2021’s Existence Is Futile found Suffolk’s venerable institution in the most bitter and apocalyptic form of their lives, spat out as the world navigated the tragedies and tyrannies of the Covid nightmare. With that venom out of their system, the more perky, celebratory vibes of Cradle Of Filth’s 14th LP are neatly signalled by the aspirational decadence of scampering opener To Live Deliciously.
With twiddly Maiden-esque harmonies, 80s German thrash riffs, horror soundtrack bombast and sexy goth allure, it’s peak Cradle crystallised. Its definitiveness is comforting on an album that opens up several new musical wormholes to slither through, some more elegantly than others.
Demagoguery features Dani Filth kind of rapping while The Trinity Of Shadows goes hard with a sword-waving power metal energy and jubilant duelling leads. Cradle’s twin-guitar tag-team has altered for the first time in a decade; Czech string-mangler Ashok is now joined by US axeman Donny Burbage.
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It’s tempting to assume that many of the more surprising musical detours come from this unknown quantity, but the guitars already seem fused in complementary sync. More US new blood comes courtesy of singer/keyboardist Zoe Marie Federoff, Ashok’s wife. Her voice is initially a restrained presence, although her spirited channelling of ex-vocalist Sarah Jezebel Deva’s declamatory dominatrix delivery in Malignant Perfection is a crafty touch.
Potentially more controversial is the angelic sweetness of Zoe’s keening high notes, taking a very different approach from the usual witchy seductress role and edging the sound closer to orthodox European ‘beauty and the beast’ territory. The symphonic goth pomp of Nightwish or Within Temptation is fully co-opted on Non Omnis Moriar, where Zoe’s US accent provides another novel twist to confound purists.
Cradle hit a rich new seam of inspiration 10 years ago with righteous opus Hammer Of The Witches, beginning a purple patch that held firm through the imperial thunder of 2017’s death-obsessed Cryptoriana – The Seductiveness Of Decay and aforementioned mood-ruiner Existence Is Futile. These were three heavily solemn, densely wrought, aggressively metallic albums in a row, and although together they heralded Cradle’s second Golden Age in terms of creativity and chemistry (and satisfied customers), they were perhaps missing some of the band’s best-loved signature tropes, favouring the bestial headbanger over the lovelorn goth.
The Screaming Of The Valkyries restores the balance, melding the jet-black elegance of 2000’s Midian with the high-gloss pop savvy of 2006’s Thornography, plus touches of Nymphetamine’s florid radiance and shades of Dusk And Her Embrace’s orgiastic prowess.
More diverse, playful and direct, its gleaming hooks sharper and more concise, its lyrics simpler and less exhaustive, Dani’s arch tongue-twisters are forsworn in favour of more punchy, expressive verse. Additionally, the cover art is among Cradle’s most distinctive and grotesque, and the band have seldom looked more ostentatiously bizarre. Asserting their approachable ‘fun’ side without blunting their metal edge, Cradle’s second Golden Age continues to flower.
The Screaming Of The Valkyries is out now via Napalm. Cradle Of Filth play Mystic and Download festivals in June.
