It’s truly amazing not only how many releases Cradle of Filth has, but just how consistent their material is. After 25 years, the only blemish to me was 2006’s “Thornography”. Which I still think is decent, but is the only meh album.

They’ve forever been a “love them or hate them” band, 98% of which is due to Dani Filth’s vocals. So obviously I’d expect that if you never liked them before, you never will. There’s some fans out there who don’t like them after 2001, some that only liked “Nymphetamine”, and some who basically like everything they’ve done. In any case, many fans agree to point out that 2000’s “Midian” is among their best work. The extra “gothy” and darker feel being the reason why. Like the soundtrack to a Castlevania game. It’s always been an element to their music and sound, but they haven’t really recaptured that, until now.

“Cryptoriana – The Seductiveness of Decay” is as good as anything they’ve ever done. There’s also a little more melody and that gothy vibe brought back. It’s a welcome addition. Some of the old school fans who wrote them off and never came back would be surprised at how on fire they’ve been since 2008’s “Godspeed on the Devil’s Thunder”. They went with a more blackened death metal style, and it hasn’t really left since.

This album combines that fury with melody and ends up making it stand out a little more than usual. The other consistency, aside from Dani Filth being the only original member many times over, is how his voice has stood up. It’s not like he sounds like every other metal vocalist. His vocal style is unique only to him, and even live Dani holds up.

Blast beats, grooves, harmonizing guitars, shredding solos, growls, high screams, spoken word, female vocals, keyboards and atmosphere, it’s all there. All the trademarks for a Cradle of filth release is here, as expected. This wasn’t phoned in. It’s enjoyable for any era fan. Enjoy it until the next likely album in 2019!

4.5/5

Review by Marcus Miller

#CradleOfFilth #Cryptoriana #DaniFilth #TheSeductivenessOfDecay #NuclearBlast