By Mark Steele
Cradle of Filth are a band that have always caused divisive opinion, unintended or otherwise; especially with their latter day albums and how they have morphed into a classic British extreme metal band that's probably the equivalent of Iron Maiden in extreme metal circles – or conversely sell outs that have become a Phoenix Nightsian parody of their former selves (tick where applicable) for the more tr00 and kvlt types out there. Personally, I sit on the fence as they've made some classic black metal albums yet there are recent ones that aren't as appealing to me as a follower from pretty much 'day one'.
Interestingly, Dani and his merry men have decided upon digging into the archives and unearthed a couple of demo sessions; with some much spit, polish and re-mastering. In this case, they have decided to release Total Fucking Darkness, a demo that came out at the tail end of 1993 that got them signed up to Cacophonus Records to release their début album The Principle Of Evil Made Flesh in 1994. Which, at the time was a breakthrough album for many black metal fans. Back in those days (when I was a college student), Cradle of Filth were a relatively unknown band whose shirts were usually found on pasty skinny blokes that looked like dead girls. Until now, the only way you could locate this demo was via two options, (a) Having a bid war on a certain famous auction site for a mouldy moth eaten cassette that sounded like it was recorded on a 1980's answering machine for stupid money or (b) Accessing the seedier side of the Internet with 56k dial up and a certain peer to peer network that eventually got shut down in the early 2000's.
Upon playback of this album, it takes me back to the halcyon days of black metal; when it was new, fresh, exciting, and it started getting a bit silly with church burnings in Scandinavia, which was for a spell featured with regularity in a certain weekly heavy metal publication. Turan Studios in Oxford have done a decent job on cleaning up this early recording, as when I first heard heard it, it was burned crudely onto a blank CD-R that sounded as if it original tape had been copied several times over on a knackered 80's ghetto blaster on high speed dubbing before being ripped to mp3.
First off, the album begins with the delightfully titled 'Covered In Faeces' – a track that is the only surviving tune from the mythical Goetia sessions. The track starts off with a soft keyboard into, and soon assaults the listener with the first aural glimpse of their earliest of works. A fast paced, frenetic Bathory influenced number that is fairly decent and should have made its way onto albums that they made in future and is a stand out track on the album that is classic synth flavoured early black metal. Dani's vocals are more guttural in these early tracks, with screams in the track not reaching the range that only dogs can hear on later albums. The early recordings of 'The Black Goddess Rises' are much bleaker and nihilistic than what is found on their début album; with guttural vocals, typical buzz saw black metal riffs of a 'tr00' and 'br00tl' nature, but even in these sessions clearly demonstrates a talented black metal band that has a promising future.
'As Deep As Any Burial' starts with a monolithic guitar chug and church organ, with a screamed vocal that leads onwards to a thrash flavoured riff that's reminiscent of early Slayer that ends with an eerie keyboard riff; a track that would have you wondering how it would've translated into a future album release and is certainly a stand out track. 'Unbridled At Dusk' continues on in a distinctly Bathory flavoured vein, but has sweeping dynamics from fast paced sections to a slower and more methodical chug permeated with a slow keyboard and clean bass section that creates atmosphere, and lead solos towards the tracks end for good measure. 'The Raping of Faith' has a mixture of speed and slower paced moments with a melancholic tone; and more of the thrash flavoured chug combined with an awkward hammer horror keyboard riff that doesn't match with the tune too well while 'Fraternally Yours, 666' is simply an organ based outro that concludes the first half of the album that was the closer to the original demo.
'Devil Martyr (Advocatus Diaboli)' is lifted from sessions recorded in 1992 from the aborted Goetia album that never reached fruition. A gritty, primal chug that attacks the listener in a blur of black metal fury that gives pointers to future works. The remainder of the album simply has alternate versions of 'Unbridled at Dusk', 'The Raping of Faith' and 'Black Goddess Rises' from the sessions mentioned earlier on the latter half of the album finally ending with they keyboard outro 'Hekate Enthroned' – which obviously became the name for the band formed up from ex-Cradle of Filth members. As a closing note, it would be interesting if Cradle of Filth decided to redo 'Covered In Faeces', 'As Deep As Any Burial', and 'Devil Mayfair (Advocatus Diaboli)'; as I believe they would work very well on a future stop gap EP/Single as they're fairly solid tracks.
Now, is this album worth tracking down? It depends on who you are, really. Cradle of Filth completists will no doubt buy this album on every permutation they can get their hands on and throw their cash at. Some will believe it to be a nice collector's piece that gives an insight into their earlier beginnings, and I dare say I will be one of them that will get a slice of this for myself. The cynics out there will no doubt think that Dani and his merry men are running out of ideas, and chose to flog a long dead horse of something that needs to be confined to the annals of history. Nevertheless, the remaster of Total Fucking Darkness serves as piece of early black metal history and an account of the early days of one of black metal's biggest bands. A curiousity to add to your music collection; nothing more and nothing less. The decision is entirely up to you.
