This page is dedicated to the extreme metal band Cradle of Filth. Here you’ll find lots of information about the band and can learn about its history, members, latest news and more. Whether you’re already a Cradle of Filth fan or you’re just starting to discover the band’s music, you’re bound to find this page worth a read. With new music on the horizon, fans are buzzing with excitement and you can become one of them. Find out more about the band by giving this page a read and listen to some of the biggest songs and albums that they’ve released. If you like your metal music extreme, Cradle of Filth is the band for you!
History of the Band
Cradle of Filth was founded back in 1991 in Suffolk, England, by Dani Filth (the stage name of per-former Daniel Lloyd Davey). The band originally consisted of six members, but would soon start to undergo quite regular line-up changes.
From 1991 to 1994, the band produced a total of three demo records: Invoking the Unclean, Orgias-tic Pleasures Foul and Total Fucking Darkness. They also produced a full-length studio album, Goe-tia, but this was never released because the record label the band were on at the time, Tombstone Records, went bust. The band were offered the chance to purchase the tracks they’d recorded, but they didn’t have the money.
The first Cradle of Filth album, The Principle of Evil Made Flesh, came out in 1994 on Cacophonous Records; it was the label’s first release. It was well received, though it’s notably different in terms of its sound and production quality compared with the band’s more recent albums.
The band has been prolific despite experiencing many line-up fluctuations and having rather disrup-tive relationships with several labels. Albums have been churned out every few years or so and tours have been regular enough to keep the biggest fans satisfied.
The full Cradle of Filth albums discography is given below:
- The Principle of Evil Made Flesh (1994)
- Dusk… and Her Embrace (1996)
- Cruelty and the Beast (1998)
- Midian (2000)
- Damnation and a Day (2003)
- Nymphetamine (2004)
- Thornography (2006)
- Godspeed on the Devil’s Thunder (2008)
- Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa (2010)
- The Manticore and Other Horrors (2012)
- Hammer of the Witches (2015)
- Cryptoriana – The Seductiveness of Decay (2017)
The band’s second full-length studio album, Dusk… and Her Embrace is considered by some to be their breakthrough release. It received much critical acclaim and helped the band to expand their fan base throughout Europe and beyond. When it came out, the band were signed to the label Music for Nations. Dusk… and Her Embrace was actually recorded in 1995 when the band were on a different label and had a different line-up. Because of problems with the label, the album ended up getting rerecorded with the new members, though the original recording was released as a demo record in 2016.
Cradle of Filth stayed with Music for Nations till 2001 and released several albums on the label dur-ing this time. Merchandise started becoming popular and particular T-shirts that the band sold proved controversial because of the way religious imagery and people were presented. Nonethe-less, the merchandise sold well, as did the music and the tickets to the shows.
The band’s fifth album Damnation and a Day was the only one they released with Sony. Thanks to the label’s funding, the album was able to be recorded with a proper orchestra, giving the album a distinct sound that other entries in the band’s back catalogue lack. The single ‘Babalon A. D.’ broke a record by becoming the first single to reach the top 40 of the UK music charts on DVD sales alone.
Dissatisfied with Sony, the band moved to Roadrunner and stayed with the label for around six years. During this time, they continued to enjoy critical and commercial success. A highlight came when the song ‘Nymphetamine’ earned a Grammy nomination.
The band then left Roadrunner and decided to go independent, feeling dismayed at the way major labels ran and wanting more control and freedom. They stayed with Peaceville Records for about four years and released several well-rated albums, including a repackaging of an early demo that never saw a full release.
Then in 2014, the band moved to Nuclear Blast Records, which they’ve been with every since. Two more albums have come out, along with a few other minor releases. The band certainly shows no signs of slowing down any time soon. They’ve got lots of well-received albums to their name, an active global fan base and plenty of critical respect. What the band has proven is that they’re capa-ble of adapting. No matter how many members come and go and no matter what label they’re on, founding member Dani Filth always works hard to put together albums that stay true to the Cradle of Filth concept and to keep fans wanting more.
Members
It’s common practice for bands to have numerous line-ups over the years. Cradle of Filth has under-gone a pretty large number of changes and in fact, there’s been at least one new member with near-ly every album the band’s released. Several dozen people have been involved with the band in dif-ferent capacities, from specialising in playing certain instruments to doing studio vocals.
As of 2020, Cradle of Filth has a total of five members. The best-known of these is without a doubt Dani Filth, who is the only person to have been with the band since day one. The other four mem-bers are as follows:
- Martin Škaroupka on drums and keyboards (2006 onwards)
- Daniel Firth on bass (2012 onwards)
- Richard Shaw on guitar (2014 onwards)
- Marek ‘Ashok’ Šmerda on guitar (2014 onwards)
While the list of members is quite extensive, there are some that have stuck with the band for longer than others. For example, Paul Allender was the band’s lead guitarist from 1993-1995, then again from 2000-2014. There’s also Robin Eaglestone, who was a guitarist in 1992 and a bassist from 1993 to 2002; and Sarah Jezebel Deva, who acted as backing vocalist from 1996-2008, making a return in 2011. For further details about the band’s current line-up, have a look at the official website.
Musical Style
There’s been quite a lot of talk about exactly how the band’s music should be classified – or whether it can even be boxed into one category. Various members have labelled the music as extreme or heavy metal. For example, way back in 1998 the founding member Dani Filth said in a radio inter-view that he prefers the music to be called heavy metal as opposed to black metal.
Around that time, the band’s music was likened to black metal because, when asked to name acts that inspired them, they named a number of acts that were big in the black metal world. There was also the band’s make-up, which was similar to what those in black metal bands would wear. Paul Allender said in a 2006 interview that Cradle of Filth was more of an extreme metal band. He also said they were never a true black metal band and that their music didn’t sound like the music black metal acts were putting out.
What’s also worth pointing out is that the band’s been around for nearly thirty years and that their musical output has undergone some gradual changes. Their sound has grown and evolved to the point where the band’s discography as a whole can’t be summed up in a single word or phrase. Dani Filth has said that he’d rather Cradle of Filth be known as the band it is, rather than it have all sorts of different genre categories applied to it.
Some have mentioned how the band’s music and imagery seem to be Satanic. The band’s founding member has asserted that using Satanic imagery is something that’s done for shock value more than anything and that none of the members are serious about Satanism or anything like that. Also, specific references to Satanism in the band’s songs aren’t actually that common, so they’re not real-ly a Satanic act – a proper one would have many more references in their lyrics.
According to the band’s official site, they ‘have assumed the role of dark metal diarists, exploring the amorphous horrors that lurk in humanity’s shadows and revelling in the opulence of mortal sin across centuries powered by bleak romance and a lust for the sensually grotesque.’
So, to sum up, Cradle of Filth’s music is very much of the extreme/heavy metal genre, though, as with many other acts, this classification isn’t definitive. The band’s music has an unmistakably gothic feel to it. Some have criticised them for abandoning the sounds in their earlier releases and favour-ing newer, different sounds as they progressed. However, many have praised the band for not stick-ing to a single type of song and for constantly experimenting and changing things up.
Top Songs
Cradle of Filth’s discography is fairly extensive. To date, the band have released no fewer than a dozen albums, starting with The Principle of Evil Made Flesh in 1994. The most recent release is Cryptorania – The Seductiveness of Decay, which came out in 2017. Nearly all albums have charted in both the US and the UK, as well as in a number of other major music markets.
The band has released a string of singles, though, as with other metal acts, these haven’t experi-enced much mainstream chart success. However, many of the songs are well known among metal-loving communities and some of them have racked up millions of views on YouTube. The video for ‘Nymphetamine Fix’, for example, has a total of 62 million views, while Temptation has notched up an impressive 21 million views and both ‘Her Ghost In The Fog’ and ‘The Death of Love’ have been viewed 11 million times. Some of the band’s most commercially successful albums include Cruelty and the Beast (1998), Damnation and a Day (2003) and Nymphetamine (2004).
Most of the band’s musical output is original material, though covers do appear on some albums. Thornography (2006), for example has covers of ‘Stay’ by Shakespeare Sisters and ‘Halloween II’ by Samhain on its deluxe edition. There’s also the newest album, Cryptorania – The Seductiveness of Decay, which also has a cover version on its deluxe edition; in this case, it’s ‘Alison Hell’ by Anni-hilator.
Major Appearances
Cradle of Filth have made an attempt to attract more mainstream success than other acts in the metal genre. The band have played at some fairly well-known festivals in its time and, for some of them, have appeared quite high up on the bill. They’ve played the Main Stage of the Download Fes-tival in 2004, 2006 and 2018, and were one of the acts to take part in Ozzfest in 2003.
Throughout the band’s many years in the business, they’ve embarked on lots of tours to promote their albums. They’ve played shows in several different continents, such as Europe, Asia, Oceania and North America, and have performed live every year since forming. The biggest tour the band’s done to date was the Cryptorania World Tour, which was in support their most recent album Crypto-rania – The Seductiveness of Decay. This ambitious tour saw the band play gigs in thirty-six coun-tries, including the USA, Canada, Germany, France and Spain, to name a few – over 140 shows were played across this tour.
Latest News
Even though COVID-19 has had a detrimental effect on the music industry, acts such as Cradle of Filth have powered on, doing what they can to keep things going throughout the pandemic. 2020 has, of course, been a quiet year for the band, though they have been working on a new album: Cradle. Earlier this year, it was announced that Lindsey Schoolcraft, a backing vocalist and key-board player, has left the band, though a replacement hasn’t been announced yet.
What has been announced is that Cradle of Filth has some shows coming up in the near future. This will no doubt please fans of the band, as well as fans of music in general. On 30 October, the band will be taking over St. Mary’s Church, Colchester Art Centre, England – close to where founding member Dani Filth was brought up – to celebrate not only Halloween, but also their new collection of original material. The show will be streamed live and by the time it takes place, it will have been almost a year since the band’s last gig at the London Palladium.
Cradle is one of the band’s most special albums. For this album, the band didn’t have the usual deadline to meet, so they were able to get all the writing, performing, recording and producing done without stressing about finishing everything on time and with no added pressure. The band claim that Cradle is their best album to date – it’s likely that many fans will agree.
The show is set to be streamed at 22.00 BST / 23.00 CEST / 3.00pm PST / 6.00pm EST and tickets are needed to watch it live. If you can’t make it, you’ll be able to watch a recording of it on the band’s official site until 12 November. The show is set to be the only live performance by Cradle of Filth in 2020 and is shaping up to be a horrifyingly terrific spectacle that’s sure to go down a storm with fans.
But that’s not it. Cradle of Filth already has a show lined up for 2021. The band will be playing the Brutal Assault festival, which is scheduled to take place from 10-14 August and will feature 150 bands playing five stages across five days. Brutal Assault is an annual festival held in Josefov For-tress, an 18th century military defence complex in the town of Jaroměř in the Czech Republic. The 2021 show is actually the 2020 show that’s been postponed for a year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
There’s another show the band have booked in for next year. After playing Brutal Assault on 10 Au-gust, they’ll be heading over to Belgium to play Alcatraz 2021. This hard rock and metal festival runs from 12-15 August and takes place in the Belgian town of Kortrijk. Cradle of Filth is set to take to the stage on the very first night of the festival.
Hopefully more shows will be announced and the band can get back to what they do best: giving their fans raucous, wild and hell-raising shows they won’t forget!