Rather like author Stephen King, Cradle of Filth have developed a remarkable voice with which to impart their tales of terror to the audience. While the frights are real, there is a Grand Guignol sense of excess to proceedings that provides each album with a mix of heady atmosphere that is part Hammer Horror, part Helvete. While the band have, arguably, had their missteps, on the whole their catalogue has been remarkably consistent and, at their best, Cradle of Filth back their sonic onslaught with lyrics of real depth and substance (see: Midian, Cruelty And The Beast). Back with Existance Is Futile, the band’s thirteenth dark missive from the underworld, Cradle of Filth have pulled out all the stops to ensure thirteen is indeed a lucky number. Pinhead actor Doug Bradley returns to lend a hand, while long-time producer Scott Atkins (Stamping Ground, Divine Chaos, Savage Messiah) continues to bring remarkable clarity to the band’s densely cinematic material. What truly sets the album apart, however, is Dani’s clear-eyed lyrics, which clothe astute observations as to the state of the world today in the sort of otherworldly metaphor that has long been his stock in trade. The result is an album of potent fury that packs a more direct punch than the band’s more ethereal flights of fancy.
Following on from the short orchestral intro, The Fate Of The World On Our Shoulders, Cradle of Filth engage the listener with the razor sharp riffing of Existential terror. Dani Filth remains an expressive frontman, delivering a veritable barrage of squeals and grunts that sit comfortably within the band’s ferociously tight assault, even as the lyrics do much to capture the very real dread that many are now forced to face in the contemporary world. Eerie keyboards herald the arrival of Necromantic Fantasies, a deliciously gothic romance that recalls the full-length Nymphetamine with its sweeping grandeur and melodic flourishes. The track also boasts some truly epic lead guitar work, all of which adds up to an immersive piece that wraps the listener up in velvet-clad darkness. In contrast, Crawling King Chaos is the band at their heaviest, dialling back the melodrama in favour of a relentless barrage of precision-guided double kick and diamond-edged riffing. It makes for a remarkable start to the album, and better is still to come.
A short interlude entitled Here Comes A Candle… (Internal Lullaby) allows for a moment of calm before the blackened demolition job of Black Smoke Curling From The Lips Of War leaps forth with all the vigour of a berserker. Newcomer Anabelle Iratni takes a more prominent position here, duetting with Dani, while the band summon up a blistering piece of music that does much to evoke Cruelty And The beast, still one of the band’s most ambitious and impressive releases. A slower-paced number, Discourse Between A Man And His Soul allows the listener the opportunity to appreciate Dani’s typically elaborate lyrics, as the piece captures an inner monologue of a man caught between damnation and depravity. The second act culminates with the doom laden The Dying Of The Embers. It opens with Anabelle taking up the narrative, the band conjuring a darker atmosphere, before everything bursts vividly into flame, setting the stage for one of the album’s heaviest pieces.
Announcing the third act, the eerie Ashen Mortality takes its cues from survival horror, all childlike synths and echoing dissonance. While it does provide some respite from the horror that surrounds it, there’s an unsettling sense of threat that slowly emerges from the shadows as the orchestral elements become increasingly reminiscent of Orff in their delivery. It gives way to How Many Tears To Nurture A Rose, a perfect example of Cradle’s ability to juxtapose trad metal influences such as Maiden and Priest with black metal fire and fury. With a title referencing Hellraiser, Suffer Our Dominion Us sees Doug Bradley return to narrate the track. With a voice perfectly suited to heavy metal, any collaboration between Doug and the band remains an album high point and Suffer Our Dominion is no exception, the band delivering a track that sits perfectly between catchy and chaotic, always on the edge of collapse and all the more exciting for it. The album proper finishes with Us, Dark, Invincible, a track that more or less epitomises the Cradle sound, wrapping a deceptively catchy melody in rapier guitars and explosive percussion. It makes for a blistering finale and sees the album out on a high.
For those buying the deluxe edition, two further tracks await. The first, Sisters Of The Mist, sees Doug Bradley return, briefly introducing the piece in his guise of Pinhead (we have such sights to show you) before the band engage in an orgy of frenzied riffing and gothic organ. A stunning piece, it pushes the deluxe edition towards the essential, while Unleash The Hellion takes it over the edge. Savage in both intent and delivery, it brings the expanded edition to a thunderously blackened close, the gothic elements left behind in a swirling maelstrom of icy riffing and relentless blast beats.
Over the course of thirteen albums, Cradle Of Filth have honed their sound and it is somewhat certain that you already know if this is an album for you or not. In terms of quality, the band are on top of their game and alongside the usual heady brew of gothic fantasy, theatrical delivery and hyper-speed riffing, a sense of the world’s current darkness seeps in, raising the stakes and underpinning one of Cradle of Filth’s darkest and yet most expansive albums to date. With razor sharp production, brutally drilled performances and compelling lyrics, Existence Is Futile is a remarkable effort and one of Cradle of Filth’s most impressive outings to date. 9/10
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