http://youtu.be/BbpPsQ-vAkY
Review by Brady Deeprose
Release date: 5 may 2014
Black Metal is a bizarre genre. While evolving into a more polished, symphonic style in the metal mainstream (think Dimmu Borgir, newer Cradle Of Filth and even Behemoth to an extent), it still stems from a raw, aggressive, stripped-down sound. Cradle Of Filth have been at the forefront of British extreme metal since the 90’s but until now, it’s not been so easy to find out much about them before their 1994 debut.
Total Fucking Darkness was the ground-breaking BM release from Cradle Of Filth back in the early 90’s, the demo that propelled them into the moonlight. Fusing the raw black metal sound with synth/strings, the band used this demo to really break into the scene. The re-release also pulls together and includes tracks from several demos around the time.
Opener ‘Spattered in Faeces’, the last surviving track from the lost Goetia Sessions, is probably the most accessible from a production standpoint. It shows clearly how Cradle evolved into the beast they are now but, for me, isn’t their best work. Opening with an evil, down tempo dirge before a tempo change picks up, ‘The Black Goddess Rises’ is one of three interesting pieces, being featured twice on the album. As track 2, it’s a more ‘raw’ and classically black metal outing whereas it returns at track 8, slightly more death metal sounding. While it’s nice to hear the progression from the TFD recordings to 1992’s Samhain session, it feels like a bit of a cop out. You’re buying 12 tracks and included in that are 3 re-recordings and two instrumentals made by ex-keyboardist Ben Ryan.
For the vinyl obsessives and trve kvlt BM fans, I’m sure this release will be perfect. For anyone who likes to pay for an album and doesn’t really give a crap about slight production tweaks, short instrumentals or wants to be able to decipher the tracks, you should go pick up Midian, The Principle Of Evil Made Flesh and Godspeed On The Devil’s Thunder.
5 out of 10
Track listing:
- Spattered in Faeces
- The Black Goddess Rises
- As Deep As Any Burial
- Unbridled At Dusk
- The Raping Of Faith
- Fraternally Yours, 666
- Devil Mayfair (Advocatus Diaboli)
- The Black Goddess Rises
- Séance And Mandrake
- The Raping Of Faith
- Unbridled At Dusk
- Hekate Enthroned
