Cradle of Filth Albums Ranked

Cradle of Filth is an English extreme metal band, formed in Suffolk, England in 1991. The band’s musical style evolved originally from black metal to a cleaner and more “produced” amalgam of gothic metal, symphonic metal, and other metal genres. Their lyrical themes and imagery are heavily influenced by Gothic literature, poetry, mythology, and horror films. The band consists of its founding member, vocalist Dani Filth, drummer Martin ‘Marthus’ Škaroupka, bassist Daniel Firth, guitarists Richard Shaw and Marek ‘Ashok’ Šmerda, and keyboardist Anabelle Irani. The band has broken free from its original niche by courting mainstream publicity. This increased accessibility has brought coverage from the likes of Kerrang! and MTV, along with frequent main stage appearances at major festivals such as Ozzfest, Download, and even the mainstream Sziget Festival. They have sometimes been perceived as Satanic by casual observers, even though their outright lyrical references to Satanism are few and far between; their use of Satanic imagery has arguably always been more for shock value than any seriously held beliefs. Here are all of Cradle of Filth’s albums ranked.

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10. The Manticore And Other Horrors (2012)

“Cradle of Filth’s tenth studio album sounds like a stripped-down combination of styles from the band’s past couple of albums. The songs are busy with a lot of technical drumming and riffing, but without much guitar leads or solos. The orchestration and keyboard lines somewhat make up for this lack of leads. As always, Dani Filth’s lyrics are very interesting and literary, and the vocals keep rolling through each song without much repetition.”

9. V Empire (Or Dark Faerytales In Phallustein) (1996)

“Totally breathe-taking album. Definatly the best Cradle album. The musicianship and vocal arragements are really outstanding, With the help of Sarah Jezebelle, Really makes this a haunting poetic/Vampyric master-peice. At first listen you might this this is nothing but a _The Principle of Evil Made Flesh_ re-done, With “The Forest Whispers My Name” being on the debut, And the start of “Queen of Winter, Throned” being the same as “Dreams of Wolves in Snow” of TPoEMF. Baring them, Its a totally amazing album which should be owned by everyone.”

8. Godspeed On The Devil’s Thunder (2008)

“This is a very good album from Cradle of Filth, and an improvement over Thornography in terms of the song quality. It’s a concept album about a royal serial killer, and the general vibe of the album reminds me of Cruelty and the Beast, which is good since Cruelty is one of my favorite albums from this band. The band didn’t try to write any “singles” as there were in the last few albums, but kept the style consistent, which makes sense due to all of the songs contributing to one story.”

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7. Hammer Of The Witches (2015)

“A pretty significant return to form for Cradle of Filth, a genuinely pleasant surprise. The addition of two new guitarists and keyboardist/vocalist Lindsay Schoolcraft have made a huge impact on the band. They sound passionate, enthusiastic in a way that they haven’t in years. For one thing, this album has some pretty stunning guitarwork; I’m talking genuinely great black metal riffs, that are abrasive and menacing but catchy and memorable.”

6. Cryptoriana – The Seductiveness Of Decay (2017)

“Cryptoriana – The Seductiveness of Decay is the fifth album of that ilk and it keeps to the quality of the preceding album. The sound of the band is everything but a trademark these days, but that doesn’t mean they can’t push out some high quality material. Cryptoriana sounds like any modern Cradle of Filth album, with the recognisable shrieks of vocalist Dani Filth, the gothic atmosphere with an air for the occult and poetic, sensible symphonic elements and sharp guitars and drums. The album starts a bit humbly, with the first three songs being mostly just decent, but then on track number four the album takes a sharp turn upward and the quality is kept high until the end.”

5. Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa (2010)

“Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa is another concept album from Cradle of Filth. This time it’s about a woman possessed by the demon Lilith. I wont go into the story here, but it’s another good one penned by Dani Filth. This album was a decent effort by the band, but I think they have done better in the past; There aren’t too many dynamics in the songs. They have mostly crazy (but impressive) drumming and busy guitars with Dani Filth shrieking out verse after verse.”

4. Nymphetamine (2004)

“Nymphetamine is a different sound to their other work, although has similarities. I think the overall approach is much more melodic, but still has a heavy sound and features some of the traditional extreme elements in places such as blast beats in “Coffin Fodder”. There’s even a Punk influence to some of the drum beats in certain parts. It’s essentially a combination of Black Metal, Gothic Metal, Metal and a hint of Punk.”

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3. Midian (2000)

“Midian features a brilliant guitar tone and drum sound, combine this with the keys and strings that create the Gothic atmosphere and you have a really dark and evil album. Dani is in fine form and varies his vocals between whispers, deep growls and high pitched shrieks. His lyrics are often incredibly poetic too and show great story-telling, although some songs can be extremely dark and vile like “Lord Abortion”.”

2. Cruelty And The Beast (1998)

“Cradle of Filth have “it”. They just have. Another wicked, sinister, sick, ferocious, well variated, original, crazy, atmospheric and immensely brilliant album from one of the worlds most fascinating metal bands yet to come. Nostalgic album that still feels as fresh as when I first heard it.”

1. Dusk… And Her Embrace (1996)

“Dani Filth’s vocals here take on their characteristic style, alternating (or occasionally combining) low-pitched intonations with incredibly high-pitched shrieks which would serve well on any black metal release by the Norwegian masters of the genre, whilst the use of female vocals and synthesisers does wonders for bolstering the album’s gothic credentials – as do the lyrics, which once again revolve around eroticism and pagan Goddess-worship. As a whole, the band prove adept at shifting between metal styles at the drop of the hat.”