The Top 10 Songs by Cradle of Filth

Cradle of Filth. Admittedly massive no matter where you may fall along the subcultural circles of the metal genre. Once (self-)described as the "world's stinkiest band", the feculent outfit must have discovered the philosopher's stone long ago, because Cradle of Filth, no matter how self-deprecating, has made golden the vile, clambering up myriad charts like the titanic monstrosities their lyrics have often alluded to since the band's 1991 conception.

Cradle of Filth was initially rooted in rarely recorded death metal, but by the time of the band's first album, 1994's The Principle of Evil Made Flesh, black metal had become their mainstay. They blended the commonly scathing sub-genre with the silken, palatable influences of the classical and gothic genres, the marks of which are not to be mistaken in the masterfully composed lyrics of vocalist/wordsmith, Dani Filth. Cradle of Filth's particular amalgam of gothic black metal was as a honeycomb betwixt rubbish bins. Listeners flocked to the band in slavering multitudes, hungry for the unprecedented vampiric romanticism Cradle of Filth touted with their enthralling music and image.

Nine studio albums and some EP's later, choosing the top 10 songs by Cradle of Filth is no easy task. With Cradle of Filth's sound constantly evolving - constantly drawing in, digesting, and spitting out - one person's top 10 songs will most certainly not be another's. With this list, however, I attempt to present, without bias or popular opinion, Cradle of Filth's top 10 songs. The songs here are chosen based on craft and not necessarily reception. The songs that show mastery, true artistic achievement, these are the songs I feel boil to the top of Cradle of Filth's extensive and still-growing discography. The masterpieces.

So, without further superlative ado…the top 10 songs by Cradle of Filth, the world's stinkiest band.

10. "Midnight Shadows Crawl To Darken Counsel With Life" (Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder, 2008)

Opening with a bit of Sadean monologue (performed by the Cradle-staple, actor Doug Bradley), even the last song of the top 10 songs by Cradle of Filth is quintessential Cradle. With a melody that unfurls from the start like demoniacal wings, conjuring up all the infernal menace of hellions taking flight across midnight skies, the song's musicianship paints a vivid picture of the concept expounded by the lyrics. It is a lavishly sinister song, the main riff of which is just dripping with the lyric-recounted horrors of Gilles de Rais' manifold atrocities. Though at the bottom of the list, this song is still pleasantly theatric. The vocals, both main and backing, are stirring; the drumming ranges expertly from ferocity to elegance, the latter coming well-complemented by the presence of piano and a well-handled ambience. Atmospheric, monstrous…even the last song of the top 10 is a work of art.

9. "Harlot On A Pedestal" (Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa, 2010)

Quite possibly Cradle of Filth's fastest song, "Harlot On A Pedestal" opens with a grinding brutality in its guitar and drum work. To that breakneck canvas Dani Filth adds some extremely seething vocals, narrating with acidic contempt the exploits of Lilith, the song's demonic namesake. The song is incendiary in melody and tempo, yet again (as Cradle of Filth do so well) not without its beauty. The bitter, caustic bulk of the song is counterbalanced by an enthralling section bespeaking unwilling adoration, love despite the desire to hate, and the musical accompaniment reflects this captivatingly.

8. "Beneath the Howling Stars" (Cruelty and the Beast, 1998)

Dipping more into the annals of Cradle of Filth's discography, this song is cold and primeval, in tone and content. Pulsing with the vampiric fixation that claims the band's early work, this song tells of Elizabeth Bathory, infamous Hungarian countess whose particular bloodlust led to abductions and murders by the hundreds, and the performance on this song reflects that insanity especially well. It starts off brooding and maintains a vivid atmosphere by way of well-placed and well-played keyboards, but the build up and climax of the song is so feverish in instrumentation, so mad with its rapid-fire vocal delivery, the listener may risk seizure upon their first listen.

The only downside to this song (one which claims the whole album unfortunately) and the only reason it is so low in Cradle of Filth's top 10, is a less-than-desirable production quality, one that leaves certain aspects of the drumming and backing vocals barely audible, and places a regrettable muddy pall over the whole production.

7. "A Crescendo of Passion Bleeding" (The Principle of Evil Made Flesh, 1994)

This song comes off one of the two albums that makes most unmistakable Cradle of Filth's black metal influences. By its harsh and dissonant tone it bears heavy semblance to the roots of the Norway-spawned genre, but even this early on Cradle of Filth was already heavily dabbling in the infusion of the gothic and romantic, introducing the vampiric into that black metal mold. This song is particularly captivating, venomous in vocals yet romantic in lyrical content, as if an aeon-old Nosferatu gathered himself a band…without any of that Queen of the Damned nonsense.

6. "Suicide and Other Comforts" (Bitter Suites to Succubi, 2001)

Swan Lake-graceful and absinthe-inflamed, this song is a gothic dream with little to no comparison. From the onset of its lonely piano through melancholic passages and lamentations to its conflagrative climax, "Suicide and Other Comforts" is more akin to the works of Edgar Allan Poe than any other musician or artist has ever come, or may ever come henceforth. This is a track to recline 'pon the graves of your local necropolis to (but let the reenactments end there…we don't want any attempts at suicidal necromancy. Or do we?).

5. "Tearing the Veil from Grace" (Midian, 2000)

There's no concept more fitting to Cradle of Filth's gothic fervor than that Miltonic rebellion and rejection of angels, and the top 10's fifth song is one of two that follow up that Biblical fall from grace with virulent poetry. From the sorrowful opening, notes drawn like a tragedy's curtains, Cradle of Filth's "Tearing the Veil from Grace" promises a grand gesture, and disappoint it does not. There is choral, swan song-wont beauty draped over explosive instrumentals that conjure up grandiose scenes of soaring, Heaven-bound vengeance. Everything about the song is done beautifully, and yet there is one Cradle of Filth song that portrays that Luciferian vendetta even better…

4. "The Rape and Ruin of Angels (Hosannas in Extremis)" (V Empire (or Dark Faerytales in Phallustein), 1996)

What can be said about a song called "The Rape and Ruin of Angels" that its title doesn't already establish? This song is one of the most ferocious pieces of musical drama ever etched to CD. It isn't so much gothic, or even vampiric, as it is absolutely chaotic. The torrential composition creates a violent battleground of static and percussion, over which the best vocals Dani Filth has ever recorded scour with indescribable venom. The nigh-nine-minute opus is ablaze with furor every single second. Cradle of Filth take all left unsaid by the spurned Lucifer of Paradise Lost, and unleash it with gogmagogical reckoning in this, one of their best songs, one of the metal genre's best songs, much deserving of this upper spot in the list of Cradle of Filth's top 10 songs.

3. "Tortured Soul Asylum" (Midian, 2000)

Ah, "Tortured Soul Asylum". Off of Midian, here is where Cradle of Filth hit their contemporary peak, blending black and death metal elements for a perfect concoction of beauty and aberration, as exemplified by this song. Again we have Doug Bradley giving some necromantic narration, but the real star of this song is the guitar work. The dissonant off-notes typifying black metal are here, but expertly melded with the death metal-wont melody erstwhile underrepresented in the Cradle of Filth discography. Alluringly atmospheric and impassioned (as is the whole of Midian), and the climax! Dani Filth's repetition, saying "No! No! No, No, No! / Don't leave me here in this storm-weathered cell" is terrifying in its desperation. Put this song on, and prepare for a voyage…to distant, sepulchral Midian…"where the monsters live."

2. "Beauty Slept in Sodom" (Dusk… and Her Embrace, 1996)

The top two songs of Cradle of Filth's top 10 come off "Dusk… and Her Embrace", inarguably Cradle of Filth's best release. If you like Cradle of Filth because of their gothic aspects, this is where they are at their most gothic. If you like Cradle of Filth because of their black metal aspects, this is where they are at their most black metal. If you like Cradle of Filth because of their uncannily Byronic poetry, this is where they are at their most poetic. The elegant harpsichord with which Cradle of Filth slowly unfurl "Beauty Slept in Sodom"…an immaculate touch, one that establishes the stage upon which Dani Filth's livid eloquence and some incredibly vicious instrumentals unravel. As masterful as this song is, though, the song that claims the number one spot on the list of Cradle of Filth's top 10 songs is even better. To be obvious, it's the best.

1. "Funeral in Carpathia" (Dusk… and Her Embrace, 1996)

Oh, this masterpiece! The woeful melody carried through this song, nothing short of perfection for a song entitled "Funeral in Carpathia". The banshee wails Dani Filth expertly unleashes over said instrumental lamentation, tinged with that subtle sarcophagal echo, flies imperial like mist over Carpathian pines; and nowhere in any discography, Cradle of Filth's or another's, will you find more finely crafted lyrical eloquence than here. Dani Filth puts his erudition on display in composing some of the most beautiful, most tragic, and most inspiring poetry ever written. Ignore the fact that these are lyrics. Remove them and put them in a book, and it would be on a shelf between Keats and Poe (in a bookstore that cares little for organization, obviously).

Cradle of Filth's "Dusk… and Her Embrace" is a masterpiece. There's just no other musical release of the metal genre that can compare. This song in particular, though, is a feat the metal genre should be proudly touting with much fervor and celebration. Anyone who claims to love metal but doesn't love this song simply hasn't heard it yet. It's impossible to resist the spell Cradle of Filth weaves over their crepuscular release like Clive Barker-attired wizards. You can try…but why bother? This song is amazing.

Sources:
"CRADLE OF FILTH LYRICS - 'Midian' (2000) album," Dark Lyrics.
"Nightbreed (1990) - Memorable quotes," The Internet Movie Database.