Review by Rexorcist for Cradle of Filth - Dusk... and Her Embrace (1996)

We online metal nerds are basically ordinary people, except we listen to Cradle of Filth.  These guys were one of the several bands who were key in developing the symphonic black sound, largely through their second and third albums, Dusk and Her Embrace and Cruelty and the Beast.  As you can probably tell from the album names, they were all about the romantic side of Gothic imagery as opposed to just singing about the devil.  Their signature sound made heavy usage of the Gothic metal sound, and it helped that they were easily able to switch between various vocal styles ranging from low death to shrieking black, and include heavy usage of whispers and occasional soft, female singing.  This helps the creative flow a lot, but isn't perfect.  It honestly sounds like Dani Filth's shrieks are largely made up of one vowel.  He might as well be going, "DA DA DA DA!"  His growls are fine, but still.  It's also nice to see that early on in their career, the had the right production quality to allow their Gothic sounds to mature properly.  It's not OUTSTANDING production but it works well for the sound they have.  A cheesy band like that needs the synths to shine a bit, right?  And these guys love their synths as much as their blast beats.  The compositions themselves are quite fun and energetic, going to a lot of places quite naturally.  Some are very impressive while most are good and fun.  The album stays like this throughout the whole, so the band maintains the style they've cemented quite well on the sophomore.  That right there showed some kind of prowess, and that sound would last for quite a while.  Cradle of Filth was all about a new identity, and this album shows them doing everything they could to maintain it, even if the combination of genres didn't fully allow them to write "different types" of songs.

90