Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Review by Alysha Hayden
Cradle of Filth are an English extreme gothic metal band from Suffolk with Dani Filth out front on vocals, Richard Shaw and Ashok on guitar, Daniel Firth on bass, Martin Skaroupka drums and Lindsay Schoolcraft rounds the band out on keys and female vocals. “Hammer of the Witches” opens by taking the listener for a melodic jaunt through a gothic circus sideshow on its way through the trees to the inner workings of the coven that is this album. The cover was crafted by the talented Latvian artist, Arthur Berzinsh and is breathtakingly detailed. Arthur has captured the tone and themes of this album in a way only he can. Arriving at the witches circle, “Yours Immortally” unleashes the extreme metal sound we’re so used to from Cradle of Filth with Dani Filth leading the rite. By track five, “Blackest Magick in Practice”, I was in love and ready for sacrifice. It opens with a guitar riff that repeats throughout the track that made my soul sing. That riff stuck with me long after I finished listening. “Right Wing of the Garden Triptych” treated us with Schoolcraft’s haunting voice in a solo chorus that just exemplifies we love her. The final track, “Blooding the Hounds of Hell” closed off the album perfectly with a touch of funeral organs and a symphonic sound that left me wanting more. Resurrection, thankfully, was just a replay away.
Rating – 90/100
Tracklist
- Walpurgis Eve
- Yours Immortally…
- Enshrined in Crematoria
- Deflowering the Maidenhead, Displeasuring the Goddess
- Blackest Magick In Practice
- The Monstrous Sabbat (Summoning the Coven)
- Hammer of the Witches
- Right Wing of the Garden Triptych
- The Vampyre at My Side
- Onward Christian Soldiers
- Blooding The Hounds of Hell
Line Up
- Dani Filth – Vocals
- Richard Shaw – Guitar
- Ashok – Guitar
- Daniel Firth – Bass
- Lindsay Schoolcraft – Keys & Female Vocals
- Martin Skaroupka – Drums
Links
youtube.com/user/cradleoffilthtv