Cradle of Filth - Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder (2008)

By Nick Kays

A band is only as good as its fans. With this in mind, I bring to you, Cradle of Filth's latest offering, "Godspeed on the Devil’s Thunder".

Now before I go on, let's get this straight - I enjoy Cradle of Filth but not in the "let's tattoo the band's logo all over our bodies" way that most of their die-hard fans do.

I guess you could say I like Cradle of Filth the same way I like most black metal: I like their music, but don't ask me to name any of their tracks.

In the name of journalistic integrity and all that jazz, I have decided to put aside my contempt for hardcore Cradle of Filth fans and write this review from the unbiased view point of those who "kinda like" the band but really want to see what the real fans get all excited about.

"Godspeed on the Devil’s Thunder" is another in Cradle of Filth's long line of concept albums, this time based on the life of the infamous 15th century French nobleman Gilles de Rais.

According to history (and Google... which is kind of like history), Gilles de Rais fought along side Joan of Arc before squandering his wealth by sacrificing children to some kind of demon, amongst other things.

Although Dani Filth's growled screeches are an epic signature of the band, they are at best somewhat incomprehensible. I am happy to report however that the conveniently supplied lyric booklet allows me to confirm that the album does in fact discuss the life and eventual death of Gilles de Rais.

Much appreciation from this reviewer for its inclusion.

Musically, this album channels 2006's "Thornography" with the new addition of superb atmospheric interludes and sound scapes. As much as I could try and fault the band for including these metal departures as musical fluff, I simply cannot.

The album is excessively heavy, in fact heavier then anything they have done in recent years, and these momentary interludes act as nothing more then a solid reinforcement of the overall story behind the record.

I distinctly love the starting and finishing narrative to the epic track Darkness Incarnate, which uses the creepiest of children’s chants to set the mood, and is a prime example of the lengths the band have gone to emphasise atmosphere.

Although this album is full of complex and relentless riffs, I must note that there was a distinct lack of solos. Not that previous Cradle of Filth releases were particularly loaded with minutes of shredding, but I was only able to find a couple of tracks containing real solos on "Godspeed on the Devil’s Thunder", however this didn’t appear to detract form the overall effect of the album as a whole.

I guess it's also worth noting around this point that there was a steep decline in use of the piano on this record, in favour for the more typical synth sound.

While not yet a complete disciple of the church of Satan after this listening to this album in entirety, I do feel a kind of blood-thirsty hunger, probably only cured by human flesh… or a large bowl of chips.

I guess this is why Cradle of Filth band t-shirts only come in Extra-Large.

That aside, I surprisingly enjoyed Godspeed on the Devil’s Thunder and believe I may one day eventually understand those crazy Cradle of Filth fans. I found that on a whole, there wasn’t a low point on this album and would possibly consider it to be one the best metal releases of 2008.

I expect all hardcore Cradle of Filth fans will kill their own mother for this record. As for everyone else, you too won’t be disappointed.

RATING: 2.5 out of 5

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