Thursday, June 12, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

CDVS

Somewhere out there in the vast 'burbsprawl of McAmerika, some mall-goth kid is locked in his room, swooning in pseudo-Satanic delight to the operatic black metal of Cradle of Filth and its lyrics championing rebel angels, vengeful demons and other enemies of Big Daddy in the Sky. It's no surprise that a whole movement of COF's latest offering, Damnation and a Day--a highly theatrical black metal concept album with plenty of double bass, Brillo growl and keening Valkyries--is titled "Paradise Lost." Indeed, the lyrics are just the kind of overwrought, shivering-with-seriousness stuff that take one back to college lit class...and that dreaded section on John Milton's Paradise Lost. Well, when low culture meets high, there's bound to be some scrappin' worthy of shaking the heavens. Who'll win this bout? Devil-lovin' black metalheads or the devout blind poet of the 17th century? The spiked gloves are on and rosaries wrapped 'round fists for a cataclysmic cage match. To use a phrase popularized in the Book of Revelations, let's get it on!

Cradle of Filth comes on with the infernal roar and pummel of "The Promise of Fever," complete with dueling growl/wail vocals and dense drumwork that must've required a deal with the devil himself. Having sprung out of the gates with such savagery, Damnation doesn't lose much momentum; the high-style tunefulness of "Fever" gives way to the gallop of "Hurt and Virtue" and a host of other tracks that spread their black wings with equally dark majesty: standout "Better to Reign in Hell" goes from brisk metal breakdowns to open-ended pop with, daresay, some catchily snarling vocal work.

But...what's this? Is there a chink in Beelzebub's scaly armor? Yeah, one you can drive a heavenly chariot through: Cradle's lyrics are worthy of little more than being scrawled on a Columbine kid's school folder. Check out this ripe description of an assault on heaven from "An Enemy Led the Tempest": "Incensed anew, rebellions tore/ Like frenzied beasts of prey/ Through temple doors.../ Thrown cast before the midnight masses." Those looking for a touch of evil within these lyric sheets will get instead a stubborn insipidity thorned with howlers such as "vagrant Angels," "rites of vice," "enslaving grace" and "fresh bloodlust."

Look out! Milton fires back with a fistful of poetic boomstick from Book I of his own Paradise Lost: "He spake: and to confirm his words, out flew/ Millions of flaming swords, drawn from the thighs/ Of mighty Cherubim; the sudden blaze/ Far round illumin'd hell: highly they rag'd/ Against the Highest; and fierce with grasped arm's/ Clash'd on their sounding shields the din of war/ Hurling defiance toward the vault of Heav'n."

Ejected from the cloud-streaked firmament of CDVS, Cradle of Filth plunges, hissing and howling, into its own lake of fire.--Andrew Kiraly