 Cradle of Filth As part of my quest to get Loud Bassoon editor La Fée to add as many Cradle of Filth albums as possible to his collection, I have decided to continue the survey of Filth discs I began with Damnation and A Day by reviewing Cruelty and the Beast. Though 1997's Dusk and Her Embrace firmly established Cradle of Filth as one of Metal's top new bands, it was 1998's Cruelty and The Beast that truly defined them. Only three years separate their debut, The Principle of Evil Made Flesh, from Cruelty, but the difference between the discs is profound. Well … I'm not sure there's ANYTHING profound about Cradle of Filth, but Cruelty and the Beast is one MOTHERFUCKING good album. Building upon the style of the Dusk … disc, the constant CoF themes of sex, Satan, and death are explored by recounting the biography of the infamous Countess Elizabeth Bathory. Bathory, a real Countess who lived in the 17th century, had an extremely engaging social life. Some of her possible hobbies included bathing in the blood of virgins, torturing and raping her male and female house staff, having orgies with the corpses of deceased peasants, cannibalism, and (of course) Satanism. "Possible" is the key word here. Due to her title and wealth, the documents of her trial were sealed and over time were lost. The only fact that can be confirmed is that she was responsible for some pretty gruesome atrocities. She was sentenced to life imprisonment in a single room of her castle, where she died after many years of isolation. Scholars, fiction writers, and now heavy metal bands have spent oodles of time trying to guess exactly what horrible things she did in her dungeon. Cruelty and The Beast is an attempt to set Dani Filth's version of the story to music. It should come as no surprise that in Filth's version, Bathory partakes in every atrocity possible. While many grisly events are portrayed, the lyrics are so thickly veiled in overtly complex wordplay that sometimes the narrative is greatly obscured. It frequently borders on the ridiculous: In a crescent-whine cellar of crushed rosesAs goofy as this excerpt might seem, it works smashingly well when screamed over the constantly dueling death metal guitars of Stuart Anstis and Gian Pyres. These riffs, nearly all written by Anstis, are a perfect match for the gruesome storyline. Though he departed after this disc, his style has remained a huge part of CoF's signature sound. Current guitarist Paul Allender's writing style far outshines Anstis in complexity and raw brutality, but the music on Cruelty and The Beast has a fine sheen of dread that permeates the entire album. Rarely has a disc succeeded in making me feel almost dirty after listening to it. This is really the brilliance of Cruelty. Not only does the perverted tale of Elizabeth Bathory titillate, but by the end of the album you actually start to sympathize with her! This takes its most bizarre turn in the eleven minute "Bathory Aria" when she is imprisoned in her castle. Filth moans: If only I could have weptOddly enough, the listener is touched by this. When the disc ends with "Lustmord and Wargasm," an epilogue of sorts, you are left with the feeling that poor Elizabeth was mistreated by the backward Christian society of her time. Then, when the reality sets in that she was a cold blooded serial rapist and murderer, it really comes as quite a shock that you were made to feel bad for her. The fact that over the course of an album, Cradle of Filth manages to manipulate your perceptions in such an extreme way is really a testament to this disc's success. For the 60 minutes of Cruelty and the Beast, you really start to believe that necrophilia, torture, and mass murder are a natural reaction to a stifling, Christian society. Unless, of course, you're like me and feel that way most of the time. Departing from the usual Loud Bassoon rating scale, I must award Cruelty and the Beast Ten Baths Of Virginal Blood.
Review by Dr. Martin Absinthe |
