Each new Cradle Of Filth album gets greeted with equal amounts of scorn and praise. To the hardcore fans, their gothic take on the Black Metal framework is a joy, to everyone else they are an over commercialised T-shirt factory lead by a shrill midget. My own view point on the band lies somewhere in the middle of these camps.
The first three Cradle albums were excellent; their dark, doomy and particularly British take on Black Metal was rather unique at the time. Each of these three releases had an all pervasive dark and dank feel to it. The listener was pulled deep down into the pits with Dani's melodramatic yet exceptional lyrics backed by languid and sinister music.
From Midian onwards the band can be accused of losing their way (not to mention about 60 band members) somewhat. They lost that special feeling that their initial releases were full of. The Midian album while enjoyable had a few too many filler tracks and their major label debut Damnation And A Day was an overlong, plodding mess with about four memorable riffs spread across its seventy-eight minute running time.
Just when my interest in the band was starting to wane they pulled their reputation out of the fire with the storming Nymphetamine. Its Merciful Fate/Iron Maiden inspired riffs made for a quality album spoiled slightly with a couple of needless songs. Their last release Thornography doesn't really bear talking about and was about as interesting as its title was clever.
So when I heard that Cradle were returning to the concept album format with their latest release
Godspeed On The Devil's Thunder I was filled with both intrigue and trepidation. Would it be a Cruelty And The Beast-esque triumph or another lengthy exercise in boredom? The answer yet again lies somewhere in the middle.
This time the concept rests on the 13
th century French nobleman Gilles De Rais, a man who was once on the straight and narrow fighting beside Joan of Arc during the Hundred Years War. After her death his life went off the rails ever so slightly and he ended up embroiled in serial killings, child abuse and occult rituals in order to regain his extraordinary wealth.
Its not the first time that Cradle have written about De Rais, he gets name-checked on Lord Abortion from Midian. But going further into his life story does provide Dani plenty of opportunity to spin out a sinister yarn that he and his fans love so.
After their signature
Pointless Spooky Intro comes the wonderfully titled
Shat Out Of Hell (a name which is quite terrifying as it conjures imagines of
Meat Loaf after a particularly dodgy curry). This song is Cradle doing what they now do best, slick and catchy
Extreme Metal. It immediately grabs your attention with some frantic drumming and brutal riffing. Dani's vocals are, as usual, a point of contention. For some his high-pitched shrieks are an annoyance but I've always been a fan. Plus who wouldn't enjoy singing along to a chorus that goes:
"URRRGGGGG!!! SHAT OUT OF HELL" The Death Of Love could also pose a bit of controversy. It's very, very melodic to the extent that it genuinely could be a hit single for the band. Well if wasn't seven minutes and fourteen seconds long and about a murdering child abuser.
Seriously though, this song is actually rather captivating despite its sometimes lightweight nature. Its towering lead guitar work brings to mind Nymphetamine's classic melodic riffing and it's the only one of the albums lengthier tracks that's consistently appealing. Carolyn Gretton contributes the lead female vocals with Sarah Jezebel Diva making a welcome return to provide the backing vocals. Also the Maiden evoking bridge at 3.34 is wonderfully executed.
The production, for what they are aiming for, is excellent. Getting Andy Sneap on board to produce your album is always a good idea, and this time is no exception. All the instruments are audible at all times with gut wrenching drum and punishing bass sounds. As per usual the album is overlaid with swaths of keyboard which both add atmosphere or irritate depending on your mood. But even the fans that do miss the atmosphere of the older albums will have to admit the production, if a little too polished, sounds like a million dollars.
There are places in several songs where the band also utilise choirs to great effect.
Tragic Kingdom is a great example of this. The track is yet again classic latter day Cradle with Dani switching between those screams and low menacing growls with great aplomb. This time around the choir also comes into play from 4.19 onwards and adds a extra grandiose dimension to the music
The musicianship is also pretty impressive. The band now consists of long time guitarist Paul Allender, Dave Pybus on bass and new boy Martin Skaroupka handling the drums. The majority of the riffs on the album are memorable with some soaring melodic leads and the occasional appetizing solo. But there are some verse sections on the albums longer tracks which just blend into each other. This gets to be a problem towards the latter half of the album where a couple of back to back songs have running times of almost nine minutes.
Some of the tracks have narration included at the start by the ever dependable Doug Bradley (he of Hellraiser and previous Cradle albums fame). This time Doug plays the part of, yes you've guessed it, the aforementioned Gilles De Rais. He delivers lines like
"Sometimes I beheaded them with daggers...and while they were languishing, I committed with them the evils of the flesh"with true disdain for his victims and the required sinister tone. Narration is always something Cradle have handled pretty well, keeping it to short and sweet sound bites rather than tedious five minute monologues.
In saying that, you will not be surprised to find out that the album does contain the usual;
Pointless Spooky Mid-Tro. I seriously wish they would do away with these as after more than fifteen years in the game they are getting pretty tedious.
The latter half of the album deals with the nobleman's decent into depravity and sadly isn't anywhere near as strong as the first section. The longer songs while excellent in places don't hold together as well as they need to. A piece like
Darkness Incarnate which lasts eight minutes and fifty-six seconds would be ten times the song with a little pruning and a two or three minute shorter running time.
Added to this problem is out of the four shorter songs after
Tragic Kingdom only
Ten Leagues Beneath Contempt and the title track
Godspeed really stand out. The other two just don't measure up to the standard of song writing that Cradle can achieve. The former is a mid-paced number with a
Candlemass meets Maiden riff. The title track is the exact opposite with its punishing blast- beats and rapid riffing making for a great song.
Overall Godspeed is certainly worth a listen and its marks a return to form of some sorts after Thornography. Mind you it seems that these days it's only every second Cradle album that's actually any good. So what the future will hold is unclear.
Oh and before I go I'm pleased to report that the album ends on a
Pointless Spooky Outro *Sigh*
Written by
Stuart Monday, November 10, 2008
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