Cradle of Filth Album: “Godspeed On The Devil's Thunder: The Life And Crim”

I must confess that I was really dissapointed with thornography and a little bit with nymphetamine. I think they lack the chilling atmosphere and the power that was present in midian, cruelty and damnation. Luckly, this is not the case of godspeed on the devils thunder! I would rather say that this album is better than damnation and it is at the same level as midian and cruelty. This is beacuse the songs are harder, faster and damned! they give chills down my spine as they have haunting keyboads, Sarahs signature vocals and a male baritone that really adds to the sick and disturbing atmosphere! the guitar solos are great as well as dani filth vocals! they sound very devilish and varied like in the past great albums! the lyrics and the concept of the album are great and seems like this album could turn to a black symphonic metal musical! do yourself a favour and buy this album!

best tracks for me are: intro plus shat out of hell, the death of love, the 13th ceasar, tiffauges plus tragic kingdom, honey and sulphur, midnight creatures....and darkness incarnate!

What a disc. That's my first reaction to Godspeed. The thing with it that makes it so good, so interesting is that this is, in my opinion, Cradle's very first TRUE concept album, with narration from Doug Bradley on almost every song (Tragic Kingdom doesn't feature any, but as the song is a virtual continuation of Tiffauges, this makes no difference to me). Damnation may fit this bell as well, but I feel this album more fully realizes that objective.

Some of the songs themselves are by far the best since the Midian era. Think melding the more metal-oriented keyboards of Damnation and Midian (vs. the atmosphere-oriented keys of old) with the technical songwriting of Thornography. (I still feel that, while different, as a general metal album, Thornography was amazing. Cradle, though? Definitely not).

Gone are the days of the Nymphetamine era, and back in with the way Cradle was meant to be realized (for the most part). If you've heard Dimmu Borgir's latest output, In Sorte Diaboli, consider this album to be similar, but minus the repetitiveness that plagued the aforementioned.

The only true comparison to the Nymphetamine era could be "The Death of Love," which soars above every song on that album except for "Guilded." Without a doubt, as well, it's one of the best songs on the album. It has its hooks, melody, and yes, Sara really hits the spotlight on this song. It's probably one of their only songs in recent years that's really stood out to me ("The Foetus of a New Day Kicking" [prior to it getting and popularity from that. The video is horrible] and "Under Huntress Moon" really come to mind here).

So that said, how can it recover from infectious sound that many fans have recently been dubbing "pop-ish"? You'll hear "Shat Out of Hell" long before "The Death of Love" and you'll know right from there just how vicious the album is. Not only that, but Bradley's cold and remorseless narration really help add to the dark atmosphere of the disc. One notable factor of Bradley's narration is how he begins to slowly sound crueler with each song. Listen closely to his tone of voice and you will see what I mean.

While not nearly Cradle's best (by far, their first 3 albums are so heavily separated from the band's last three that I dare not even compare them) it's still a wonderful breath of fresh air. No doubt it will once more leave fans divided, but in truth, doesn't this happen with all bands? Nothing lasts forever after all. Come what may, Cradle is still alive and kicking.

All said and done, I offer one final word of consolidation for fans and, in the rare event they will, the band: Cradle will never again truly realize their potential until they jump ship with Roadrunner. Until they do, though, I'm at least satisfied that they are at the very least giving it their all with what they have available to them.

Til next time, boys (and girl).

Cradle Of Filth have always been a good metal band deep down below, they just happen to be misunderstood, discarded as not "metal" enough, or have produced some albums that fell aslant. I've been with them since the beginning of the millennium, and starting with

, they produced a dark and visionary album that felt compelling and fascinating when everyone else would clutch their hands over their ears (I first heard them because my brother gave me the album, claiming he "just could not stand listening to it"). After that came

, an absolutely fantastic (and probably all-too overlooked) album which bears an epic thematic thread, a biblical story told from the point of view of Lucifer. Complete with a full orchestra and choir, as a whole it can't get much better than that. Both

and

failed to deliver the same experience, and even though they had a few stand-out songs, the overall musical album experience wasn't there.

I wasn't expecting much going into Godspeed On The Devil's Thunder, but what a surprise! Again it's thematic and epic, the choirs and melodies are all there - and Doug Bradley, a cornerstone of the band's eerieness, returned to narrate throughout the album. They managed to balance it again, making a complete listening experience that is both dark, heavy, deep, melodic, beautiful and interesting. From producing an album last time that felt very mainstream even for their own likes (meaning lightly borne on melodies that could be gladly hummed and whistled), they've come back to do what it is they do best - a dark 71-minute audio-saga, a bed-time story for gothics. And my applause for it.

I liked Thornagraphy as I like All Cradle Of Filth records. However, this album really made me happy....I think this may be one of the top three best COF albums yet. Super fast, ultra gothic, and hard hitting black metal that is 100% adrenaline. Buy this!!!

Don't get me wrong; I love Cradle of Filth. They are my favorite band of all time, and I've listened to them since I was in the tenth grade. Not a week has gone by that I don't listen to an album or a song of theirs since my purchase of "Damnation and a Day" back in 2003, shortly after I turned 16. Currently, I am of 22 years and I still love the haunting, beautiful, horrifying, hair-raising music that this band has made, from "The Principle of Evil Made Flesh" to their most successful "Midian". But "Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder" is, sadly, an obvious decline of Cradle's musical and lyrical talents (like "St. Anger" was to Metallica). Whether it's because Dani Filth is trying different things that aren't quite working, or because the current line-up of the band is so incredibly weak at bringing forth a sound that in no way, shape, or form can even compare to the brutality and melody of classics like "Dusk... and Her Embrace", I can't say it's one over the other. However, I can say that this album was a huge disappointment, even after I tried so many times to like it and find something about it that was outstanding. That isn't to say that there aren't any good tracks in "Godspeed..", because that isn't true, in my opinion (I enjoy "The Death of Love" and "Honey and Sulphur"). And it wouldn't be entirely fair to compare this release with the previous releases the band created back in their prime. All of this said, though, it's still a pretty awful album (and not in a good way, like "Vempire" was). Dani Filth's vocals reached their limits some time after "Nymphetamine", understandably so; I mean, could you scream your lungs out for ten years without something happening to your vocal cords? It's not his faded screams that really bother me in the end. It's his newly found method of songwriting that just doesn't take the songs up to the par that I would've expected. Read the lyrics from any song from "Nymphetamine" and compare them to "Godspeed..." and you'll immediately see what I mean. He's lost (or rather foresaken) his touch on that oh so clever, incredibly articulate, and wondrous gothic style of writing he used for earlier albums, and in turn, has starting writing in a more convential manner, which doesn't do anything for me. As far as the others in the band, the actual musicians, they aren't a "bad band" as far as that definition would read, but they don't have that extra satanic mojo to really make their sound anything special. The riffs are low and dull, much like a Korn record, and the drums sound hollow and distant. In a manner of speaking, I feel more like I'm listening to Avenged Sevenfold (ugh) than Cradle of Filth with this line-up. All I can really say to explain it is that the sound is so much weaker.

Granted, "Godspeed..." is a bit heavier than "Thornography" (the experimental, commercially-aimed release, which had a few catchy tunes that were okay, but the only song on that album that really stood out to me was "The Byronic Man"), but it isn't heavy enough, in my opinion, to be called Cradle of Filth. All bands have their rise and fall, though, and I have enough macabre memories of their music to keep me satisfied and headbanging in the darkness for a lifetime. So, in other words, if you feel like giving it a shot, go ahead, but be forewarned if you are a big fan of the band: you may regret your decision to purchase it.