CRADLE OF FILTH – “EVERMORE DARKLY…”
PEACEVILLE (2011)
Fame and commercial success may be well be the main goals of every person that ever picked on an instrument, however, there are plentiful of examples where this has led to some less than desirable results. Not even the most loyal of their fans, for instance, can deny that the best material ever created by the Suffolk-based quintet Cradle Of Filth was during the first six years of their career, where they were still struggling to make a name for themselves under the guidance and support of small-range labels such as Cacophonous and Music For Nations. Having been through both the Sony and Roadrunner ‘experience’ for almost a decade and, admittedly so, made the best of the situation, Dani Filth and Co are now once again operating from the more underground, family-orientated environment and the end result is really rewarding. Only a year after the release of the much-praised “Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa”, these atmospheric Blacksters have prepared another little treat for their loyal fans – a two disc EP entitled “Evermore Darkly…”.
As you must probably have gathered from the title of this release, there is a very strong connection between the material on offer here and the band’s 2010 full length “Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa”. With regards the audio part of this release, four out of the eight tracks on offer are demo versions of songs that eventually made it on the band’s ninth studio album. I really hope that the use of the word ‘demo’ in the previous sentence did not make you feel too sceptical as the audio quality of “Forgive Me Father (I Have Sinned)”, “Lilith Immaculate” and “The Spawn Of Love And War” puts many recording acts to shame whereas the version provided here of the emotionally charged “the Persecution Song” is as good as that of “Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa”. The real interest, however, lies in the remaining four tracks, starting with the two minute dark/atmospheric narrative “Transmission From Hell” and gaining momentum in the rhythmically varied beast “Thank Your Lucky Scars”. If there is one song on this EP capable of attracting the most attention, both positive and negative, it is the trance version of “Forgive Me Father”, which, though I found fairly interesting, never really managed to gab me. On the other hand, I was totally blown away by the band’s classical/orchestral interpretation of the classic “Summer Dying Fast” – a composition whose purpose is to introduce the band’s audience to the band’s upcoming orchestral project – something I simply cannot wait to hear more of.
While most EP releases would have undoubtedly wrapped things up by now “Evermore Darkly…” has a second disc’s worth of material to offer, starting with the truly impressive promotional video of “Lilith Immaculate” – a composition which holds a predominant position in the band’s ninth studio effort “Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa”. Having watched six minutes of the band’s trademark themes of s*x, blood and gore, any proud owner of this release can indulge in a forty three minute Rockumentary entitled “You Can’t Polish A T*rd…But You Can Roll It In Glitter”. This is a document of everything that has been happening both on and off the stage during the band’s Russian and central European tour that took place earlier this year and which both describes and presents numerous…interesting incidents – not for sharing with your parents over dinner, though! The final offering on this DVD is an eleven track live performance which was recorded during this year’s stint at the Belgium-based Graspop Festival. Even though both the audio and video aspects of this recording is not of Wacken-like quality, this is still a professionally shot film involving numerous cameras and finding the band in really good form and performing some their best-known tracks to the fifteen thousand metal heads who chose to visit the marquee instead of watching the main headlining act of the night.
EPs are by definition releases whose aim is to attract and target people that are already well acquainted with the music of a band and, yes, “Evermore Darkly…” has not been an exception to that rule. Contrary to most EP releases out there, however, Cradle Of Filth’s latest offering is a product which has material of such length and quality that it is unlikely to be questioned by fans. This is a format which enabled Danny Filth and his fellow-conspirators to experiment with new ideas and, in doing so, made me feel that, as the liner notes on offer suggest, there are still plenty of creative juices running through this well-oiled machine!
John Stefanis
Rating: ***1/2 (3.5/5.0)
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