Cradle of Filth

Cradle of Filth is a British extreme metal band with influences of gothic metal, and other subgenres of extreme metal, formed in 1991, in Suffolk, United Kingdom.

His musical style, its classification has caused great controversy, evolved from the Death Metal of his first demos towards a cleaner amalgam that encompasses extreme metal, symphonic black metal and other styles of heavy metal. His lyrical themes and images have been widely influenced by Gothic literature, poetry and mythology. The band has successfully carved out its niche by courting popular news media (often at the expense of its fans), and this has brought increased coverage from magazines such as Kerrang! and television channels such as MTV., as well as frequent appearances on stage at major global rock festivals such as Ozzfest, Download and even the Sziget Festival.

The band has sometimes been seen as Satanic, although their references to Satanism are few and far between, and the use of related imagery is not part of the group's intention to express a belief, but rather to create shock value. According to Metal Hammer magazine, they are the most successful British metal band since Iron Maiden.

Currently the band is made up of vocalist Dani Filth (founder and only original member), bassist Daniel Firth, guitarists Marek 'Ashok' and Donny Burbage, and Martin Skaroupka on drums.

History

Early years

Cradle of Filth was formed in 1991 in Suffolk, when vocalist Daniel Lloyd Davey, known as Dani Filth and who had already collaborated in local groups such as PDA, The Lemon Grove Kids and Feast on Excrement, decided to form a new band with bassist John Richard, guitarist Paul Ryan, drummer Darren White and keyboardist Benjamin Ryan.

In 1992, the band released four demos: A Pungent and Sexual Miasma (in a split with Malediction), Invoking the Unclean, Orgiastic Pleasures Foul and The Black Goddess Rises. At that time the band was recording what would be their first studio album, Goetia, but it was never released because their label Tombstone Records declared bankruptcy and the tracks were destroyed. That same year Paul Allender joined the band as second guitarist. A year later the band released another demo, Total Fucking Darkness and signed a contract with Cacophonus Records. Shortly afterwards drummer Darren White left the band and was replaced by Nick Barker.

Next works

The band soon began recording their debut album, which was released on February 24, 1994. It was also the first album released by Cacophonus Records. The album was very well received. In June 2006 it was included in the list of the ten best black metal albums of the last twenty years in Metal Hammer magazine. After the album's release, brothers Paul and Benjamin Ryan and Paul Allender left the band. In his place came guitarist Stuart Antsis and keyboardist Damien Gregori.

Cradle of Filth's relationship with Cacophonous soon deteriorated, with the band accusing Cacophonous of financial and contractual mismanagement. A bitter legal proceeding took up most of 1995, and the band finally signed to Music for Nations in 1996, after one more recording for Cacophonous to which they were contractually obligated: the EP, Vempire or Dark Faerytales in Phallustein. which was hastily written as an escape plan from his contract with Cacophonous. Despite the circumstances that led to its release, this handful of tracks have been an essential part of his live show to this day., and Queen of Winter, Throned were included in the list of the twenty-five essential extreme metal anthems in an issue of Kerrang! in 2006. It is also worth mentioning The Rape And Ruin Of Angels, which stands out for its great instrumental speed, being a cult song by many of its past fans. The EP marked Sarah Jezebel Deva's debut with the band, replacing Andrea Meyer, the band's first female vocalist and self-proclaimed satanic advisor. Deva has appeared on every album and tour of the band., but has never been considered a full member of the band.

Music for Nations

Dusk... and Her Embrace, followed that same year: a critically acclaimed album that greatly expanded the band's mass following throughout Europe and the rest of the world. A concept album based on vampirism in general and specifically (albeit lightly) on the writings of Sheridan Le Fanu, the band's first album for Music for Nations set the tone for what was to come and the quality of the production eventually matched by first time what the band wanted.

In 1998, Dani began a long contribution to Metal Hammer magazine with his column "Dani's Inferno". That same year the band appeared in the BBC documentary, Living With the Enemy (on tour with a fan and his disapproving mother and sister), and released their third full-length album Cruelty and the Beast. A concept album, entirely based on the legend of the "Bloody Countess", Isabel Bathory, the album featured Ingrid Pitt providing narration as the countess: a role she played in the 1971 film Countess Dracula. The album led to the debut Cradle in the US, and Dani stated in 2003 that it was the album of which he was most proud, although he acknowledges his dissatisfaction with the quality of the sound.

The following year, the band continued to tour, but released their first music video, PanDaemonAeon, and an accompanying EP, From the Cradle to Enslave, featuring music from the production. Filled with blood and nudity, the video was directed by Alex Chandon, who would go on to produce further promotional material and documentaries for the band, as well as the feature film Cradle of Fear. The band released their fourth full-length album on Hallowe'en, 2000. Midian is based on Clive Barker's novel Cabal and its subsequent film adaptation Nightbreed. Like Cruelty and the Beast i>, Midian featured guest narrator Doug Bradley, who starred in Nightbreed, but remains best known for his role as Pinhead in the Hellraiser film series. The line used by Bradley of "Oh, no tears, please" from the song Her Ghost in the Fog is a quote from Pinhead from the first Hellraiser film ("No tears please. It&# 39;s a waste of good suffering") and Bradley would later reappear on the albums Nymphetamine, Thornography, and Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder. The video for Her Ghost in the Fog received heavy rotation on MTV2 and other "metal" channels, and the track is also found on the soundtrack of the film Ginger Snaps. Midian created a gap in the opinion of their fans that has only increased as time has passed: while the band gained a new level of popularity, they also provoked cries of "sellout" from their closest fans. staunch fans.

Interlude with Sony

The longest interim period between albums in Cradle of Filth's history, it was a hectic time for the band. Bitter Suites to Succubi was released under the band's own record label, "Abracadaver", and was a mix of four new songs, re-recordings of three songs from The Principle of Evil Made Flesh, two instrumental tracks, and a version of "No Time To Cry", a song by The Sisters of Mercy, the song Born In A Burial Gown brought with it a video, for many it is You can say that this album would be the last one with a black metal sound without derivations. Stylistically similar to Midian, the album is unique among "CoF" albums in featuring exactly the same band members as its predecessor album, but is generally considered an EP and is often overlooked. high in the band's canon. Followed by more passing releases in the form of a "best of" package titled Lovecraft and Witch Hearts and a live album; Live Bait for the Dead. Lastly, the band (mainly Dani) found enough time to appear in the movie Cradle of Fear while negotiating their first big deal by signing with Sony Music. Damnation and a Day arrived in 2003; with Sony funds funding his ambition by finally having a real orchestra in the studio (the 80-strong Budapest Film Orchestra and Choir, replacing the increasingly sophisticated synthesizers of previous albums) and thus marking the late gestation of the band - from a single album - to true symphonic metal. Damnation, featured the band's most complex compositions to date, outpaced its predecessors by a good twenty minutes, and produced two most popular videos: the highly Svankmajer-influenced Mannequin, and Babylon AD (So Glad For The Madness), based on Pasolini's infamous Salò. About half of the album treaded the conceptual territory of John Milton's Paradise Lost - which shows the events of the Fall of Man through the eyes of Lucifer -, while the rest comprised autonomous tracks such as the tribute to Nile, "Doberman Pharaoh" and the aforementioned "Babylon AD", a reference to Aleister Crowley. "Babylon AD" was the only single from a DVD to reach the UK Top 40, according to the Guinness Book of Records for British Hit Singles and Albums. Sensing that Sony's enthusiasm quickly paled, CoF abandoned ship and headed to Roadrunner Records after just a year.

Roadrunner Records

In 2004, Nymphetamine was the first full album for the band since The Principle of Evil Made Flesh that is not based on any kind of concept (although references to the works by H.P. Lovecraft are made more than once). The band's bassist Dave Pybus described it as an "eclectic mix between the Damnation and Cruelty albums with a renewed vigor for melody, writing [sic] and damn weirdness just spit on the fusion plate." ». The growing establishment acceptance was confirmed when the album's title track was nominated for a Grammy Award, for the band's cover of Cliff Richard's "Devil Woman", for the special edition of Nymphetamine, which did little to convince their detractors of the band's integrity.

Thornography, was released in October 2006. According to Dani Filth, the title "represents humanity'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 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 very rhythmic - thrashy, almost -, but they're also really catchy. Release saw the original cover by Samuel Araya discarded and replaced in May 2006, although numerous booklets had already been printed with the original image. Thornography received a similar reception to Nymphetamine. >, garnering generally positive reviews, but drawing mixed reviews with the inclusion of Temptation by Heaven 17 (featuring vocals by Dirty Harry), which was released as a digital single, along with a video shortly before from the album.

Adrian Erlandsson left the band in November 2006. According to a Roadrunner press release, Erlandsson left with the intention of devoting his energies to his two projects Needleye and the now defunct Nemhain: «I've enjoyed my time with Cradle but now it's time to move on. I think I'm starting at a good time, Thornography is definitely our best album to date." Martin Škaroupka replaced Erlandsson on the 2007 world tour.

Cradle of Filth announced in early 2008 that their eighth studio album was underway: "The world tour for the Thornography album, which would see 'COF&# 39; in Russia, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Romania, Slovakia and North America alongside GWAR has been completed.» The band is back home to start writing for a new recording in the dark months in the recording room. essays.

The band's official BBS revealed parts of an interview with Paul Allender, carried out by MédiaMatinQuébec: «We already have four new songs ready and I have to say that they are... much faster than the 'Thornography' songs. [They] sound like the old Cradle of Filth... A mix of Midian and Dusk...» the album was released on October 27, 2008. Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder is a concept about the legendary assassin of the 15th century, Gilles de Rais, a French nobleman who fought alongside Joan of Arc and accumulated great wealth before becoming a Satanist, sexual deviant, and serial killer.

The band toured Europe with Gorgoroth, Moonspell, Septic Flesh and Asrai in December 2008. The band headlined a US tour with Satyricon and Septic Flesh in early 2009.

Genre

The band's first three demos had a death metal semblance, with occasional symphonic elements. However, when they released their fourth demo, Total Fucking Darkness, their atmosphere became similar to black metal, but not matching its sound or lyrics. Still, its status within black metal has been up for debate almost from the moment the band became popular. In 1998, in an interview for BBC Radio 5, Dani said, "I use the term heavy metal, instead of black metal, because I think that's a passing thing. Call it what you like: metalcore, black metal, any type of metal... », while Gavin Baddeley in an interview with Terrorizer magazine in 2006, states that "nowadays, few people, including the band, would call Cradle black metal."

Their format differs from most black metal bands, and therefore, at one time or another, they have been labeled as symphonic metal, symphonic black metal; extreme gothic metal, melodic black metal, satanic metal; vampyric metal, speed metal; death metal, melodic death metal; horror metal; and dark metal, some of which are considered by critics and fans to be totally apocryphal and simply non-existent subgenres.

However, the evolution of the band's sound has allowed them to continue resisting definitive categorization. They are audibly influenced by Iron Maiden, have collaborated on projects such as Christian Death's Born Again Anti-Christian album (on the track ""Peek-A-Boo"), and have even played outside their musical genre with dance remixes ("Twisting Further Nails", "Pervert's Chuch", etc.), although they have forgotten about these in recent years. In a 2006 interview with Terrorizer magazine, Paul Allender said: "We were never a black metal band. The only thing that addressed that was the makeup. Even though 'The Principle of Evil Made Flesh' came out - look at Emperor, Burzum and all that stuff - we didn't sound like that. The way I see it is that we were, and still are now, an extreme metal band."

On April 9, 2001, in a performance on the BBC music competition, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Dani jokingly declared that the band's sound was like "heavy funk", and In October 2006 in an interview he stated: "We would rather be known only as 'Cradle of Filth', than be hampered by stupid gender barriers."

Members

Current members

• Dani Filth - voice (1991-present)
• Martin Skaroupa - battery and keyboard (2006-presente)
• Daniel Firth - low (2012-present)
• Marek Smerda - guitar (2014-presente)
• Donny Burbage - guitar (2022-presente)
• Zoe Maire Federoff - keyboard and choirs (2022-presente)

Previous members

• Jon Kennedy - low (1991-1992, 1994-1995)
• Darren White - Battery (1991-1992)
• Benjamin Ryan - keyboard (1991-1995)
• Paul Ryan - guitar (1991-1995)
• Robin Graves - bass (1992-1994, 1995-2001), guitar (1991-1992)
• Paul Allender - guitar (1992-1995, 1999-2014)
• Was Sarginson - Battery (1992-1993, 1999)
• Nick Barker - battery (1993-1999)
• Andrea Haugen- choirs (1993-1994)
• Sarah Jezebel Deva - choirs (1994-2008)
• Damien Gregori - keyboard (1995-1997)
• Stuart Anstis - Guitar (1996-1999)
• Gian Pyres - guitar (1995-1999, 1999-2002)
• Les Smith - keyboard (1997-1999)
• Dave Hirschheimer - Battery (1999)
• Adrian Erlandsson - battery (1999-2006)
• Martin Powell - keyboard (2000-2005) and guitar (2002-2005)
• Dave Pybus - low (2001-2005, 2005-2012)
• James McIlroy - guitar (2003-2005, 2009-2014)
• Charles Hedger - guitar (2005-2010), bass (2005)
• Ashley "Ellyllon" Jurgemeyer - keyboard and choirs (2009-2010)
• Caroline Campbell - keyboard and choirs (2010-2012)
• Lindsay Schoolcraft - keyboard and choirs (2013-2020)
• Richard Shaw - guitar (2014-2022)
• Anabelle Iratni - keyboard and choirs (2020-2022)

Timeline

Discography

Release date	Title	British List	Heatseekers	Top Independent Albums	The Billboard 200
24 February 1994	The Principle of Evil Made Flesh
19 November 1996	Dusk... and Her Embrace
5 May 1998	Cruelty and the Beast	#48
31 October 2000	Midian	#63	#21
25 March 2003	Damnation and a Day	#44	#3	#8	#140
28 September 2004	Nymphetamine				#89
17 October 2006	Thornography	#46		#66	#66
27 October 2008	Godspeed On The Devil’s Thunder	#73			#48
1 November 2010	Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa
30 October 2012	The Manticore and Other Horrors
10 July 2015	Hammer of the Witches
22 September 2017	Cryptoriana – The Seductiveness of Decay
22 October 2021	Existence Is Futile

Recognitions

Grammy Awards