Thanks to the radio channel to which I often listen, I have come to appreciate the music of a band known as “Cradle of Filth.” Now, I don’t usually like music that’s as, um, hard as theirs is, I suppose, but their song “Nymphetamine” totally rocks. I could listen to it all day. I love it whenever it comes on.
I’ve listened to some of their other songs - evidently they’ve been making music for some time now. I thought they were brand now or something. Anyway, much of it is very, very nice - has an otherworldly feel to it. It’s very different from any other music I have listened to. I could do without the screeching, but otherwise it’s fantabulous. I can’t understand the lyrics (although certain phrases or words in “Nymphetamine” send shivers up my spine) - the music, or “groove” as others may call it, that’s really, really nice. It’s dark in a way I like.
Anyone else listen to and like them? Any similar bands?
Ok, I went here and listened to some of these songs, and while they’re not Marilyn Manson bad, they do nothing for me. Why do all heavy metal bands lately seem to have vocalists who grunt out lyrics? Are they trying to sound evil or something?
Uh dude, death/black metal has been doing this for 20 years. Yes, they’re trying to sound evil.
Re: OP: CoF is basically a parody of black metal. Well, parody in that they take the generic conventions and turn them up to 11. With BM, you’re never going to get away from the screeching.
Agree about “Nymphetamine”, certainly the best song I’ve heard from them since their cover of Iron Maiden’s “Hallowed be thy Name”. I wouldn’t exactly call them a parody of Black Metal, rather a more theatrical and over-the-top incarnation of it. I really like death metal, not so much black metal, and while I appreciate some of CoF’s work, the screeching is a bit much IMHO.
Another band that I find to be musically similar is Dimmu Borgir, particularly the work on their last two albums Death Cult Armageddon and Puritanical Misanthropic Euphoria. Vocals are a bit more gritty than screechy (hence less “fingernails on chalkboard” effect), and unlike most black metal, they actually make an effort to make the music sound good (albeit still evil and scary).
I’ve always considered CoF to be dark metal. I don’t know that anyone else recognizes that genre, but I think it’s obvious what it is–not quite black, but with a strong debt to Quorthon and other metal influences.
CoF’s Cruelty and the Beast was the album that first got me into extreme metal. It’s kinda depressing to listen to it now, considering how fast and heavy I used to think it was. But it’s still entertaining, and they certainly do know how to write interesting songs. And the “Damned In Any Language”/“Better To Reign In Hell” segue from Damnation and a Day is still one of the best I’ve ever heard.
I was a little disappointed in Nymphetamine because the strong structures are a lot simpler than their older stuff, and it’s all flat-out intensity. Dynamics are a good thing, and the band used to understand that.
Dimmu Borgir is close, but they definitely fall in the black metal camp. Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia and Death Cult Armageddon are both good introductory albums. Other similar bands are Graveworm, Siebenburgen, and Old Man’s Child. If you want to check out more traditional black metal, you should start with Emperor (Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk), Dissection (Storm of the Light’s Bane) and Mayhem (De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas). And don’t even claim to be a fan if you don’t have Bathory’s Blood, Fire, Death.
Go to Launch.com and watch their video. (If you have a Yahoo e-mail account you also have a Launch account by default, just sign in using your e-mail id and password.) :eek: Over the top gothic goodness. I still haven’t made up my mind about them yet, I don’t quite know what to think in a way. It’s the lisp while gargling razor blades I think. At least, that’s how the lead singer’s voice sounds to me, he’s got an odd lisp, something like Greenday’s lead singer. (To me, the lisp bespeaks lack of proper vocal techniques while singing into a mike, that’s all.) I’ll have to listen to more of their music, and see if it’s just the vocal delivery in that song. They’re ok, but not spectacular IMO.
They’re Gothic Rock, and some say they are Black Metal, though others say they became “too popular” for a black metal band. Here’s a link to a page on a fansite that gives their discography. I already got lambasted by a friend who LOVES the group, because I mentioned I didn’t like the lead singer’s lisp. He took it to mean I was being derogatory, when I wasn’t, it was just his knee jerking because he’s taken flack about his choice of music from other people. Once I pointed out that he sounds like Greenday’s lead singer, he calmed down and chuckled, and admitted I did have a point. This town is full of trendy people, and if you don’t listen exclusively to rap, you’re <insert insult here>.
I have to admit that my death metal experience really started when Cannibal Corpse’s BUTCHERED AT BIRTH was released and my friend’s older brother brought a copy over while we were playing D&D. Aside from some scattered punk/goth, I really can’t get into music before the late 80’s (some industrial bands excepted). Something about the nostalgia/formative years barrier… To be sure, it’s only recently that I’ve gotten into black metal. FWIW, I’ve not heard the term “dark metal” before, although every new band seems to get it’s own genre to play around with and be the best in - apparently capsule reviewers need to earn their keep (cold metal, Norse metal, Viking metal, war metal, et. al. and all descriptions of Amon Amarth for example)…
I really have a hard time with metal before then. Even the other greats like Venom and Celtic Frost really get on my nerves. I suppose metal before South of Heaven doesn’t exist to me (OK, excepting Motorhead)…although I do have a Dio album…
Re: CoF being a parody. I didn’t mean that they were themselves parodying black metal, but rather that they exaggerate the conventions to an extreme that they sound like a parody (every convention you could think of is in their work, and it seems often in any given song). Of course, being extreme is good…
Cradle of Filth… there’s a band I haven’t listened to in awhile. I though Dusk and Her Embrace was by far their best album – “Funeral in Carpathia” and “Malice Through the Looking Glass” are still two of my favorite metal songs. Cruelty and the Beast was quite silly, I thought, with simpler music to boot, and further occasional listens to their recent work have only confirmed that impression.
I’d buy that, considering that I’m pretty sure that was Mr. Filth’s intent when he formed the band in the first place. It also sounds like they’re having fun while doing it, while most black metal bands seem to take themselves far too seriously.
If you like fun takes on metal, you should check out Finntroll. I had overlooked these guys until Tentacle Monster brought them up, and their newest album Nattfodd just blew me away. Not unlike CoF, their roots are in black metal, but their twist is by mixing in traditional Finnish humppa (a form of Polka). Plus, they sing about trolls, from the troll’s perspective. In Swedish. (Not Finnish. Swedish. It says so in the FAQ.)
D
Cradle of Filth: earlier stuff (I’ve got From Cradle to Enslave but haven’t listened to it recently) - absolute crap.
Later stuff (videos I’ve seen) Nymphatemine and Born in a Burial Gown: A for effort/fun and B for the actual songs.
Since Launch finally got the idea that me rating metal and not Ani DiFranco means that they should play more metal and not Ani…
Tiamat: Videos: Whatever that Hurts: Video A-/A- music; Brighter than the Sun A for video/A- Song (though they did late-career Sisters of Mercy better than Sisters of Mercy)
Dimmu Borgir: Postmortems of the Apocalypse (or something): C+ for effort, A for ridiculous posturing, B for corpse paint design D- for music.