Artist: Cradle of Filth
Title: The Manticore and Other Horrors
Genre: Rock
Release Date: 2nd November 2012
Label: Peaceville Records
Album Review
Dani Filth and his brutal orchestrations of brilliance return with a ferocious vigour; ‘The Manticore and Other Horrors’ is quite possibly one of their strongest to date. The instrumental B-movie-esque intro (which is the usual archetype of a CRADLE OF FILTH (CoF) album) sets the atmosphere perfectly; gothic, dark and horror film-infused. The following song, ‘The Abhorrent’, erupts with an intense riff composited with a cutting execution of strings and brutal drums. The third song, ‘For Your Vulgar Delectation’, exacerbates the fury with an energy that most Speed Metal bands would envy. Other notable songs such as ‘Manticore’, ‘Frost On Her Pillow’, ‘Pallid Reflection’ and ‘Succumb To This’ pervade the same credibility. For their tenth studio album, ‘The Manticore and Other Horrors’ is a return to form after a slight lull of previous albums and their problematic juggling of record labels.
Dani Filth adds his opulent lyrics to the themes of apocalyptic/ mythic visions; idealistically they all work in an anthological sense like chapters all in the vein of gothic horror. It is a change in direction in terms of the influences, focusing on different ideas/ stories instead of being one whole story/ concept being based on a historical figure with a dark past (i.e. Gilles De Rais, Elizabeth Bathory). The dark universe of his lyricism is spread like an intense canvas here hence “and Other Horrors” in the album’s title. What is strong with this Cradle release is the change of sound albeit minimal, although, very affective. The quirkiness of the additional cheesy layers is seldom heard in this record apart from the two instrumental pieces. It still sounds like a Cradle album but it feels as though it has departed from the somewhat beloved conventions of the Black Metal soundscape, even though this has evidently progressed throughout the last few albums, it is perhaps a natural metamorphosis.
Despite this slight difference in sound, it does not disappoint, in fact, due to its more accessible approach, it will no doubt attract new fans and nor will it detract any existing fans.
Tracklist
01. The Unveiling of O
02. The Abhorrent
03. For Your Vulgar Delectation
04. Illicitus
05. Manticore
06. Frost On Her Pillow
07. Huge Onyx Wings Behind Despair
08. Pallid Reflection
09. Siding With The Titans
10. Succumb To This
11. Sinfonia
Line-up
Dani Filth – Vocals
Paul Allender – Lead Guitar
Martin Skaroupka – Drums
Websites
www.theorderofthedragon.com / https://www.facebook.com/cradleoffilth
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 8
Sound: 8
Total: 8.5/ 10
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