Cradle Of Filth - Hammer Of The Witches (2015) (Limited Edition)

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Cradle Of Filth - Hammer Of The Witches (2015) (Limited Edition)

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Redemption is a funny business, especially with regard to the metal world. It’s a personal journey more than anything, with singular levels of revival and subsequent appreciation for the works to come based on that one person’s take on things. Take, if you will, Cradle of Filth, the band that’s cool to hate. After an attempt at the major label spotlight, at least twice in succession, the British vampiric horde returned to the independent (within reason…) scene with all the flair and inky-black wickedness that made them a household name in the first place. From “Godspeed…” onward, we were all greeted with a band seemingly rejuvenated, freed from the shackles that made at least half their work under the “big time” lights lamentable, and we the (remaining and/or otherwise) fans benefited from the end result. Though “The Manticore…” needed some extra time to get used to, but…well, that’s another story altogether. Regardless, the Filthy boys had to suffer through another line up issue with the loss of Paul Allender and the inclusion of a few new guitar slingers, and as such it took some time before the next album came our way. “Hammer of the Witches”, for what it’s worth, is a spectacular release that proves how much CoF are still worth in the extreme metal spectrum. For as grandiose as the past few albums have been, I’ll admit that I’d not heard the band sound so…savage in a long time. Combining the aesthetics and atmospheres of the days of vampiric yore with a “sign of the times” modern tightness, “Hammer of the Witches” is a blitzing release that in no way shorts you on grandeur, violence and gloss. With this the band feels plenty focused on the horrific tasks and tales at hand where all sorts inhibition is cast aside in favor of an all-out assault that leaps all sort of genre-based hurdles, from a few steps back to their black metal roots to their near-perfected sharp gothic sleekness with inklings of thrash and a bit of melodeath in certain riffing and lead structures to harden what soft edges would dare exist in an otherwise chaotic maelstrom of shadowy destruction. Guitar lines slice from every angle possible, the drumming flays every inch of your sorry form, the symphonics add that necessary dramatic autumnal chill and Dani’s vocals sound more spirited and full organic and insidious within the main musical focus (even the straightforward narrative style he’d begun ti employ around “Godspeed…”), where he adds extra amounts of fire and demoncy than many of us had heard in recent years. As a total package, the mighty Cradle is raging about extremely and vigorously than ever before, with we the poor mortals nothing but kindling to the ensuing hellfire burst. What naysayers are still milling about slogging on the group for where they’ve gone since their burst into the “mainstream” (which, again, feels to be a rather dubious claim) may not survive the hammer blow of the witches, and as such they all really deserve it. There is a definitive lack of BS with this, a black fingernail-clad middle finger at the face of expectation and original disbelief. The new blood added to the group has been very beneficial to the old sentient corpse; new axes slingers Ashok, Rich Shaw and bassist Daniel Firth seem plenty comfortable and able to make this record their own over what Allender had provided as a guitarist since he dominated the creative ends (for all the efforts he put in to bring the group out of its doldrums post-“Thornography”, he was still a bit of a stiff and rigid player and songwriter at times…). Their offerings upon the bloodstained altar have an extra amount of expansiveness and panache, from the bestial to the broodingly serene (the leads and solos, for one, are really improved upon). As well, new keyboardist/backing vocalist Schoolcraft has the capacity to live within the seemingly inhuman parameters of the pedestal her presence to the group wrought her (I’m not being a dick about this…CoF almost went the full nine when it came to lauding her…), and in that regard her singing is quite pleasant and mixes with the rest where it really counts and flails about with more overwroughtness when they don’t (see: the narrative speaking sections in the title track which are a bit too much Helena Bodham Carter for my tastes…). But hey, if that’s the weakest link, then that’s something easy enough to overlook as the rest swarmed over you as a dozen leviathans. All in all “Hammer of the Witches” is devastating, dark and easily the band’s best album since ‘Cruelty and the Beast”, a feat I thought they already achieved five years or so ago (guess I was wrong!). And as I continue to stalk through the haunted woods that is this newfound musical renaissance period, I can only imagine what’s to come next. Blackened hordes, night feeders and moshers, prepare to burn at the stake…

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