Let me tell you, there is something really weird going on with me. I will be wearing full corpse paint in no time if I am not being careful. No, jokes aside. But I've found yet another "black metal" band I am absolutely celebrating. I am talking about Cradle of Filth and especially their fourth studio album Midian (2000), which was by chance the first album of the band that I played. And I've played it on repeat for the last couple of days. Have been listening to it in the car, on my headphones on a walk, while cleaning, while gardening, while cooking. What is going on here? Just listen to this song and tell me it is not great. It is my absolute favourite and it makes me insanely happy for some reasons: Cthulhu Dawn.
Cradle of Filth has been formed by lead vocalis Dani Filth in 1991 in Suffolk. Dani is the only constant and remaining founding member in the band today. Right from the start the band not only consisted of vocalist, guitarist, bassist and drummer but also featured a keyboardist as a permanent member of the band. In 1993 Andrea Meyer joined the band as first female backup vocalist. Since then the Cradle of Filth line-up has changed several times but always featured female vocals and keyboards. In 2009 the role of keyboardist and female background vocals has been combined the first time with Ashley Ellyllon joining the band.
Originally Cradle of Filth started out as a black metal band, part of the second wave of black metal during the 90s. Their first studio album The Principle of Evil Made Flesh (1994) still had a very raw sound to it and most black metal fans can still agree that this album can be labelled as black metal. They had the raw and crude production, the blasting drums, demonic vocals and evil imagery. And yet Cradle of Filth differed from Mayhem or Emperor or Darkthrone. They did not focus on the bleak and black and evil. They combined all their influences to something new. Venom, Bathory, Iron Maiden, Mercyful Fate, Possessed - Dani Filth took the best from all of those bands and combined it with vampire and gothic imagery and symphonic elements.
When Midian was released in 2000 Cradle of Filth had left the black metal underground behind and had become mainstream. Something that never went down well with the black metal scene. Black metal is not supposed to be mainstream. So what are we listening to if not black metal?
There is death metal. There is black metal. There is classic metal. There is symphonic metal. Cradle of Filth manage to take the best out of all these genres. They are not bound by rules and just take what sounds good and extreme. There are thrashy riffs, blasting drums, operatic background vocals, atmospheric synth elements and a voice that is beyond anything.
Dani Filth - I love watching him perfom live. Never seen anything like it. He does it all. Screeching, whispering, growling, clean singing. His voice is so versatile and the songs never get boring. There is always another surprise behind the next corner. More than once I've literally gawped in surprise. The songs are totally unpredictable which make them so great.
Midian keeps a steady pace in the first half of the album. The songs are fast and heavy and create a feeling of frenzy, leaving you pumped. The second half is a bit more paced, but not less great. It is hard for me to pick out favourites. Apart from Cthulu Dawn and Lord Abortion I would pick Death Magick for the Adepts (very organ driven song with the most INSANE shrieks from Dani that just had me whooping, for example at 1:35 when his voice just wents in overdrive) and Tearing the Veil from Grace which starts with an incredibly beautiful clean and melodic intro that will be stuck in your head for the rest of the day before breaking down into a real thrasher. Listen to that scream at 5:50 - it gives me chills every time I listen to it. It leads into the perfect and majestic ending of this song.
But then, like I said, there is no song I don't like on this album. Midian is definitely one of those albums that will be stored and played on repeat in this household frequently. I already had a sneak peak on other Cradle of Filth releases and I can already promise you - this will not be my last Cradle of Filth review - #danifilthfangirl.
And if you are looking for an nice documentary from times when parents where actually still worried because of satanic lyrics in metal watch BBC Living with the Enemy from 1998 where mother Janet Robinson is following Cradle of Filth on tour to get a grasp of what her son is seeing in this band.
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