Even old acquaintance Doug Bradley (known for his role as Pinhead in Hellraiser) lends his voice once again in 'Suffer Our Dominion', a song that revolves around overpopulation and its deleterious effect on the planet. The band's latest gothic horror novel, Existence Is Futile, embodies the reinvigorated spirit of the previous two chapters much due to the now stable line-up, which, except for the addition of Anabelle Iratni, has remained unchanged. They weren't exactly a breath of fresh air, in the full sense of the term, yet they represented a moment of renewal and reconciliation with a niche somewhat displeased with the band's latest outputs. Even though Hammer of the Witches and Cryptoriana didn't present anything really new, they did bring some excitement to a formula that was already wearing thin. Although I’ve never been a devoted enthusiast of the band's early days, I have come to increasingly appreciate them, particularly their last two albums which curiously coincide with the recruitment of guitarists Rich Shaw and Ashok. Whatever one's interpretation of the band's early tensions with the genre's fanbase, or at least with part of it, the truth is that it somehow helped to separate Cradle of Filth from the rest of the pack, while allowing them to broaden their target audience beyond the orthodox circuit.
Cradle of Filth's theatrical goth side has always triggered mixed reactions from the dark horde, more devoted to Nordic blasphemies than to the baroque-ish incursions of the Brits.
In a way, part of the conservative black metal community (of which I never belonged) had a similar response, though not entirely for the same reasons. I've never been the type to follow the herd or judge the book by its cover, but this awkward (non-musical) first encounter somehow generated some backlash against the lads, as silly as it sounds now. This eccentric scene, along with the fact that some friends claimed the band was a travesty that shouldn't be taken seriously, left me with a rather dubious first impression. Something that surprised me at the time, as it contrasted with the usual bad boy trademark image associated with black metal. A then skinny, funny-looking Dani Filth appeared in his home kitchen doing the dishes like just another day at the office. Oddly enough, the memory that emerges immediately when I think of Cradle of Filth is not about the very first time I listened to them or some album cover I might have stumbled across at the record store, but rather an interview Dani gave to the now-defunct French Hard Rock Magazine. Review Summary: May the demons of old rejoice, for Cradle of Filth are back on stage.
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