernes . It began during 1991 in Bergen, Norway and quickly became prominent within the early Norwegian black metal scene...
and all that stuff — we didn't sound anything like that. The way that I see it is that we were, and still are now, an extreme metal
Extreme metal
Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. The term usually refers to a more abrasive, harsher, underground, non-commercialized style or sound nearly always associated with genres like black metal,...
band."
Appearing on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
music quiz Never Mind the Buzzcocks
Never Mind the Buzzcocks
Never Mind the Buzzcocks is a comedy panel game television show with a pop music theme, currently without a permanent presenter. It stars Phill Jupitus and Noel Fielding as team captains. The show is produced by Talkback Thames for the BBC, and is usually aired on BBC Two...
on April 9, 2001, Filth jokingly claimed Cradle's sound as "heavy funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
", and in an October 2006 interview stated "we'd rather be known as solely 'Cradle of Filth', I think, than be hampered by stupid genre barriers."
Band members
- Dani FilthDani FilthDani Filth is the lyricist, vocalist and founding member of the metal band Cradle of Filth.-Personal life:...
– lead vocals (1991–present) - Paul AllenderPaul AllenderPaul Allender is the lead guitarist of the British extreme metal band Cradle of Filth.-Early life:...
– lead guitar (1992–1995, 1999–present) - James McIlroyJames McIlroy (musician)James McIlroy was born in Kings Lynn Norfolk, grew up in Belgium before returning to England in 1996. He started his professional playing career in 2002.-Career:...
– rhythm guitar (2003–2005, 2009–present) - Dave PybusDave PybusDave Pybus .Pybus's first band was called Anul Death which later changed its name to Darkened.From 1990-1994 Dave worked at Peaceville Records as a graphic designer...
– bass guitar (2001–present) - Martin Marthus ŠkaroupkaMartin Marthus SkaroupkaMartin "Marthus" Škaroupka is a drummer best known for his stint in the British metal band Cradle of Filth.-Biography:...
– drums (2006–present) - Caroline Campbell - keyboards, backing vocals (2011-present)
Discography
Studio albums- The Principle of Evil Made FleshThe Principle of Evil Made FleshThe Principle of Evil Made Flesh is the debut album by English extreme metal band Cradle of Filth. Its sound is significantly rawer than the style the band would subsequently develop, and Dani Filth had yet to find the voice he would use on future recordings...
(1994) - Dusk... and Her Embrace (1996)
- Cruelty and the BeastCruelty and the BeastCruelty and the Beast is the third studio album by English extreme metal band Cradle of Filth. It is a concept album based on the legend of the Hungarian "blood countess" Elizabeth Báthory...
(1998) - MidianMidian (album)Midian is the fourth studio album by Cradle of Filth, released on Halloween 2000. The album marks the return of Paul Allender and Gian Pyres to the band and the introduction of Adrian Erlandsson and Martin Powell...
(2000) - Damnation and a DayDamnation and a DayDamnation and a Day is the fifth studio album by Cradle of Filth. It features the 40-piece Budapest Film Orchestra and 32-piece Budapest Film Choir, is partly based on John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost, and was Cradle's only full-length release for the major label Sony before they transferred...
(2003) - NymphetamineNymphetamineNymphetamine is the sixth album by English extreme metal band Cradle of Filth, released on September 28, 2004. Nymphetamine marks the first recorded appearance of guitarist James McIlroy on a Cradle of Filth album. He would later record guitar for the band's 2010 release Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa...
(2004) - ThornographyThornographyThornography is the seventh full-length studio album by Cradle of Filth released through Roadrunner Records in October, 2006. The album is produced by Anthrax guitarist Rob Caggiano, engineered and co-produced by Dan Turner and mixed by Andy Sneap, and once again features narration by Doug Bradley...
(2006) - Godspeed on the Devil's ThunderGodspeed on the Devil's ThunderGodspeed on the Devil's Thunder is the eighth studio album by English extreme metal band Cradle of Filth. It was released on October 27, 2008 by Roadrunner Records. A special edition containing bonus material was also released...
(2008) - Darkly, Darkly, Venus AversaDarkly, Darkly, Venus AversaDarkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa is the ninth studio album by English extreme metal band Cradle of Filth. It was released on November 1, 2010 by Peaceville Records...
(2010)