Cradle Of Filth - From The Cradle To Enslave EP [1999]

4 worthwhile tracks, two shitty remix/dancefloor style tracks. Sounds like a Cradle Of Filth EP? It's a Cradle Of Filth EP. Yeeaaaaaah. Although the title track of this EP is Cradle's best known song (probably), I prefer the greater levels of aggression in their cover of the Misfits' 'Death Comes Ripping' and the song 'Of Dark Blood And Fucking' (which also features Dani's best lyrics ever, in my omniscient opinion). Funeral In Carpathia is naturally also fucking awesome.

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Cradle Of Filth - Cruelty And The Beast [1998]

Eh. This album can be enjoyable when one is in the mood for overblown pomp and circumstance, but really it really overdoes the grandiosity elements. Quasi-title track 'Cruelty Brought Thee Orchids' is something of a redeeming factor in its brilliance, but in many areas the album falls flat. It's also overlong at an hour.

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Cradle Of Filth - Dusk... And Her Embrace [1996]

Cradle Of Filth once had credibility. True story brah. Whilst you won't see me buying their new EP, I do love their older works, this being one of them (obvious by the release date). Although nowhere near as raw as The Principle Of Evil Made Flesh, this really perfects the balance of black metal and symphonic elements for their sound, which I feel was a little overdone on Cruelty And The Beast, their last good album.

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Cradle Of Filth - Vempire (Or Dark Faerytales In Phallustein) EP [1996]

This is the pinnacle of Cradle Of Filth's reasonable symphonic black metal work, before they started making 'gothy' shtick for overweight teenage girls. Ahem. Every single track on here is very good, and were all Cradle live staples for a long time (as evidenced by the excellent Live Bait For The Dead). Don't presume their entire body of work sounds like Nymphetamine.

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Cradle Of Filth - The Principle Of Evil Made Flesh [1994]

However you feel about Cradle Of Filth's later output (and there is some of it coming), there is no denying that there earlier works rivalled Emperor in their pompously symphonic approach to black metal. This is certainly raw compared to later releases - I personally really enjoy it, although the vocals on this particular release are not well developed and get monotonous at times.

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Cradle of Filth - Orgiastic Pleasures [1992]

What I love so much about this demo is it sounds nothing like later Cradle. This is old school death/thrash. Cradle's signature gothic keyboards are hinted at and sit nicely behind heavy palm muted riffs that fill this demo along with Dani's vocals that centre more around grunts and growls than high wails. Whilst not the most spectacular music this is very good for a demo and it is very interesting to hear how this band's career began.

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