We sent Rich Higton down to Rock City for an evening of family entertainment from Mr Filth and company…
It’s been a long time since I last witnessed a Cradle of Filth show – twenty years in fact, back at the final Ozzfest festival to be held at Donington Park in the summer of 2002. That year, the heavens opened as soon as the band took the stage and continued their deluge until the band left again, as if the almighty himself was angered by the hellish noise coming from that stage. Fast forward twenty years and Cradle are still going strong, all be it with a significantly different line-up.
Their current tour, the Horse and Forces tour, has been rampaging throughout Europe, and Nottingham is host to the penultimate night of the tour. Cradle were supported by two French bands, the extreme metal stylings of Naraka and the more chilled goth metal of Alcest. The former took to the stage first and assaulted the audience for thirty minutes with pure, brutal metal, needless to say a good time was had by all. Alcest are a different prospect, however; they bring a more goth metal sound, replete with swirling ethereal guitars and thumping drums. Both bands were well received by the Nottingham crowd and more than likely made some new fans this evening.
Then it was time for Cradle of Filth to hit the stage. At the front of said stage was a mic stand made from twisted bones, framed either side by giant demon skeletons; it looked awesome! As the lights dim and the band takes the stage, to a massive roar, frontman Dani Filth strides on to stage, hooded, before revealing his corpse painted face and metal spiked regalia. The band kicks off their set with the first two tracks from their most recent release (or excretion as Dani puts it) Existence Is Futile (The Fate of the World on Our Shoulders and Existential Terror).
Continuing with Nocturnal Supremacy from 1996 album Vempire and Summer Dying Fast from 2001’s Bitter Suites to Succubi, Dani Filth’s voice was on top form. It is a wonder how he can continue to make such a demonic noise for the duration of a show, never mind a whole tour. The band too were fantastic, with Marthus Skaroupka’s drumming, the rapid heartbeat of this demonic entity giving life to Donny and Ashok’s guitars and Daniel Firth’s bass. The sound is made complete by Zoe Marie Federoff’s operatic tones and gothic keyboards.
The show kicks up a notch with the next set of songs, as fireworks, confetti and smoke erupt over the crowd as Cradle assault us with I Am the Thorn, Crawling King Chaos and Nymphetamine. The main part of the show is rounded off with A Gothic Romance (Red Rose’s for The Devil’s Whore) from Cradle’s 1996 sophomore album Dusk… and Her Embrace, before Scorched Earth Erotica and Us, Dark, Invincible concluded the show and the band left the stage.
The Rock City crowd clap and chant for the band to return and an almighty roar erupts as the blood curdling screams of Venus in Fear shred our collective eardrums and Cradle return for their encore. Desire in Violent Overture (The only track tonight from Cradle’s classic 1998 album Cruelty and the Beast) kicks off the encore, followed quickly by Necromantic Fantasies. Then came fan favourite Gilded C**t (along with some audience participation) before the show was closed with Her Ghost in the Fog from 2000’s fantastic Midian album. Cradle leave the stage to rapturous applause, all in all a fantastic night of ear shredding noise from Suffolk’s finest hell spawn. The band may be into their fourth decade, but they are still as vital and entertaining as ever.
The dead have never been so alive…
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