Review by Vinny for Cradle of Filth - The Screaming of the Valkyries (2025)

I cannot pretend to be a big CoF fan. Other than Dusk…and Her Embrace, The Screaming of the Valkyries is the only other album of theirs that I have listened to in the last thirty years. Somehow, I find I like the idea of CoF more than I like the actual reality of CoF. Gothic metal is not a go to sub-genre for me by any means, and so as the band moved away from their initial melodic and then symphonic black metal sound my interest levels (which were not particularly high to begin with) soon began to wane. It is unexpected then that I am sat here about to write a review of their latest album as it plays on what must be its sixth spin in the last three days.

To my ears, to start off with at least, The Screaming of the Valkyries does not introduce itself as an entirely gothic metal record, certainly not as I would expect gothic metal to sound anyway. The opening two tracks are up-tempo and full-frontal attacks of metal. Full of power and promise as opposed to pomp and haughty posturing as I expected. There is even some fantastic lead work to get lost in also. All in all, ‘To Live Deliciously’ and ‘Demagoguery’ make up a great start for the album. Everything sounds well balanced; instruments are all audible in the mix that does them all sufficient justice.

However, The Screaming of the Valkyries peaks far too early as it turns out. That is not to say that the rest of the album is terrible by any means, but it does lack the immediacy that was promised by the opening two tracks. Whilst I completely acknowledge that ‘The Trinity of Shadows’ is well written; it just does not measure up to what precedes it and seems to herald the start of a mediocre section of the album for the next five tracks. It is not until ‘Ex Sanguine Draculae’ that things pick up just in time for triumphant album closer ‘When Misery Was a Stranger’.

As a result, there is a real sense of lost potential on CoF’s sixteenth album. For an album that is so well performed and deftly written, I feel like I should be getting more from the nine tracks than I do. The long-term fan will have a different view, I am sure. However, for me, the record falls short by not playing to its opening strengths and extending that footprint throughout the album.