Artist: Cradle of Filth
Label: Cacophonus Records
Release Date: 1994
Rating: 3 Skulls
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Title: The Principle of Evil Made Flesh Artist: Cradle of Filth Label: Cacophonus Records Release Date: 1994
Rating: 3 Skulls |
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Reviewed by Solomon:
Listening to a black metal record, for me, is often a challenging experience. Not that I listen to that many in the first place, but I'm more of a "melody" and "groove"-type guy, which makes the unrelenting din of a lot of black and death metal a bit hard for me to digest. Sure, I like a good, solid kick in the head, but at some point I want to hear something to hang onto: a cool vocal part, a catchy guitar riff, some cool rhythmic hook, stuff like that. Granted, there is a lot of this to found in the field of black metal. Dimmu Borgir, Borknagar, and Arcturus, for example, all add a healthy dose of beauty to their playing, but black metal is normally designed to be just that: a chaotic whirlwind of speed and discordance meant to accompany lost souls on their way through the Gates of Gehenna. I've accepted this, and I try to appreciate it for what it is.Enter Cradle of Filth. I can't say I'm a big fan of this band, but I know they have more selling power than just about any other black metal group out there. Some people may criticize them for lapping over into "pop" black metal, but I say more power to 'em. I don't like "rock star" attitudes just as much as the next guy, but, if I pay any amount of money to see a band perform live, I wanna see rock stars. I don't want to see regular people doing regular things. COF understands they are a larger-than-life rock band, not a team of gas station attendants.
The man/woman behind Asphyxiated Oblivion calls TPOEMF "the greatest ever black metal release, and perhaps the greatest ever music release." Now, I don't know about the first part, and I would certainly have qualms about the second, but apparently some people out there think highly of this record. You could probably call TPOEMF an early example of "modern" black metal, along with the revered In The Nightside Eclipse by Emperor. There are plenty of female voice parts, spoken parts, sound effects, and keyboard noodlings to keep TPOEMF out of the "old school" catagory, but there is plenty of raw aggression to go around. In fact, elements of Slayer, Iron Maiden, and even Candlemass can be found throughout COF's debut full-length.
I can't say I walked away from this album more of a fan than when I walked in, but there are plenty of things to appreciate here, and the album is well-played overall. TPOEMF contains several titled "interludes" which help provide breathing space between the main spurts of violence. "One Final Graven Kiss" features a very romantic keyboard passage, and the keyboard textures and guitar counterpoint in "A Dream of Wolves in the Snow" are an album highlight. "To Eve The Art of Witchcraft" is one of my favorite tunes, as it starts out full tilt only to later cut into a rather soothing spoken part recited by one of the band's vixens (3:48). This moves directly into a very cool, straightforward metal groove which is the best riff on the record (4:41). "A Crescendo of Passion Bleeding" has a cool guitar slide riff and start/stop rhythm in the intro (0:34). The outro to "Summer Dying Fast" has some traditional, Iron Maiden stylings that are nice, as well. There are other notable tid bits here and there, but I still felt like TPOEMF went over my head. Then, of course, there is the issue of Dani's voice. This type of stuff is not my normal bag, baby, but I actually started to warm up to his paint-stripping vocals. His shrieks add a lot of power to the mix, particularly when he screams out a full two verses in the title track. This is why we have lyric sheets. Like I wanted to "la-la" along, anyway.
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