Filthy Music Review - 'Cradle of Filth: The Manticore and other Horrors'

Cradle of Filth: The Manticore and Other Horrors (2012)

Review by Jude Felton

The last year of so has seen a couple of new releases from England’s Cradle of Filth. There was the Evermore Darkly EP, which contained remixes and other odds and sods, and then we had the orchestral Midnight in the Labyrinth, which quite frankly is wonderful. However, the last full length studio album proper from Cradle was 2010’s Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa. That was a good solid album, but for my money there was only one or two really stand-out tracks. If anything it was, and I hate to say it, a little soulless.

Now Cradle is back though, with The Manitcore and Other Horrors, and I am guessing that the band, which comprises of Dani Filth, Paul Allender and Martin Skaroupka, must have had their Wheaties for breakfast. This is a ferocious beast of an album, one that lulls you in with the intro The Unveiling of O, before blasting into The Abhorrent. Cradle of Filth are spitting venom here, and it doesn’t let up.

The classic elements of their music is still here, with orchestral elements, female vocal accompaniments and Dani’s terrific lyrics, but the music here is an almost stripped down and old school affair in places, with even a punk feel in places with the guitars punching out the rhythms. Even with all this sonic mayhem going on they still find room to keep things fresh; the intro to Huge Onyx Wings Behind Despair, with its almost videogame sounding electronics, fools you before it launches head-on into another aural assault.

The Manticore and Other Horrors is an album full of highlights, and any band that can fit ‘tantric’ and ‘wank fantasies’ into one verse demands your attention. Dani virtually spits out his trademark lyrical wizardry, with more depth and variety than in recent years, and a lot more screaming venom. If I was to choose a favorite tune hear it would be Illicitus, but, as I do with all albums, I take the album as a whole, rather than a collection of its parts. In the case of this album it is excellent, it’s tight and it is unforgiving.

Cradle of Filth are back and, with The Manticore and Other Horrors, Suffolk’s finest are not in the mood to take any prisoners. It’s an album that gets stronger with repeated listens, revealing more with each subsequent play and as a fan, first and foremost, I can’t ask for any more than this. The Manticore is an excellent album.

Tracklisting

1. The Unveiling of O

2. The Abhorrent

3. For your Vulgar Delectation

4. Illicitus

5. Manticore

6. Frost on her Pillow

7. Huge Onyx Wings Behind Despair

8. Pallid Reflection

9. Siding with the Titans

10. Succumb to This

11. Nightmares of an Ether Drinker

12. Death, The Great Adventure *Deluxe Edition Digipak

13. Sinfonia *Deluxe Edition Digipak

The Manticore and Other Horrors is released on October 29th in Europe and October 30th in North America by Nuclear Blast Records.