Cradle of Filth - Cryptoriana - The Seductiveness of Decay Rating: 7.9/10 Cradle of Filth was always Dani Filth’s baby, if his stage name wasn’t a giveaway. He is the band’s figurehead, its ringmaster, and its center; the single constant throughout the band’s decades-spanning career that’s seen enough members for three or four complete bands pass through its ranks. There couldn’t be a Cradle of Filth without Dani, and so it was natural to assume that the band’s slow, disheartening decline from as far back as Damnation And A Day (however dear a place it holds in my musical development) must be his fault. By Thornography, the clear turning point in their discography, the seams in his performance were finally showing: gone was the feral screech of his Dusk and Cruelty days, replaced by an arsenal of grunts and ululations that presented as less of an evolution of his voice than a bad cover-up of his waning abilities, and it only worsened with each subsequent album. For better or worse, I’ve kept tabs on Cradle of Filth throughout the years and found something to enjoy even up through Thornography, but that album is unquestionably the final installment of their “bronze age” before Godspeed on the Devil’s Thunder, Darkly Darkly Venus Aversa, and The Manticore and Other Horrors did their part to cement Cradle’s legacy as more a punchline. Just listen to The Manticore and Other Horrors and try to imagine how bad it got that that record was considered a “comeback” record, its “punk” veneer painfully transparent and unpleasant to hear slopped on top of their once-great gothic metal. Hammer of the Witches, thankfully, wrested that title away with the acquisition of new guitarists Marek “Ashok” Šmerda and Richard Shaw, replacing long-time axemen Paul Allender and James McIllroy, simultaneously opening our eyes to the mistake in the critical assessment of The Manticore and to the fact that Cradle of Filth’s mediocrity wasn’t really Dani’s fault. And now, Cryptoriana - The Seductiveness of Decay has arrived to prove that Cradle of Filth’s renaissance isn’t a fluke. It seems counterintuitive that a little new blood should be all Cradle needed to get back on their feet since member shake-ups seemed to be precisely their problem, but Šmerda and Shaw have turned out to be everything the band has been missing for close to a decade--specifically, what Dani has been missing. No matter what, Dani remains the heart and soul of the band, but heart and soul don’t count for much when your body is falling apart. His deteriorating performance seems to have been the consequence of a growing boredom with the band, but as Cryptoriana amply demonstrates, there’s plenty of that old infernal fire left in Cradle’s frontman--he just needed a reason to stoke it, and he’s found it again. Listen to him go on “Wester Vespertine,” spitting and howling with the sort of vitriol we haven’t heard since Midian all the way back in 2000; or the return of his vocal gymnastics on “Alison Hell,” which, while lyrically weak, sounds like the most fun the band have had since Damnation And A Day; or his chest-thumping conviction on the chorus of “You Will Know the Lion By His Claw,” their best single since “Nymphetamine (Fix).” Šmerda and Shaw reintroduced the power and intricacy Dusk...and Her Embrace and Cruelty and the Beast to Cradle of Filth on the previous album, but on Cryptoriana, those Iron Maiden comparisons that have followed the band for some time are more accurate than ever before. On “Exquisite Torments Await” and “Heartbreak and Seance,” they dial up the shred and explore grander melodies and still more daring passages of twin-guitar ecstasy on “Wester Vespertine” and “Death and the Maiden.” The obfuscatory cloud of strings and keyboard that blotted out the insipid musicianship of Godspeed and Venus Aversa is gone, and the symphonic elements of Cradle’s gothic metal have returned to their role as strict atmospheric aides, supplying the period creepiness Cryptoriana seems intent on conjuring up per Dani’s comments on the Victorian era’s “infatuation with the supernatural, the grave and the ghoulish...this attraction to death and the glittering lengthy process of self-annihilation.” There’s plenty of room for Cradle’s new axemen to run wild, and they certainly take advantage on an album that, while three tracks shorter than its predecessor, runs roughly the same length and features many compositions stretching out to an average of seven minutes apiece. Less publicized but equally important is Lindsay Schoolcraft on backing vocals, replacing Lucy Atkins and finally filling the enormous shoes Sarah Jezebel Deva left behind. Her tone and timbre are very similar to Deva’s, but her role more significant than any of her predecessors: the chorus of “Achingly Beautiful” depends on her support, and her spoken-word contributions, a staple of Cradle of Filth’s sound since “Funeral in Carpathia,” are some of the best since Ingrid Pitt lent her voice to Cruelty and the Beast. Her bit on “Wester Vespertine” (“Lifts our heart to sheer romantic / pyromantic / necromantic / height of bright sensation”) even echoes “Funeral in Carpathia” in its placement and importance to the song, and her voice has a tendency to stick even when nothing else does. It should also be noted, here if nowhere else, that Liv Kristine also reprises her role in the “female voice” facet of Cradle of Filth’s sound on “Vengeful Spirit,” providing a restrained, ethereal performance that makes the song yet another highlight in an album full of them. This revitalized Cradle of Filth is not something I thought I’d ever hear, but for as long as we have it, I will enjoy the hell out of it with what I suppose is the same mix of relief and optimism long-time Iron Maiden fans felt listening to Brave New World after the black mark of The X Factor and Virtual XI. But Cradle of Filth seem to have vaulted right over the mini-setback of Dance of Death to release their own A Matter of Life and Death in the form of Cryptoriana - The Seductiveness of Decay; and while there’s is still something unshakably familiar about this new record, perhaps a consequence of the realization that Cradle of Filth will never again be the icons and iconoclasts they were at the height of their popularity, it’s easy to make peace with that fact thanks to the sheer quality of Cryptoriana. Now here’s to their Book of Souls! Brian L.
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