Cradle of Filth The Screaming of the Valkyries is the 2025 release from these English Black metal icons. Cradle of Filth is now probably the most visible black metal band in the world (Mayhem would come close too I think). I loved the first 2 Cradle of Filth albums but after that I have to say the band kind of lost me, it’s not that I didn’t like what they were doing, I guess you only get so many hours a week to listen to metal and their stuff dropped off my radar a little. Plus I feel like a few of their middle era albums just sound really “samey”. I have to admit., after not listening to them for so long I was interested to see where the band was going with their material now.
The first track “To Live Deliciously” started off very metal. Great riffs, I liked the sound, so far it was great to hear the guitars up front in the mix. The keyboards were there but it didn’t overpower everything like it had done on a lot of their past albums. Next track “Demogorguery” kept it going in similar fashion. There is more keyboard interludes in this song but I don’t feel they’re drowning the album in keyboards so I’m good with it. My main complaint when metal bands use keyboards as a regular part of their sound is it can make every song sound the same. So far, the songs here seem to have their own identity so I’m all good with it.
Things start to hammer again with the song “White Hellebore” combing some great thrash riffage with intense drum work and then combining it with the keys and female vocals. The hard part of doing this is finding a sonic space where everything can be heard and not smothered. Cradle of Filth have done quite well in this dept.
There’s a couple of slower songs and Dani filth’s voice is sounding good and mixing well with the keyboards and female vocals. As more of a casual COF fan, I can say I like this album. I’d have to listen to it in more detail, and I wouldn’t mind getting into their lyrical concepts a little deeper, as Dani Filth’s rather verbose lyrical ability really adds to the experience of listening to the band. Based on the music alone, I like it more than I’ve liked any of their other efforts in a long time, but for me it’s still the first couple of albums that really get me going. But either way this is a great listen and I have to say I did quite enjoy it!
Over all I’ll say, If like me you haven’t heard Cradle of Filth’s newer output this is a great place to start. I don’t think they’re doing anything particularly different to what they’ve always done, but just doing it better than the last time I really listened to them. I can’t compare it to anything in the last 10 years, but I feel this is better than the period before that.
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