 
This new EP/DVD combo from Suffolk gothic metal
group Cradle of Filth is to accompany their 2010
album “Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa”.
It contains 2 new songs, alternative versions
of songs from the album, an orchestral version
of “Summer Dying Fast” from 1994 as
a taster for their upcoming orchestral album.
The DVD contains a documentary, their performance
at Grasspop Festival and a promo video for “Lilith
Immaculate”.
Let’s start with the new tracks; the first
“Transmission from Hell” is just like
a scene from a horror film with no video, just
a man telling a story about how his uncle collected
tapes regarding paranormal activity which the
leads off into the second new track “Thank
Your Lucky Scars” with the like “What
you are about to hear is very, very disturbing
indeed”. Now that second track is actually
worth listening too because it’s right up
there with the best in the bands list of greats
as it’s a pure heavy metal onslaught. There
ends the original material however and after hearing
the alternate versions I couldn’t see why
anyone would want to pick this up again after
1 full listen, the only really interesting ones
are “Father Forgive Me (I’m In A Trance)”
– which is a dance remix of a song that’s
already on the EP, not sure how that one’s
going to go down though mind you – and the
other one is the orchestral version of “Summer
Dying Fast” which is a teaser for the next
release which is an orchestral album comprised
of past songs.
Onto the DVD then; this is actually the only part
of the EP that has particularly interested me,
the “Lilith Immaculate” video was
quite brilliant filled with gore and creepy visuals.
The documentary as well was pretty damn funny
and it gives a really good insight as to what
a Cradle of Filth tour is like behind the scenes
with all the various problems. The Grasspop performance
was especially intriguing to me as I’ve
never seen the band live and this was a way for
me to see what they’re really capable of
doing.
All in all it does seem like this EP has been
thrown together for the sheer sake of it, the
new tracks could have easily been used as bonus
tracks for the album and the DVD could have just
been released there was actually no reason for
it and apart from the DVD I doubt that I’ll
be reaching for it again anytime soon.
3/5
Review by James Webb
|
