Hey All, Greetings from Barbie, I will be doing the music review for this month only, thank you very much Silver, for allowing me to tinker with what is normally your section...lol, hopefully I don't screw up too bad ;). I like Cradle of Filth, no surprise there I'm sure, although, it may come as a surprise that I haven't listened to their entire catalogue of music, and own all of 2 of their albums, even though I have heard the others, one being Cruelty and the Beast and the other being the new one Damnation and a Day. I would have done a review on the entire album collection, but "Bill, feel me, am I made of money??" lol. I will be reviewing Damnation and a Day.

During this Summer, I had the opportunity to catch 2 of their shows, one being a normal concert, at our local venue, and one at the Ozzfest in Selma, Texas: Verizon Wireless Ampitheatre. Both shows were within days of each other, one on a Wednesday and one on a Saturday. I thoroughly enjoyed both shows, although I much preferred the longer set they had at our local venue. Their show can only be described as one of the most energetic shows I've been to, and this is because I have been to alot this year. One of the highlights was getting to see Dani Filth popping up and down the stage like a Superflea! (I mean that in the kindest way, I'm vertically challenged too, we will prevail!). I was honestly surprised at the large following they had in our few little towns here along the border, and from right across the border in Mexico. and even though we had to leave the show a tad early, guess what who we got to meet? That's right, the band's own bus driver, a very sweet and friendly man who described them as "a nice bunch of boys". Yes, we were all "wha???" but you know how it is, it can't be all blood, sex, violence and freaks of nature...lol.

On another note, this band is so dedicated to doing as good a show as possible, the microphone was malfunctioning at the Selma Ozzfest, and Dani Filth continued to scream into it even tho only the first few rows could probably hear him...lol. And he continued to scream until the problem was worked out and we were finally able to hear him...hats off to you man, that takes some balls...

One of the reasons one might expect such behaviour from a band like this is because of their propensity for creating chaos whenever the hell they feel like it. Anyone who's seen their t-shirts and album covers can appreciate the amusing quotes, and slogans that dominates this band's image... Another thing, we can also appreciate that this is all in good fun, just poking fun at the moral majority and has nothing to do with actual necrophilia, or Satanism, or whatever they've happened to be labelled recently... Oddly enough, while in one of the shows Marilyn Manson was taken off the bill, they allowed Cradle of Filth to remain, gee, for some reason, I would think that if Manson is so horrible for the underage set, I'd figure that there's gotta be a 21 and over limit on a band which happens to believe its funny to state "dead girls don't say no" but eh, that's just me. While I could go into how this is all an attempt to get people to hate them enough to get other people to love them, to get their albums to sell, and to create enough attention to get their albums to sell at phenomenal numbers like Marilyn Manson achieved, it's moot for anyone who's had the pleasure of listening to their music. It IS a theatrical trip, but rather than have nothing to back up what they're saying, they actually have good music to go with the images. In an interview in Revolver Magazine, Dani Filth states "We live our lives as we see fit, which is the essense of modern Satanism. I'm not saying we're Satanists. I think to label anything is to become narrow-minded. But we like the imagery and the aesthetic".

Onto the actual album... Their music to me thus far has been exceedingly artistic, but this one I can honestly say has outdone any of the others I've heard for one reason... This one managed to evoke a complete emotional response right from the first song... this is the type of album that the words do not matter whatsoever, its all about the mood created by the music, and Dani Filth's vocals are much more like another instrument rather than actual singing. I cannot say what type of emotional response it will create in someone who is not me, but what I felt from the first song was exhilliration, kind of like when you shoplift for the first time, and need to keep looking around to make damn sure you got away with it...lol, look at me baby! I'm breakin' the law!! (please note: this is merely a description of how I felt, I do not suggest to anyone that they shoplift in order to compare what it feels like).

It is because of this that I HAD to look at the lyrics, after all, you gotta know what he's screaming about before you can actually assess if it fits the mood of the music. While it does fit in the whole storyline, to me the storyline was not even worth mentioning, but I will anyway considering that most people will want to know. In the lyrics, it basically is an ongoing story about a lucifer-esque creature who got tossed to earth for some reason or another, then how he influences man into getting outta paradise. It then switches to another century, and this is basically how he's corrupting man by only planting the seeds, which man nurtures himself. Then its like the end of the world or something... My apologies for not giving the actual story perhaps the attention it deserves, but to be honest with you, the lyrics are completely secondary, I do not even think you need to look at the lyrics, because its that damn good! On a funny little side-note, I had completely forgotten that Cradle of Filth was British when I went to see the show, so when Dani Filth started croaking into the microphone (somebody get him a throat losenge) I was so caught off guard, I believe I might have laughed out loud at myself enough to catch a few people's attention...lol, no I was not laughing at the band, just in case some of you were there and were under that mistaken impression...

I believe what made this album as great as it was, was the addition of the Hungarian Film Orchestra... Anyone who's performed or listened to a full orchestra can appreciate the amount of work, and the amount of passion that can be conveyed only through so many working together to achieve the same ends. While they've had symphonic or operatic elements infused in their music from the get go, synthetic symphonies and samples cannot convey the same feeling as real musicians. For some odd reason, this album had the flavor of King Diamond's Them. Maybe it was the whole story theme, or ongoing narration to the music, even if its not the same genre really.

I love this album, I believe anyone who has liked their former albums will enjoy this one, even though there have been some who've pulled the whole "they sold out" simply because they signed to a major label, I believe the essence of what made the band to begin with is still there, even if the musicians in the band have basically played musical chairs over the years which leaves only Dani from the original setup.

Just a side note, because I am Barbie, and because it HAS to be included, because YES, it matters...Dani Filth is Damn hot in person, so's the rest of the band, believe me, they look much better on stage then they do in the pictures that are in the insert that comes with the album...

Well, I do hope you take the time to check this album out, I honestly believe it is worth dropping the 15-20 bones. If you would like to visit the band's official website, go to http://www.cradleoffilth.com.

I now turn it back over to Silver to take care of the November Music review, and thank her again for the opportunity to add one of my own favorites.

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