Cradle Of Filth
The Principle Of Evil Made Flesh

THE REVIEW

Red like passion, blood and vampirism, and black like the night, the evil and the darkness.

The year 1994 marks the debut for Cradle of Filth, a then-unknown band from Suffolk, a southeastern region of the Land of Albion, cradle of ancient and mysterious pagan civilizations. Dani Filth, Paul Allender, Nick Barker, Robin Eaglestone, Paul Ryan, and Benjamin Ryan are children of this land, children of the solitary, cold, and misty English countryside and the forests kissed by the full moon. Their debut album, recorded for Cacophonous Records in the autumnal shadows of 1993, is influenced by all these elements, resulting in an album halfway between paganism and Satanism, with ferocious and violent moments alternating with others of rare sweetness and nocturnal melancholy. In short, the final result is a new subgenre of the metallic universe: Filth Metal.

DARKNESS, OUR BRIDE (JUGULAR WEDDING): The eerie and seductive sound of a music box begins the pagan ceremony of marriage with darkness. "Agios o Satanas," whispers Dani.

THE PRINCIPLE OF EVIL MADE FLESH: The title track, icy with thrash-esque reminiscences in the riffing. Dani's voice sounds filtered and distant due to poor production, but what makes the difference is Big Nick, who dominates the song with his lethal strokes. "Storming from tired centuries, under the glare of a waxing death moon, terrible beauty of love severed, rip the baby from the womb"

THE FOREST WHISPERS MY NAME: A song, a legend. The refined and evocative instrumental intro, Benjamin's virtuosic keyboards create a lunar and ethereal atmosphere, Allender's melodic black riffs, and Barker's driving rhythms, combined with the lyrics and the superb performance of frontman Dani, are the ingredients that give rise to what has become the ultimate symbol of the Cradle of Filth. "When the moon is full, we shall assemble to adore, the potent spirit of your queen, my mother great Diana". An immortal masterpiece that will forever remain in the annals of metal history.

ISCARIOT: Sumptuous keyboard effects emulating an orchestra against the backdrop of heartbeats, rains, and thunders. Overture to the invocation of the Black Goddess.

THE BLACK GODDESS RISES: A beautiful, intense and moving prayer to the goddess of the night: Hecate, Artemis, Ishtar; punctuated by a dramatic and dreamlike piano, with a sprinkling of black here and there and participation by the German Andrea Haugen (wife of Samoth of Emperor) in the role of the Black Goddess. Impossible not to be captivated by such dark beauty. "Oh, how I have craved for you, you so pure and other-worldly with your scent of winter, am I to bleed myself dry just to see your delight?"

ONE FINAL GRAVEN KISS: A brief piano sonata by moonlight, introducing us to the black heart of the album.

A CRESCENDO OF PASSION BLEEDING: A hallucinatory and megalomaniac vision of the defeat of Christianity and the return to origins, the worship of pagan deities. It starts strong with Allender and Barker in the foreground, but towards the middle of the track, the pace becomes slower and more solemn, leaving room for Benny Ryan’s keyboards. "Even the moon will not lend thee her light, the darkness serves will to snuff out human life, that I might reclaim the world as my right"

TO EVE THE ART OF WITCHCRAFT: The very first erotic-romantic delirium made in COF, idealizing the figure of the witch (again interpreted by Lady Emperor) as the ultimate erotic ideal. A bit raw but seminal for what will be "Dusk... And Her Embrace." "Love shall consume and bathe the lady, whom I worship and ride thereon, she will greet me as a serpent, in her dark, secret Eden"