Creepy symphonic extreme metal doesn’t get much better than Cradle of Filth. Over the Suffolk, England-spawned band’s nearly 20-year history, lead singer Dani Filth has become the standard by which all of metal’s darker practitioners are measured. The band’s lyrics and imagery are playfully satanic, used more for shock rather than demonic reverence. Symphonic metal’s sound has always been swathed in lush synths and strings, taking some of the heavy edge off COF’s musical fangs.
COF’s rabid fan base gets decked to the nines for its live shows, donning all manner of leather and chains to bask in the band’s hellish glow with their fellow minions. At this point, they aren’t doing anything innovative or pioneering; it did all that in the late ’90s. The band can now record at their own leisure, knowing without fail that when it hits the road it will be met with loving arms. Personally, we think COF should sue the creators of Adult Swim’s Metalocalypse for copyright infringement.
With Satyricon, 7 p.m. tonight at House of Blues, 1204 Caroline, 888-402-5837 or www.hob.com/houston.
This article appears in Feb 12-18, 2009.