CRADLE OF FILTH — Cruelty and the Beast (review)

CRADLE OF FILTH — Cruelty and the Beast album cover

Album · 1998 · Gothic Metal

3.5/5 · 2021-10-02
lukretion

This is a painful review for me to write. I really like the music on Cradle of Filth’s third full-length album, Cruelty and the Beast, and I love the record’s dark concept about the Báthory Countess and her morbid and gory story. But I really can’t stand how the album sounds. As many other have noted (members of the band included), the production is really terrible, so let me start by telling you about that so I can get it out of the way.

The root of all evil is the drum’s sound: it is incredibly weak and compressed to the point that everything Nicholas Barker sounds comes across with the same dull, thudding sound that has been described by some, quite accurately, as “typewriting drumming”. Every other instrument is piled up upon these dodgy foundations and it can’t possibly sound good. The guitar tone is as weak as the drum sound and it is often buried so deep down in the mix that it very hard to figure out what the guitarists are actually playing (which is especially annoying because I really like Stuart Anstis’ lead playing with the band). The bass is hardly audible, give how it is completely drown out by the drums. Even the vocals are sometimes hard to figure out (female chorister Sarah Jezebel Deva told the press she was left in tears when she first heard the final mix of the album as she felt her voice sounded as if she had sung with “her head stuck in the toilet”). The overall effect is an incredibly dry, flat and messy-sounding album. On the one hand, this gives the record a special, low-fi vibe which can be somewhat fascinating and distinctive (I remember that, back in 1998, I felt this record sounded much more “evil” and “sinister” compared to the band’s previous albums, which was very likely an effect of the production). On the other hand, such a muddy and messy production cannot do justice to the complexity of Cradle of Filth’s music, which on this album actually increased considerably compared to the previous records. Today, as a less impressionable listener, the net effect is simply disappointing.

The disappointment stings even harder because what is being played on this album is actually very good. The music is heavier than on Dusk … and Her Embrace but it retains that morbid, gothic feel that had made that album such a powerful sonic experience. On Cruelty and the Beast, Cradle of Filth increased the level of intensity and aggression, so that the new album sounds considerably heavier and more metallic than the predecessor. This creates a stronger contrast with the symphonic keyboard flourishes (courtesy of new member Les Smith) and the emotional and majestic mid-tempo sections, making the music on this album sound more dramatic than ever, which fits well with the theme of the record. Songs like “Cruelty Brought Thee Orchids” and “Beneath the Howling Stars” are great examples of this new course and indeed remain two of the best compositions penned by Dani & co. over the years. Another great track and example of the dynamic nature of the music on this album, is the “Báthory Area”, a trio of songs that cover a lot of ground from deviant balladry, to Maidenian galloping rhythms, to a doomy, dissonant finale.

Elsewhere, Cradle of Filth go for a more direct, pedal-to-the-metal approach, like on the violent “Thirteen Autumns and a Widow”, an unstoppable train that makes a concession to melody only in its mellower finale. “Twisted Nails of Faith” is another ferocious highlight, which surprises with its symphonic arrangement in the coda, while “Lustmord and Wargasm” is perhaps the weakest song on the record, sounding a tad too repetitive and undistinctive, as if it was only half-heartedly repeating the formula of the previous songs.

Overall, for the music it contains, Cruelty and the Beast could be rightly regarded as one of the strongest records ever written by Cradle of Filth. It possesses a stunning mix of metal aggression and gothic, morose atmosphere through a barrage of songs that never cease to amaze and entertain. However, I just cannot get past its terrible production sound, which substantially ruins the listening experience for me. This explains why I rate this album so low in the context of Cradle of Filth’s discography, despite containing some of the best music they have written so far.