Cradle Of Filth
Cruelty And The Beast
(c)(p)1998 Mayhem/Fierce Recordings
Review by Jason Sorens
Whenever anyone told me that Cradle of Filth were cheap sensationalists, I
would gainsay them by pointing to their last work, "Dusk... and Her
Embrace" as an example of growing maturity. After quite a few close
listens to their new album, "Cruelty and the Beast", I have reconsidered.
Let us consider the objective facts first. "Dusk..." portrays on the
cover a mysterious lady standing in a misty forest. "Cruelty...", by
contrast, displays some sullen wraith bathing in a tub of blood. The
lyrics in "Dusk..." were for the most part elegant and tasteful. The
lyrics in "Cruelty..." are largely crude and rough-hewn. The word
"cunt", for example, appears once in "Dusk..." and by reason of its
rarity achieves some positive, alluring effect. I lost count of the
appearances of this vulgarity in "Cruelty...", rendering the effect
of tastelessness. In the liner notes for "Cruelty...", the band
members are described as reveling in sundry sadistic and horrible sex
acts. One "song," "Venus in Fear," consists mostly of female screaming.
It seems then that Cradle of Filth is no longer about music at all, but,
like punk and other a-musical genres, about "attitude". If we judge
Cradle of Filth even on their own terms, we cannot but find a degenerate,
tasteless mockery of a band.
My subjective impressions of the music are not favorable either. Cradle
of Filth has said that they tried to go for a more "classic metal" sound,
whatever that means. (A retro hard-rockin' guitar solo near the beginning
of "Desire in Violent Overture" may be the only clue to this phrase's
meaning in the minds of the band.) To tell the truth, "Cruelty..."
seems to be "Dusk..." revisited in this department, except perhaps with
a more uneven, less consistent sound. For example, at the beginning of
the album is a sudden transition from soft choral vocals to a full medley
of instruments. Also, some of the spoken voices seem strangely distant or
hollow. There are some good musical moments, however. In "Beneath the
Howling Stars", there is an interesting interplay between the vocals and a
fast drum rhythm, creating the effect of syncopation. This song is
probably my favorite, also because of the full organ sound, which creates
a rich atmosphere. After a while, though, the album begins to drag on,
and one realizes that there is really nothing new here. The spoken voices
are overused, and so are the synthesized choir vocals in the background.
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