Cradle Of Filth
The Screaming Of The Valkyries
Napalm Records
Previously, if you were to ask us, “What is Cradle Of Filth all about?” We’d have to show you about five songs from different albums, but now this band have made it even easier because everything you need to know is right here! This lineup is easily the best and apparently most harmonious in years, and it shows! From the opener, the evil grin of To Live Deliciously, to the future anthem, White Hellebore, with its soaring chorus, Cradle, have come out screaming like the aforementioned Valkyries, a reference to the end of days. For us, though, the pure riffing fury of You Are My Nautilus is so classic-sounding and vital that it easily marks this masterclass in UK metal out as an album highlight. Vampires are, of course, catered for here as Cradle thrust out their necks on Ex Sanguine Draculae and all manner of gothic majesty unfurls. We were lucky enough to speak to Dani Filth recently, and the atmosphere in the Cradle Of Filth camp is one of excitement and hunger. You can hear this as this succinct collection of dark sermons literally leaps out of the speakers at your throat and rips and snarls its way through its lean, perfectly formed running time.
Cradle Of Filth here display way more vigour than most new pups could muster, and the UK’s kings and queen of metallic theatre macabre scurry into the night with their bloodied spoils.
Cradle Of Filth are at the very top of their game right now and there’s no other challenger to be seen.
https://www.facebook.com/cradleoffilth
Review by George Miller