Cradle Of Filth
Bitter Suites to Succubi
Spitfire
On one level, cheers to Cradle Of Filth for maintaining a prolific and mighty rate of recorded output over the past few years. Why, wasn’t it only a few months ago that I penned a review of a certain wet-behind-the-ears record called Midian? Well, Radiohead have proven that being prolific as hell is a good thing, but is this Cradle Of Filth’s Amnesiac, or are they starting to fall into a very easy-to-duplicate, by-the-numbers approach to the music? Thumbing through the Giger-themed booklet while listening to the obligatory spooky intro, I fear for the worst. The good: Dani Filth is adding some pleasing goretastic low-end gurgle, while still holding on to that dizzying high register (I guess he’s gonna be more of a Rob Halford than an Eric Adams), there’s some creepy chunky heavy riffs that work surprisingly well, and, um, they cover a Sisters Of Mercy song (which works great). The bad: just like Kevin Rowland once belted out, “It all sounded the same,” it’s starting to become a blur, an evil blur, but a blur nonetheless. Cradle Of Filth just can’t get rid of those increasingly-worn Cradle Of Filth signifiers – y’know, the oddly familiar piano interludes, the spooky whispered intervals, those controversial keyboards. I could go on. There’s a really funny article on Cradle Of Filth in the new(ish) Slayer magazine where the author, Tornado, talks about how he’s sick of Cradle Of Filth glomming onto all of the classic thrash bands (Slayer, Sodom, etc.) and covering them in a shitty fashion. Goes on about how first they ruined black metal and now they’re trying to ruin thrash metal. It’s probably not true, but damn if it isn’t funny. So by that logic, is Eerie Magazine gonna be writing a scathing editorial about how Cradle Of Filth (pals of Christian Death, lovers of fetish style, Sisters Of Mercy covers) is ruining the good rep of the goth scene? Heh. Pretty decent record, just nothing worth writing home (or to Ink 19) about.
Spitfire Records, 101 Bay Ave., Hicksville, NY 11801; http://www.spitfirerecords.com, http://www.theorderofthedragon.com
