Today, for the first time in several months, I listened to some Cradle Of Filth on my way to the uni and back. Surprisingly, Cradle fits the sunny weather pretty well. There is something majestic about the way the hot-blooded rage of their music can make your mind soar. I remember exiting a building, putting my sunglasses on – the night-owl that I am – and playing the music, the breeze in my face, the clouds moving gently across the bright blue above, the trees swaying in green. This music is cosmic power, it is igniting your core and flying in fury across the sky, landing with grace, slowly dissolving into long-echoing nirvana.
Of course, talking about fire and flight, all that comes to some people’s minds is 9/11 and global terrorism. Cradle Of Filth tackle that topic in a very intelligent, artistic manner in “Nemesis”, the third track; there, we look inside the mind of a man profoundly hurt by loss who decides that blood and revenge is the only way to go. Such psychological portraits are first thing on the agenda of Danny throughout the album. My favourites include “Gabrielle”, the extended titular “Nymphetamine (Overdose)” – but of course!, “Coffin Fodder” and the sublime “Swansong for a Raven” which is something of a sequel to the equally gripping “Her Ghost in the Fog” from Midian (2000). That’s not to say that the other tracks are inferior – this selection is just very personal.
Every time I experience this album I must discover, time and again, that it embodies all that can be good about extreme metal: the transformation of aggression, of rage and fury, into explosive musical energy; that virtualized identification with fantastic, horrific characters and places and stories; the release of any and all negativities through this palpable valve of mighty warping riffs, annihilating drum-fire from hell, screams of anger, and ungodly space of more and more atmospheric harmony.
Alright, enough crazy chatter. One final comparison – a very far-fetched one, otherwise it wouldn’t be me – I could make with the atmosphere in a game like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. The same horror, beauty and sublimation of the fury, the dark unknown, the will to live, is to be found there – although in a different context. Unearthly.
