LP - Black Vinyl (2023 Reissue).
"Cradle Of Filth's 2012 opus of supreme infernal decadence - a foul blizzard of grotesque metal grandeur & mutant punk squalor" - Dom Lawson, Metal Hammer
Cradle of Filth formed in Suffolk in 1991 & after a string of demo recordings released their debut album, The Principle Of Evil Made Flesh in 1994. The band have gone on to become one of the UK's most successful metal acts, known for their dynamic symphonic style of gothic black metal, along with the dark poetic lyrics from the hand of enigmatic front-man Dani Filth.
The title of this, Cradle Of Filth's tenth studio full- length, can be likened to a bestiary, a collection of stories on Monsters; personal demons, Chimeras, literary fends & world-enslaving entities to blame but a few, Manticore being the ravening title track. It is a song about a beautiful mythological horror that comes to be feared as the disfgurehead of foreign occupation in the Indian provinces. The songs 'Illicitus' & 'Pallid Refection' bare the sweet ingredients of vampirism & lycanthropy; the wicked 'For Your Vulgar Delectation' & 'Frost On Her Pillow' are woven perversely into grim fairy tales, whilst classic, monumental tracks like 'The Abhorrent' & 'Siding With The Titans' both extol tentacular Lovecraftian values.
The album itself possesses an altogether new atmosphere for the band, incorporating a heavier, faster NWOBHM punk vibe that is both current & cruel, blended with ornate orchestration & the quirky immediateness of 2000's 'Midian' opus. Recorded in eight weeks at both Springvale & Grindstone studios (where it was also mixed by Scott Atkins), Suffolk, the album is testament to the longevity of The 'Filth, as not only does it reek of Cradle's (feared or revered) brand of delicious metal vamperotica, but this thoroughly modern album places the band firmly in fresh killing felds anew.
Singer Dani Filth had this to say on the new album: "This is our tenth commandment in metal. We have diversifed & kept alive the spirit of this band & breathed it into something that I can proudly say, slays like an absolute motherf**ker. The Manticore is coming? Long live the filth!'"
Tracklist:
Side 1
1. The Unveiling Of O (2:08)
2. The Abhorrent (5:53)
3. Pallid Reflection (5:33)
4. Illicitus (5:24)
5. Manticore (5:54)
Side 2
1. Frost On Her Pillow (4:11)
2. Huge Onyx Wings Behind Despair (4:21)
3. For Your Vulgar Delectation (4:47)
4. Siding With The Titans (5:15)
5. Succumb To This (4:43)
6. Sinfonia (3:25)