Cradle Of Filth
Live Bait For The Dead

THE REVIEW

"Live Bait For The Dead" is the first official live album by Cradle Of Filth (album, not publication, since live tracks were already featured on the "Pan Daemon Aeon" DVD), recorded during the tour supporting the new release, "Midian". It's pointless to spend more than a few words on the band: whoever is reading this review, with 70% probability, already knows a lot about the band, of which I will give a brief general description: Cradle Of Filth is a metal/semi-symphonic band that divides metal audiences between those who love them and those who hate them.

Moving on to the album, we find that the Live starts with a brief symphonic introduction (a classic for Cradle), which makes way for the first track of the concert: "Lord Abortion", one of the best songs from "Midian". The song, stripped of the keyboard introduction that characterized it on the album, shows us, more or less, how the entire concert will be: musicians in great shape, especially the legendary guitarist Gian Pires, keyboards set in the background (but also the third layer) and the singer Dani in great form; "Lord Abortion" then gives way to the dyad formed by the semi-instrumental "Ebony Dressed For Sunset" and the now classic "The Forest Whispers My Name". Nothing to say, everything is impeccable, although always with too prominent guitars, overshadowing the best keyboard passages. Then, a quick setlist takes us through new compositions ("Chthulu Dawn"), unsurpassed classics performed almost perfectly ("Dusk And Her Embrace"), old glories ("The Principle Of Evil Made Flesh") and controversial but much-appreciated compositions ("Cruelty Brought Thee Orchids"). After this fantastic combo, which would warm anyone's spirits, we find "Her Ghost In The Fog", which personally, in the original version, seems very bland to me, but live it becomes spectacular; another perfectly executed classic like "Summer's Dying Fast", and we are given the symphonic break: "Creature That Kissed In Cold Mirrors", combined with "Satanic Mantra". After the break, the band gifts us "From The Cradle To Enslave", which I find completely insignificant, and, to finish, the gem of the album: "Queen Of Winter, Throned", wonderful, whose tail marks one of the most intense moments of the concert. Greetings and the band leaves.
I won't comment on the second disc except superficially, due to manifest insignificance: a collection of techno remixes and re-recordings of classics ("Funeral In Carpathia"). The only unreleased track, the insignificant "The Fire Still Burns".

The Live, however, despite the setlist, shows several weak points: an excessive cleaning of Dani's voice, which seems almost not to hold up, although live he does much more than what you hear on the album, keyboards and drums too weak, and generally, a certain sense of incompleteness; nevertheless, the album is worth buying.