Covered in Filth
A Tribute to Cradle of Filth
Deadline
The guys over at Deadline don’t waste a second, do they? Cradle of Filth (C.O.F.) still figures prominently among the walking dead; to this day, still releasing records and reinventing this orchestrated madness that’s since been received by a wholesale-sized following worldwide. There’s nothing to effectively “cover” the idea of playing C.O.F.’s music. For all their deranged exploits in and out of the studio, on record, camera and undoubtedly the local news, they’ve forged an inimitable union of brutality with barbaric lust. Thus, the thirteen sinister factions chosen to participate here, even knowing what lay in store, could only have approached with caution.
The roster is comprised of names known mainly to followers of the dark underground, like Wehrwolfe, who do a searing introduction by way of the Filth classic, “The Principle Of Evil Made Flesh,” cutting and slashing their way with a maximized guitar shred befitting of the early pioneers like a Frost or even Slayer, leading the charge, and daring the rest to follow. “Born In A Burial Gown” (from Bitter Suites) is exhumed by Serpents Aria: heavy on the horror, slightly clumsy to the center, but without sacrificing intensity. Finnish anti-gods Mirzadeh go by way of the epic “Malice Through The Looking Glass”; this is where the musicality of an often-overlooked entity like C.O.F. lies amid an atonal and bountiful five minute rite of passage where terror takes flight toward the moonlit pale. Additionally, D.D.T. (Dofka’s Destruction Theory), another stateside East Coast entry featuring the stellar shred of one Jim Dofka, opts to cover Filth’s own cover of the Sisters Of Mercy’s “No Time To Cry,” blending dread and darkness with melodic Goth passages and overactive double bass fills, successfully shaking the old standard by its dark roots.
One thing that is surprising is the lack of sloppiness, especially around the earlier titles that were naturally less refined and concocted by an almost completely different C.O.F. cast. Oddly enough, many songs are true to their original form. But is that the real trick here? What degree of desecration would’ve been in order to really do them justice?
While I didn’t think they could pull it off, kudos to Deadline for compiling a true to life imitation of dark art that was poised for a downfall before it took its first step. These guys take a beating often enough for their weighty and often sloppy entries into the overdone tribute field, but this is a genuinely solid collection that covers the career of an extreme Metal monster in all its black-hearted splendor.
Deadline Records: http://www.deadlinerecords.com/
