lukretion Bitter Suites to Succubi continues Cradle of Filth’s tradition of releasing material in between their main full-lengths via smaller-sized EPs. This EP was released in 2001, one year after their highly successful full-length album Midian. Recorded with the same line-up of Midian, the EP actually contains a healthy amount of material, clocking in at nearly 50 minutes overall. Some of the tracks are new songs (2 instrumentals and 4 songs with vocals), while the rest are re-recordings of material from the band’s debut The Principle of Evil Made Flesh (3 songs), and a The Sisters of Mercy’s cover (“No Time to Cry”).

Most of the new material follows the same style of Midian. The music is fast and aggressive, revolving around thrashy guitar riffs and heavy drumming, but it also sports rich and elaborated keyboard arrangements. Dani’s vocals rely more on snarls and mid-range growls than on those high-pitched shrieks that featured heavily in earlier albums. Perhaps unusually, most of the new songs are fairly compact and do not overindulge in too many tempo changes or complex, multi-part compositions, but go straight to the point. I believe this is actually their saving grace, because in most cases these songs are not exceptional, but the fact that they are short and to the point helps making them impactful and pleasant to listen to.

There is one exception, which is the nearly 7 minutes of “Suicide and Other Comforts”. This is actually a great song, which compares favourably to some of the best tracks from Dusk … and Her Embrace, Cruelty and the Beast, and Midian. It has all the hallmarks of the great Cradle of Filth’s material. It is a complex, multi-part beast that is cleverly anchored around an epic riff that repeats throughout the song. The gothic undertones are as present as ever (much more so than on many Midian tracks), and so are the majestic mid-tempo sections. The song also features a surprising electronic twist in the coda, which I find really well placed and exciting. Overall, this song alone is worth the purchase of the EP.

The re-recordings of The Principle of Evil Made Flesh tracks give the music a stronger symphonic identity compared to the original. The experiment is only partially successful. The three songs included on the EP are among the best material from the debut (the title track, “Summer Dying Fast” and “The Black Goddess Rises”), but the re-vamped keyboard arrangements feel somewhat forced. Moreover, I am not sure they actually help elevate the material to the standards of later Cradle of Filth output. The problem I have with the early material is that it often feels chaotic from a compositional point of view (the different parts of a song do not flow well together), which is something that the new versions inevitably also suffer from. Having said that, tracks like “Summer Dying Fast” and “The Black Goddess Rises” are high-quality pieces of music and therefore re-listening to them in this new guise is nevertheless a pleasure.

The other track included on the EP is a cover of English goth rock band The Sisters of Mercy, “No Time to Cry”. Cradle of Filth have a long tradition of releasing excellent covers (think of “Hallowed Be Thy Name” by Iron Maiden or Anathema’s “Sleepless”), but this isn’t one of them. It’s a little gothy piece that Cradle of Filth coloured with more sinister undertones, but it does not do much for me. In fact, this song stands out a bit like a sore thumb in the context of the (vastly more extreme) material of the EP.

In summary, Bitter Suites to Succubi is a decent album, with at least one grandiose song and a handful of other good ones. Its main weakness is that it is perhaps too heterogeneous, collecting together new material with a strong Midian flavour, songs that have a much more gothic allure (harking back to the Dusk … and Her Embrace era) and re-vamped versions of the debut LP material. But it has its moments and it ensures nearly an hour of fun extreme music, which sometimes it’s all one really needs.

arcane-beautiful Now I have the privallage to review stuff from one of my faovurite bands of all time!

Ok, I have always loved these guys. Even when I was younger and they scared the hell out of me, I was still fascinated by them. Theirs no real reason why, except listen to the band and find out!

Ok now these guys have made 3 e.ps, Vempire, From The Cradle To Enslave & this one. Now this one has more in common with Vempire, in that these both contain new songs and re workings of old ones. They also are similar because of their purpose, where they were only really made in order to move away from a record company, with Vempire being a departure from Cacophonus, whilst this album was a move from Peaceville to Sony (ironically they're back in Peaceville now haha).

Now I don't know if this is a bunch of songs left over from Midian or not, but if it is, I ask the question, "why where these songs not put on Midian", because compared to some songs on Midian, these songs beat them hands down. Although, that might not be the case, because they do seem to put a good bit of work even into their eps.

Now this is a very lenthy e.p, being just under 50 minutes, and 10 songs, with 4 new songs, 2 short instrumentals, 3 reworkings of older songs and a cover. But it's still one amazing e.p. Highly enjoyable and really easy to digest.

The 4 new songs are Cradle at their best, and theirs some hidden classics here I feel. The 3 re worked songs are really interesting, cause their all from The Principile Of Evil Made Flesh, and I always felt that the production on that album and Dani's vocals where slightly poor compared to their other releases. This was also a period where Cradle really where on the foot of world domination...shame their genius is being underlooked today.

The sound is a progression from Midian, still keeping that gothic edge and highlighting it. The black metal sound is also nearly lost, although they soon would get in touch with it in their later releases. Dani's vocals seem to be at their peak here, although their is some weakness at times. The lyrics are fantastic as usual and always make you laugh or scare the hell out of you (the album title alone always gives me a giggle, with the hidden sexual innuendo)

1. Sin Deep My Wicked Angel - Great intro, with some eerie strings and discordant atmospheres. One of their best intros I feel. 9/10

2. All Hope In Eclipse - What starts as a quite doomy number, really transforms into a gothic metal chorus. Nice whispery chorus, and the arrangement is killer, especially the middle section with the nice keyboards. 9/10

3. Born In A Burial Gown - This song should have been on Midian. Such an epic song, with an amazing chorus. Dani's voice is like a percussion instrument, with his pentameter keeping the song as interesting as ever. Very evil indeed. The video for the song is pretty cool too, and involves a circus. Yay! Circuses. 10/10

4. Summer Dying Fast - Very interesting to hear how they arranged this. Great punky feeling, and amazing vocals from Dani. 9/10

5. No Time To Cry - An odd cover...but it makes perfect sense. It's arranged amazingly to suit Cradles needs. 9/10

6. The Principle Of Evil Made Flesh - One of these guys most dynamic songs, and this rewoking of it really is amazing. Great twists and turns throughout the punky black metally classic. 10/10

7. Suicide & Other Comforts - This is one of Cradles most interesting songs. What starts off as a quite gothicy song, turns into a fast metal rape. Amazing riffs, and one epic song. 10/10

8. Dinner At Deviant's Palace - This is just creepy. This is a joke obviously, and even getting Paul's daughter to do it, adds to the humour, but also adds to the creepiness. I remember first hearing this song, and I think I urinated myself. 10/10

9. The Black Goddess II - This makes this song more in line with the live version, and its great to hear, cause this is one of their most classic earlier songs. 9/10

10. Scorched Earth Erotica - Would have been an amazing song, without the "dominus" bit. Great gothicy moment, and a nice ending too.

CONCLUSION: I didn't think you would actually need this, but you really do...mainly for the 4 new songs and the re workings.