First things first. We know we said last Friday there would be a new Cradle Of Filth tune for you to hear. We lied. Not intentionally, just plans got delayed at the last minute, and hey what can ya do. Such is Satan’s work. However, we do promise that it is coming… before the end of the month too, pending no further meddling. Meanwhile, have you been on the COF SITE lately? The band have launched a special Nymphetamine section, with profiles of all of the people involved in the making of the record. Do head over and have a read. Dave has also posted his NINTH report from the studio HERE so get clicking and check that out too. If you’ve missed any of his earlier writings, you can find all of them at the COF site too, so you’ve no excuse for not being up to scratch on your studio knowings. Still want more? The Nymphetamine section also includes details about the new tracks, one by one… eight posted so far, and repeated below. More to come. Coffin Fodder This track is about escapism from a world ruled over by preachers, no-hopers and soul destroying vermin and the flights of fancy that believing in one’s own destiny (no matter what entails) onjures up. A very personal lyrical content, this is about rising above the depreciative mob with a life-affirming ‘fuck you!’ directed in a very metal way. Extremely melodic in the fact that the main harmony is the closest Cradle have got to sounding anything like classic Iron Maiden, this song also veers towards blast-lightspeed and though not as brutal and uncomprising as ‘Mother Of Abominations’, it is probably the fastest track on the album when and where it roars. Sounds like: Iron Maiden circa ‘Powerslave’… on crack! Filthy Little Secret A very Lovecraftian-themed tale about the guardian of a extraordinarily gifted beauty, a beauty who slips beyond the veil of the underworld at night to dam the rift between our world and the abyss, by fucking everything that comes close to breaching the gap, therefore satiating demoniacal urges that want, quite literally, to rend our world apart. The twist comes when her guardian fails to resist his own desire for the beauty who, at all costs, must remain pure and untouched in our world in order that her erotically-charged spirit remain firmly hilted in the other. Any attempt to interfere with her seance will result in horrors from the pit slathering into the real world to wreak far worse atrocities than those they inflict nightly upon her gorgeous astral form. This track was never intended for the album, in all honesty it was a total rank outsider even for the forthcoming planned special edition until it was played to the producer, who thought it was such a catchy metal anthem that it was immediately drawn out of retirement and rehearsed vehemently at the studio to bring it up to date. Sounds like: Mercyful Fate meets Motorhead at death metal’s throat. There is a great mid-section where the dual guitar work meanders through a little story of it’s own, only to bring the sombre, melodic end riff back round to the beginning of the dark, perverse and misanthropic storyline. Gilded Cunt A harsh song demands an uncompromising title and this is obviously no exception to that rule. The subject matter is simple. The ‘gilded cunt’ refers to a conniving devious reptile who lives the life of luxury at the expense of others. A spoilt, tyrannous dominatrix who demands worship through the aquisition of money. She is in actual fact, beneath the glitter of expensive jewelry, no more than tendered mutton dressed up as lamb. There was nothing quite as gratifying as screaming the word ‘cunt’ at the top of one’s lungs for the mid-section of this vicious little ditty. I loved it! An extremely angry song in the vein of Sepultura’s ‘Roots’ mixed with choice ‘World Downfall’ tracks by Terroriser. Swansong For A Raven This is the second part to ‘Her Ghost In The Fog’ and therefore subsequently follows the story of the young man avenging his woman’s rape and murder at the hand’s of a self-style lynch inquisition. The original (which culminated in him, haunted by his lover’s spirit, burning those responsible alive in the village chapel) is expanded upon further as he recalls the events of that fateful day as he too is hunted by a vengeful mob in the forest where he converses with her beautiful, but dead and rotting body. This has a very ‘Sleepy Hollow/Nightmare Before Christmas’ vibe to the proceedings, with the rollercoaster ride of riffs spiralling toward climax. Dark and magickal. Oh, and it also features the voice of Doug Bradley (Pinhead from the Hellraiser movies), reprising his role as guest narrator. Mother Of Abominations A song about the Great Goddess Cthulhu and the awakening of her dark spirit from centuries of slumber, in turn representing the onslaught of a new world order and the inevitable destruction of human existance. In truth, a continuation to ‘Midian’s’ ‘Cthulhu Dawn’. This is a very brutal track, lightning-fast and uncompromising much like the Great Old One Herself, sweeping away all before Her in a colossal tidal wave of violence and millenial bloodshed. The song ends on a totally evil outro riff cross fading with a malign and insidious Lovecraftian chant. Sounds like: ‘Nightside’ Emperor meets early fast Cradle with extra thrash. Nymphetamine The title track concerns itself with a love affair so intense, that although soured and dead, ignites at the slightest sniff of re-invention. The first hand characterisation insinuates a drug-like addiction to the woman in question, with her insidious vampyre qualities literally bringing Her lover back from the brink of the spiritual grave, only to bury him further on the strength of a whim. This is very Edgar Allan Poe in style and leaves one thinking that, despite the character’s inner agonies, he is really a welcome submissive who readily enjoys the terrible highs and lows of his relationship with this alluring and filthy, depreciative succubus. The cool thing about this song is that it is really a beast of several parts. A chimera. The main hub of the song is very lovelorn and drowsily melodic and it is these traits combined with shared female and male vocal passages that serve to highlight the plight of this, the title track of the album. However, this catchier side to C.O.F (ala ‘Malice’ and Babalon’) is offset next to the first and last parts of the song which all come together to form a darkly erotic triptych. These two sections reveal another chorus augmented with an exceedingly creepy and menacing lead line that bursts suddenly (and frenetically) into brutal riffage along the lines of: Napalm Death and Mayhem. Absinthe With Faust Concerns itself with two sinners reflecting on their lives of decadence and pomp as they share their last drink on the very verge of the abyss. This song was inspired by a night of guilt and nostalgia at everything that has befallen over the last six to seven years (in fact I felt a little at sixes and sevens musing over all the events…) and attributing the success to the blame of devilish intervention as in the infamous Goethe story where Faust sells his soul to the Devil in return for a life of riches and splendour. Also features some of my favourite lines in ‘Let us drink on the giddying brink of pools of excrement/ all manner of shit for the glamour and glitz Mephistopheles lent…’. Sounds like: Master of Puppets era Metallica. Nemesis In the wake of September the eleventh few people could possibly remain unaware of the rising threat to world peace through concerted acts of terrorism. This song delves into the mind of one such militant and offers an alternative explanation to their reasoning for a holy war… the needless loss of loved ones such as a child and the need to avenge their memory against a privileged western enemy. This song seeks not to condone or encourage such retaliation, but to find an explanation for the motive to the act of terrorism and is my personal favourite track on the album. Sounds like: At The Gates meets Judas Priest meets Morbid Angel listening to ‘Amor E Morte’.