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This is my first Cradle of Filth CD. Before this, the only song I had heard by the band was their cover of Iron Maiden's Hallowed Be Thy Name. Maybe I should have bought another CD as an introduction to this band...

Ok... Is this really supposed to be Black Metal? No, seriously, are you fucking kidding me? This is definitely a metal album, but it sure doesn't have the evil atmosphere that should be prominent on a Black Metal CD. Hell, if this had been the soundtrack for The Blair Witch Project, I'm sure not a person on the planet would have been scared by that movie. The keyboards are way too happy-sounding, and the vocals just don't sound "evil" (for lack of a better word) - in fact in some instances they're just laughable. The female vocals would be cool if it wasn't for Dani singing along, especially on tracks 8 and 10 where he completely ruins things. However, some female background vocals are sometimes just not in their place, such as on the third track. It overloads the whole thing, it feels overcrowded. And I have to mention the beginning of track number 9 which starts with spoken vocals "Archangel, Dark Angel...". Oh my, I feel like I hear kids trying to scare themselves in the dark. Ridiculous. Too bad.

Done with the bashing, there's also some good stuff. Taken just as a metal CD (rather than BM), the music is pretty good, very speedy for the most part, resulting in an album that isn't boring - I just wish I had an instrumental version as the vocal arrangements are ruining it for me. Lots of catchy riffs, some good keyboard work as well. In fact, my only criticism as far as the music is concerned is the keyboards are sometimes a *little* overused and add a sound that's way too happy - that sounds out of place.

So obviously I don't like this, 99% because of the lousy vocal arrangements. If it were an instrumental album, I'd give it a 4/5. But this is just not good. Of course there are people who will dig this. Sure thing is, although some people have mentionned some of CoF's earlier work as much better, somehow I can't bring myself to put those albums on top of my buying list. Buy at your own risks.

P.S. Good thing I don't take their promo pictures into account in the rating.