Continuing my Best of 2017, next up is Cradle of Filth’s 12th studio album “Cryptoriana – The Seductiveness of Decay.”
The follow-up to 2015’s “Hammer of the Witches” was released on September 22, 2017 through Nuclear Blast USA. Led by the spooky Dani Filth, “Cryptoriana” represented a resurgence for the gothic and black metal Brits. Be it lineup changes or once again finding their dark path, this ghostly album is haunted by the spirits of Cradle’s past, present & future with standout tracks “Achingly Beautiful,” “Heartbreak and Seance” and “Vengeful Spirit” (once again featuring Liv Kristine). These tales of Victorian Gothic Horror are the band’s best since the classic “Nymphetamine.”
I had the honor of speaking with the devilish mastermind, Dani Filth leading up to the album’s release. As if you weren’t already sold, here’s what he had to say regarding the highlights and musical direction of “Cryptoriana”:
“I think we have our sound and strengths, although on this record there are things we have done differently. But it’s not the sum of the parts. On this record, for the first time in forever, we haven’t had a big orchestral intro. Instead, we have bigger songs, if that makes any sense. Also, we went back to using a choir, a slightly different choir which concentrates more on soprano. So it sounds quite ghostly and eerie.
“Vengeful Spirit” features (former Leaves Eyes vocalist) Liv Kristine, who was obviously on “Nymphetamine,” but here in a very different context than she was on “Nymphetamine.” And I think that’s why it works, because it’s just not a sense of repeating. She plays a character, the “Vengeful Spirit,” as opposed to her’s in “Nymphetamine,” which is more subtle.
Possibly one of the heaviest songs we’ve ever written is “Death of a Maiden,” and it’s kind of a different way of going out on an album. It does speed up, but it’s very epic and ponderous-sounding in the beginning.
There’s also more use of that British heavy metal sound, with that twin guitar work prevalent on the record.
Also, there’s a cover version, which unfortunately appears on the special edition, though I don’t really differentiate between a special edition, because they’re all our children. It’s a cover of Annihilator’s “Alison Hell.” We had wanted to record that song for a long while. We bumped into (Annihilator guitarist/vocalist) Jeff Waters on several occasions and said we had wanted to do it and got his blessing. He’s heard it since then, and he loves it. We tried not to stray to far from the path, but we “Cradleized” it.
So there are certain things that we have done that are kind of unique to this album as opposed to other albums, but like you were saying, it does sound like a Cradle of Filth record. And that’s a good thing.”
Read the interview in its entirety here.
Released September 22, 2017, Nuclear Blast Records