Stuck in a familiarity fatigue, my soft spot for Cradle Of Filth still yearned. Their recent revival of form through Hammer Of The Witches and Cryptoriana had me tuning me again. Despite all its competence and theatrics, sadly this latest length installment of their Gothic Extreme Metal didn't spark the thrills I was hoping for. All the cardinal sins are intact, Dani's shrill animal howls and deep burly voices narrate the vampiric and Lovecraft themes. Blast beats and lively percussion houses flexible distortion guitars and an array of timely gothic synthetic keyboard tones to orchestrate the night.
His current guitarists expand a little with a few less restrictive guitar chops and leads that have a mellower edge but its only a handful of moments among a meaty arsenal of tracks. For the most part they stick strictly to the classic CoF formulae. Its opening track Existential Terror, however, tackles pandemic parallels with tales of plague thrust through a very orchestral Abrahadabra tone. Its big symphonic strikes of melody and archaic choir singing hailing back to that particular Dimmu Borgir sound.
Its a niche that doesn't stick and swiftly do the band land on familiar footing, leading to a record that shows no noticeable blemishes yet failed to really get my blood pumping. There are instances of choppy thrash riffs that get a little tiring but some fiery spurts of aggression too. Aesthetically it gorgeous and full of lively instrumentation. A lack of originality is probably a fault at times. All arrangements rehash old ideas, the closing Unleash The Hellion very distinctly reminiscent of their Vempire era. I couldn't pick out a favorite track, I think I've just found myself in a
spot of tiredness without a cure. I'll probably swing back to this one
whenever I snap out of it, if ever I do!
Rating: 6/10