CRADLE OF FILTH: Dusk... And Her Embrace (BLACK METAL): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

Cradle Of Filth's first album on the Music For Nations label, "Dusk And Her Embrace" sees the light of day in November 1996, barely 6 months after a quality "Vempire" that went a little unnoticed due to poor label work. This third chapter in the band's adventures has been largely written while Cradle Of Filth was still under contract to Cacophonous, in the days of Paul Allender and the Ryan brothers, and has been reworked during 1996 with Kit Woolven. The album sees the arrival of a second guitarist, Gian Pyres, which enables the band to make the album's heavy passages sound even better.

The English band's second misdeed had taken them into another artistic dimension. This new opus transforms that experience and even transcends it. Artistically, Cradle Of Filth moves away from sexual themes and, like the cover and booklet illustrations, merges completely with vampirism and the occult. It confirms its roots in extreme metal tinged with Black Metal, Gothic and romanticism, with irresistible poetic violence. He also adds a touch of heavy Thrash metal that makes his work more accessible, as if Iron Maiden had succeeded in writing the soundtrack to a horror film.

Cradle Of Filth's "Dusk And Her Embrace" features some great tracks, starting with "Funeral In Carpathia", an infernal, sumptuous cross between Black and Heavy metal, with the melodic guitar harmonies and solos typical of the genre. With "A Gothic Romance", he writes a track that lives up to its name, with Sarah Jezebel Deva's vocals making a major contribution, as romance and gothic elements take center stage alongside ultra-violent passages.

Cradle Of Filth has made a great effort on the ambiances: the wolf's cry on 'A Gothic Romance' is striking, and the general atmosphere of 'Malice Through The Looking Glass' is chilling. On this masterful track, Dani alternates between screaming and low vocals, and the keyboards leave their mark on a gothic, baroque song, a symbol of the band's trademark. Finally, 'Heaven Torn Asunder', 'Dusk And Her Embrace', 'Beauty Sleep In Sodom' and 'Haunted Stores' confirm the band's talent for writing great, disturbing and unhealthy Heavy Black Metal songs.

As is often the case with Cradle Of Filth, we're dealing with a record that will be loved or hated (by black purists in particular), but it remains a cornerstone of symphonic Black Metal and its authors' discography. The universe of this gothic-romantic band is as difficult to grasp as it is attractive. Loved or loathed, Cradle Of Filth continues to build its legend, and we wonder how he can do better, or even as well. - Official website

CRADLE OF FILTH

DUSK... AND HER EMBRACE

MUSIC FOR NATIONS

BLACK METAL