Cradle of Filth is a band that we absolutely hated when we first heard them, but have become a dedicated fan of in recent years. Part of it is because when interviewed Dani Filth a while back we discovered that he is one of the nicest, most personable people we've ever met in the music industry. The other part of it is the fact that we haven't been allowed to watch any television except Dora the Explorer in our house for the last six months and something like Filth's "Lilith Immaculate" is just what we need to eject her from our head.
"Lilith" comes from Filth's ninth studio album Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa released late last year, and the first to feature keyboardist Ashley Ellyllon who really ratches up the awesome on the record. It's a concept album that tells the story of Lilith's re-emergence in modern society as a god.
If you're not up on your demonology, which is odd if you're a Cradle of Filth fan, then Lilith was Adam's first wife who was ejected from Eden for demanding to be on top during sex. She went on to mother demons, vampires, or witches depending on whether or not you're playing Vampire: the Masquerade or reading the Chronicles of Narnia.
In fact, much of the album's concept, as well as the brutal, sexual nature of the video for video mirrors another recent import from Europe, Carmilla Voiez's novel Starblood, which we recently tackled with great pleasure. Both are manic dances through dark modern settings involving the return of a highly sexual, avenging feminine demonic incarnation of Lilith. Both tread the line between enticement and revulsion with a combination of aching sex and the cut of a blade into flesh. Both are, of course, indispensably excellent.
Granted, Voiez's world is the graceful deathrock scene, and Filth prefers the hammer-blow that is screaming black metal. Instead of tasteful houses and picturesque, moonlit outdoor settings, we get decrepit asylums and Filth belting out his performance into a skeletal carcass.
His presence as a front man, even as seen through a tiny YouTube screen, is simply uncanny. He is a dark commander; a mad prophet's ravings come to life and dressed in black. Everything about him draws you in.
Not to mention the story of the video itself. In between shots of the band weaves a lunatic world where a woman struggles out of the bonds of her own mind. She is pursued at every point by Lilith, who offers sex and free heart removal at every turn. In the end the watcher is simply unable to look away, caught amongst the flow of blood, the pale lines of the characters' physical perfections, the sad, haunted settings, and the ever present headlong rush of the song itself.
If Eli Roth wrote a porno, then had Chris McKay shoot it for him, you might get something like "Lilith Immaculate."
Dani Filth sat down with us for a brief interview. Check page 2 for his answers and the "Lilith" video. Take a gander, and seriously, it's NSFW.