Thanks to the wonderous world of what is known as Napster, I managed to get the Cradle Of Filth full-length album, instead of the three-track promo. And it was worth it…
Cradle Of Filth has come a long way. Their debut album for Cacophonous, The Principle Of Evil Made Flesh, can be seen as the ultimate black/goth bible. It has every element people are looking for in that style of music, and they proved they knew how to play their instruments. Yes, it was quite a change from the deathmetal oriented demos they had put out, but becoming Cacophonous best-selling band it seemed that nobody could give a damn. And due to the immense success, an ample two years later the mini-album Vempire… was released. In my opinion, this might be their best work to date, as the production was better than on their debut album, while the songs were more epic and vile than those on the albums to follow. But ofcouse, follow-up Dusk And Her Embrace was a damn good effort as well, mixing perfectly the black elements from their debut with the more gothic elements to create a haunted, eerie atmosphere. By this time, Cradle Of Filth had reached megastar status. Concerts sold out, every self-respecting black-goth owned at least one CoF shirt, and they even gotten a lot of attention from the mainstream press.

Getting attention from the mainstream press is perhaps the worst thing that can happen to a band like this. The first-hour fans started complaining that `Cradle Of Filth are sell-outs` and that the albums were `too poppy`. It became somewhat uncool to admit that you were into Cradle Of Filth, and that`s the main reason that their third full-length, Cruelty & The Beast, was a failure. Not in commercial terms, as the album sold quite well, but in terms of respect it was largely neglected by the blackmetal community. Ofcourse the commercial aspect wasn`t the only reason that Cruelty & The Beast wasn`t the success that the band had hoped for, productionwise it was a bit lacking as well.

And add to that the rise in popularity of Dimmu Borgir, who -in using less gothic elements- became the replacements of Cradle, and the picture is complete.

Until late 1999. Cradle Of Filth, quite unsuspectedly, released another mini-album unto the world. From The Cradle To Enslave, accompanied by a music video, came as a bit of a surprise to the scene. A lot of people who had suspected Cradle of having lost their "spirit" had to admit that the new songs were more solid than they expected. And so the wait for the 4th full-length began…

Halloween 2000. The release of Midian. Totally inspired by Clive Barker`s "Nightbreed" (just as underestimated as CoF`s Cruelty-album) this is Cradle`s answer to the world on what`s up and what`s not. From opening song "Cthulhu Dawn" on it is evident that Cradle is going for a less gothic, faster and especially more brutal sound. Whether this has gotten anything to do with Dimmu Borgirs popularity I can`t say, but it`s a fact that Midian is an excellent album. Drummer Adrian Erlandsson (ex-The Haunted/At The Gates) is a more-than-worthy replacement for Nick Barker, and Dani`s vocals sound better than ever. The diversity is high, the production is just downright fucking brilliant (just listen to "Death Magic For Adepts" with its excellent multi-layered vocals, for instance).

Midian is the slap in the face of everyone who thought this band was over its peak. I admit, they will never regain the atmosphere they had on their debut album, but they`re wise enough not to try to recreate that - they could only fail. Midian has become CoF`s second best album, let`s just hope people will listen to it without the prejudice they might`ve built up over the years…