Review Summary: Good things often come in small packages.
Cradle of Filth - Vempire
Cradle of Filth are an English Melodic Black Metal band formed in 1991 that has been heavily influenced by Gothic music. The band progressed from a rawer, more traditional, black metal sound, to one with a more symphonic tone. Many metal fans criticise the group as "sell outs" due to the fact that coverage by Kerrang and MTV has brought them a more mainstream and commercial image.
--Wikipedia
I'm sure just about every metal head has heard about Cradle of Filth and has established an opinion on them already. They're one of the most controversial bands in the metal scene. This album was released in 1996 right before
Dusk and Her Embrace. This album, while being only six tracks long, is very well made and enjoyable to any Cradle of Filth fan.
Cradle of Filth at this time was:
Dani Filth - Lead Vocals
Nicholas Barker - Drums
Paul Allender - Guitar
Jared Demeter - Guitar
Damien Gregori - Keyboards
Robin Eaglestone - Bass
Sarah Jezebel Deva - Female backing vocals
What was good about the album:
-- Cradle of Filth's albums always have a high level of musicianship on them. The dual guitars always play some great and often difficult riffs. There are some great examples of those on "The Rape and Ruin of Angels" and "Queen of Winter, Throned". The drumming, played by master Nicholas Barker, is awesome. He's one of extreme metal's best drummers and he shows it on every album. There are plenty of very fast blast beats, double bass patterns, and pummeling fills. Barker truly was an asset to Cradle of Filth.
-- Dani Filth has a ton of vocal skill, as you all have probably heard by now. Even though most people don't like how he sounds, he still has a lot of talent because I've never heard another vocalist who sounds like him.
-- The band took the challenge and made an epic song, "Queen of Winter, Throned". This song is almost perfect in every way and is one of the band's best songs to date. Every member shows off their skill in this song and they don't ever make it boring to the listener. The opening sample in the song is also very cool. This could quite possibly be the band's best song.
-- There really isn't a bad song on this album. You can listen to all six tracks and never really get bored.
What was bad about the album:
-- The album is too short. Cradle of Filth should have taken more time and turned this into a full length release and it might have been worthy of a classic rating.
-- Like I said earlier, lots of people love the band's music but can't listen to the band because of Dani Filth's vocals. This isn't going to take away from the album much if you ask me, but some people just don't like like his style of singing/screaming at all.
-- The band tried to remake "The Forest Whispers My Name", but it didn't turn out as well as the version on
The Principle of Evil Made Flesh. The original version of this song could quite possibly my favorite song by the band, and this one just didn't amount. Don't get me wrong though, it's still a good song. They sped it up which was impressive, but they also put in some of Sarah Deva's vocals that just sound stupid. If I want to listen to this song, I'll stick to the original version.
-- Some people may not like that you can't understand what Dani Filth is saying in most parts of the album. They also might not like that the album is fairly heavy. This isn't going to take away much from the overall rating at all, seeing as how this is a metal album.
Highlights:
Like I said earlier, all of the songs are highlights. This album was excellent.
Cradle of Filth seemed to have made all of their greatest albums early and then slowly went downhill from there. While this album is only an EP, it has the same effect on the listener as a full length album. This album isn't as well known, but it should deserve more publicity than it deserves. It's the bands second best album, only bested by their first album,
The Principle of Evil Made Flesh. Cradle fans should give this a listen, and other metal heads would want to check this out too.
Final Rating: 4.5/5
