Review Summary: Goths unite!!! Your filthy leaders have finally returned!
It’s really crazy to think about now, but Cradle of Filth was once the laughing stock of this site. Young Hawks used to get flamed mercilessly for his Cradle fandom. Every day it was a new insult. Man…how the tables have turned. Cradle has been the talk of the town ever since 2015’s
Hammer of the Witches and that hype continued into
Cryptoriana and
Existence is Futile. The reinvigoration from new members struck a chord with Mr. Dani Filth himself because their brand of bombastic gothic black metal never sounded so fresh and inspired. So does
The Screaming of the Valkyries follow on the same path?
You bet your ass it does. Cradle has seemed to embrace all things brutal and rifftastic over their past 2 albums while the previous 2 were more about atmosphere. Not saying that this DOESN’T have atmosphere but songs like Demagoguery, Malignant Perfection and Ex Sanguine Draculae demonstrate an almost death metal like intensity. Longtime lead guitarist Ashok really steals the show here with riff after catchy riff being blasted into your noggin at a rapid pace. The tremolo picking towards then end of Malignant Perfection will conjure up memories of
Dusk and Her Embrace with Dani’s trademark vocals soaring over the guitar leads like a banshee soaring through the night sky.
Cradle still knows how to bring the “ballads” to the table as well with tracks such as the romantic White Hellebore or the epic vampyric blood sucking of tracks like The Trinity of Shadows, You Are My Nautilus or When Misery Was a Stranger. Bringing to the table a more sensuous and atmosphere of gothic love and “slower” guitar leads while the hum of the bass takes over like Nosferatu stalking his girlfriend/victim. The female vocals and keyboard work by Zoe, the newest member of the Filth, are absolutely magical, bringing to mind the absolutely eerie and Halloween-esque keyboard work from
Midian. It just goes to show that Cradle never lost their fastball.
To Live Deliciously and Non Omnis Moriar are my two least favorite songs on the album and they keep this from being a perfect 5. Don’t let that deter you though because they both still rule. The former is a cavalcade of gothic riffage and Dani’s lower pitched growls. The latter is more of an assblaster and straight up black metal tune that really tears you apart but doesn’t provide much other than a straight up black metal assault, which is fine by me.
The Screaming of the Valkyries is Cradle bringing together all the elements of their previous 3 albums and molding them together. You have the black metal bangers, you have the 1800s gothic atmosphere, you have Ashok providing some absolutely face melting riffs, and of course you have Dani bringing down the house with his vile vocal performance to tie it all together. No instrumental tracks for the first time in their career. Just a full on, atmospheric gothic black metal assault. And for this longtime fan, it couldn’t have come out any better.
