---

1996 was a year that changed a lot for me. This was the year when I was introduced to Dimmu Borgir and Cradle of Filth. As if by a touch by a magic wand, black metal was suddenly something that I could actually digest. Yes, admittedly it would take for someone to actually produce and mix the music and a bit of a goth touch didn't hurt either.

I was aware that it was pop compared to 'real' black metal, but fook that - I liked it!

And I still do. Cradle of Filth are hugely relevant in today's music business; they do what they love, they draw on those who came before them - from Iron Maiden to Massacre - and throw into that their own sick sense of humour and intelligent song writing. And they are a success! Isn't that wonderful. Death and destruction, whores and vampires, dark magic and decapitation - and they sell! My respect is, for all it's worth, endless.

Thus are my expectations always high when a long-awaited new album from Dani Filth and his cohordes arrive in the mail. The expectations for this their ninth studio release were of course no less higher than before.

Are my high expectations met? They certainly are. More so than on the past couple of albums, we meet a brutal and neckbreaking version of the Cradle. More power than I remember from the Brits, more focus on speed, more power. Does one sense a need to get something out of the system? Perhaps.

There is of course still lots of catchiness, mainly in the tunes The Persecution Song, the groovy beginning of Deceiving Eyes, Lilith Immaculate and Forgive Me Father (I Have Sinned), where Lilith Immaculate and the Iron Maiden-laden Forgive Me Father more or less are the only songs that can boast of a real chorus.

Otherwise it's mostly just full throttle all over shop and it suits the Brits just as well as the more thrash and heavy metal inspired and slightly more catchy music we know from the past few releases and 'Midian' in particular. They know exactly how to control the speed and never allow it to take away the diversity and atmosphere that has become one of Cradle of Filth's trademarks. Expect, as usual, riffs in abundance. Expect metal in abundance.

Superb album - buy by the millions - there are new details waiting for you every time you listen!

---