"Thornography" CD by Cradle Of Filth

by Marcel Anders (04.10.2006) Quite dirty: a decapitated Jesus in the torture chamber of evil, ruled by a nail-headed with an axe. Yet, the seventh album of the English Black Metal institution ain't as bloody and brutal as the cover makes you believe. On the contrary: Dani Filth and Co. appear as catchy and accessible as never before. That begins already with the third song on the album, "Tonight in flames", which despite all screaming and staccato riffing has a quite poppy hook. The same can be said about the bombastic "Cemetery and gundown", as well as the epic Gothic-duet "The byronic man" featuring HIM-frontman Ville Valo. Really heavy and fierce are only "Dirge inferno", "Libertina grimm" and "The foetus of a new day kicking". Here, Dani convinces with bestial screaming, the guitarist, Paul Allender and Charles Hedger shoot with angry salves and in the lyrics you get murder, assassination and violation like in a horror movie. Scurrile highlight of the 62-minute gloom orgy: a cover of the Heaven 17-classic "Temptation" - complete with stylish grunts. Great!