“But devils are subservient to certain influences of the stars, because magicians observe the course of certain stars in order to evoke the devils.” ― Heinrich Kramer, Malleus Maleficarum
The devils may be subservient to certain celestial influence, but we at RockRevolt are forever riveted by the mastermind that is Dani Filth, the viciously delicious frontman of Cradle of Filth. Time and time again, Dani brings forth album after album, broadening one’s senses in multiple levels. His albums permeate our souls from a musical standpoint, include artwork and imagery that conjure the devil from within, and feature lyrics and concepts that explore and delve into natural/fantastical/historical themes, and unleash the cages of our own intellectual shortcoming.
Hammer of the Witches released last month and we at RockRevolt were fortunate to be able to pick the mind of the master himself, Dani Filth.
I did a big review on your latest and greatest Hammer of the Witches, and in doing research I found that your rendition of the theme was to place the Hammer in the hands of the Witches. How did you come across that idea?
When we were writing the record, we had about three or four songs already, and I was just trying to think what I could turn it toward and the first thing that came to my head (I looked up to my shelf and saw) was a copy of the Malleus Maleficarum, and it suggested that it would a good partnership. I knew that the Malleus Maleficarum was the hammer of witches and I immediately thought that it would be much better if it were about weaponizing the witches – putting the power in their hands as opposed to giving over to the judges’ gavel. It just meant for a much more interesting story. It was about retribution and revolution as opposed to the conceptual normal version. The entire album is centered around that. It has a decidedly medieval theme. A few people are given to thinking that it is a concept record because the artist (Arthur Berzinsh) has done such an amazing job of translating rival satellites that orbit the main theme into artwork. And so, as you look at it, you would pretty much think, this it is conceptual (well, I guess it is conceptual compared to some bands). It’s akin to lots of themes orbiting a main idea as opposed to being a chronological story like Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa or Damnation and a Day or Cruelty and the Beast.
What you are saying is that in the center there is this concept, and then the songs are not sequential, but they kind of speak to the central theme.
It’s a very deep medieval theme and it bleeds into some of the other songs and cross references. But they are more like a lot of different dark fairy tales as opposed to one conceptual album.
What kind of research do you have to do to put this kind of album out?
Not a huge amount. I have always been into this sort of thing anyway. And I have have a copy of the Malleus Maleficarum. I also live in a witch county. So it was easy when it comes to personal experience and being into that sort of thing and turning everything into stories. It was not like when I was undertaking Godspeed on the Devil’s Thunder, which was about Gilles de Rais. I had to get it chronologically right and also historically correct, but also twisted so that it had other elements in the story as well (some of my own, some from French history). It is something that I still read about, and still find more and more about.
So “Enshrined in Crematoria” released relatively recently, and this was one of the first in which Richard Shultz contributed. How has the addition of Richard altered the band and what does he add to Cradle?
It’s both of them: Ashok and Richard. We had to fine-tune the guitarist. There was a need to do it because we were undertaking a pro-headline tour with Behemoth at the beginning of last year. And shortly after having booked in, we found out that Paul Allender couldn’t do the tour for personal reasons. So we found Richard. Then closer to the actual tour starting, literally around the 11th hour, we found out that our guitarist, James, has been suffering from a neck injury, was having to take a massive operation. So it took him out the picture as well, so we needed to make a decision there and then. Luckily Martin who’s worked with Ashok (he’s from the Czech Republic as well) suggested him and we just managed to turn it around in the nick of time. And the good thing was we were playing really prolifically; we were playing a lot twin guitar harmony stuff. They both joined the band at the same time. So that’s how they managed to work together to create this record, and we decided to keep them both on because we were getting really good reviews, we really gelled as a band, both personally and musically. It was like fresh injection in the arm for the band.
We continued to write, and were doing summer festivals and returned from our tour of Russia last year, and were in the studio at the beginning of December. So yes, we worked very hard, but it felt good, it felt fresh , exciting. We even turned down three songs. We wrote these three songs that didn’t make the cut, because we needed to look at quality over quantity. They can still see the light of day definitely. Except at the time they were at about 88% complete as opposed to 99. All three of them were eight minutes long each, so, like I said, we were prolific amount of material.
Did you play those live at all or are they going to be start up for the next one?
Yes, we may use them as an EP, but it depends if the record company wants to expand the longevity of this album. I think their time is within in the locality of this record. I think if we were going to start a new record, we would want to keep them apart. So I think that piece would be out of place, it wouldn’t make any sense. I know that it is hard, but I think they belong to this album more than anything else.
I would like for them to see the light of day. One of was one of my favourite songs for the record, but I understood everybody’s point that it didn’t sync as well with some of the other stones, and it needed a lot development, so I had to be cool with that.
I stalked your Facebook page a couple of weeks ago, I saw a message on the release of “Enshrined” that said, “I can’t believe this, I like every song I have heard so far”, “for him to be excited about the album is an understatement” and that the addition of the new guitarist makes Hammer of the Witches the best record since Midian. What is it about Hammer that is bringing Cradle back to its roots?
I think it’s just the fact that we’ve got a very strong band. It’s very musical and because we were playing a lot with older material when those two guitarists joined – a lot of twin guitar harmony material, I think that was just a good springboard into writing. I think we found our feet with that. Because they were both fresh, both joined the band at the same time, there is no pretention, there is no “I’ve been in the band longer” or anything like that. The both started writing from the ground up, as well as having been fans for the band. Lots of exciting things happened to the band last year. Richard is quite new to being in bands at this level, so I think he is very excited, especially knowing what we’ve got coming up for the band. We have three more summer festivals, a European tour, South America, America counted now as being slotted in the 3rd week of January for seven weeks.
Very exciting!
Yeah! We are all very much looking forward to it. Then we go to Australia, New Zealand, and that sort of thing. There is a lot of potential excitement coming up for the band. Although to be fair, I feel completely exhausted.
CRADLE OF FILTH – Right Wing Of The Garden Triptych (OFFICIAL VIDEO)
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I watched the “Garden Triptych” and I saw it was directed by Sam Scott Hunter. He also took your promo shots. Would you mind telling me about the shooting of the video and how it relates to the theme of the song?
As with most videos, it’s very hard to relate it to the theme of the song, because I kind of paint a lot of pictures as much as I can, and in order to transcribe it to a video it would be like mega mega, mega, block buster! (Laughs) We tried to get an adaptation of the lyrics and it was great fun to film. We filmed it a former U.S. military base that closed down at the end of the cold war. It’s been shut since 93.
It was filmed in this jet hanger testing area, so being a massive hanger, and being deserted, it was kind of eerie. But they do have a film unit based on the site of this air force base. We shot one day there. And then we shot a day with the bondage queen girl, which strangely enough, was also near a near a military base, a different one, one that is still opened up, but it’s an imperial war museum. This was shot at our photographer’s studio. He had a studio and a farm. It was interesting and I think it has a lot of menace to it. I think the color scheme adds to that as well. It is black and white. I guess it adds a sense of menace with the odd splash color thrown in for good measure every now and then.
I watched the two versions of it: The safe for work and the not safe for work version. I found it interesting that the safe for work version just removed the nipples, that was…
Yeah I know, I know! The thing was, it wasn’t contrived. It’s just like the American version, we had to had another cover with her, where the girl can wear Smocks or tunics. It’s so subtle. I’m sure it’s like that when you go into an art gallery in America. We didn’t actually mean to do a different version, it was just out of necessity really.
Was the Garden Triptych based on the painting by Bosch?
Yes it was. It was something I studied at school. Every time I visit Madrid, I always go to the Prado. They have that painting in one room. It’s amazing. On the opposite end they have “The Triumph Of Death” as well by Pieter Bruegel. Obviously, it symbolises the hell on earth version of the painting. For those unfamiliar with the painting, it’s because it’s got three panels, two wings that fold over the middle section. So you have Eden, and the first signs, crazy life going on in the background, and then you have main centre panel, which is kind like the world being overrun by humanity, and then you have the Hell on earth part, where humanity is being punished, for its excesses.
The last album of yours that I listened to its entirety was The Manticore and Other Horrors, and this album is different, but it maintains that over the top movie/soundtrack vibe. We have spoken about soundtracks in the past, so are you listening to anything now, and will you be working on a movie soundtrack in the future?
Well, I doubt we will be working on a movie sound track unless someone approaches us about it, but yes, quite a few good sound tracks recently. It Follows, which is an American horror movie. It has some very 70’s inspired effects. Also, the Death and the Maiden which is quite an old film, but I recently procured the soundtrack, which is amazing.
