Malevolent kings of British metal Cradle Of Filth have been at the forefront of the extreme music scene for the last two decades. The deliciously dark tales of the macabre probe the shadows and recesses of the soul like no other and their visceral imagery set the alcoves of imagination afire. Their tenth album The Manicore And Other Horrors is as wicked as ever and on the eve of their Australian tour, guitarist Paul Allender whispers evil thoughts exclusively to Maniacs.
On Manticore bringing back the punk.
“I kind of wanted to dirty the whole thing up again. Thats where the true roots of the band come from.I think this (album) is a new turning point for us, I really do. Thornography was different but it was still nice if you know what I mean? This one you cant really call it nice because its really dirty and its got the whole Punk attitude to it. Me and Martin (Skaroupka - drums) played and recorded together live, which gives it that organic feel.
On Manticore being the definitive Cradle sound.
"I absolutely love it, personally. Were all buzzing of this album like we were when we first did Principle Made Flesh. Were all like really, really into this, and its definitely our sound. We did the whole symphonic thing and Dimmu Borgir are doing that so its pointless two bands doing exactly the same type of music. There are people saying why didnt you do this again, we dont want to follow people. We just want to do our own stuff.”
On the Cradle album concepts
Theyre all based on individual characters. The only resemblance with each album is the dark art and that sort of stuff. But no, theres not a Cradle of Filth universe, theyre all different stories. The music on every single album is done exactly the same. The only difference when you have a concept is the lyrics have to be attacked differently and the artwork has to be attacked differently so it follows suit and it all makes sense. The music is done first, you see, and then Dan puts his lyrics to the music so it doesnt really affect the music at all. So the music is written exactly the same way for every album.
On the dark art of the album cover
Its the Manticore ; a lions head and a scorpions tale and wings. We couldnt have the typical Manticore picture that you see in books because that wouldnt be Cradle of Filth, so we incorporated the womans figure and put wings on her. This is the first time weve worked with him (artist Matthew Vickerstaff) Originally I wanted to go back to doing something similar to the old artwork, like with the photographs of the women with all the scenery around them, but we couldnt find anyone that could do it.
On writing concept albums vs regular albums
“The music on every album is done exactly the same. The only difference when you have a concept is the lyrics have to be attacked differently and the artwork has to be attacked differently so it follows suit and it all makes sense. The music is done first, you see, and then Dan puts his lyrics to the music so it doesnt really affect the music at all.”
On writing a dark Christmas Special album
“That would be very very cool. That would almost be as bad as the Star Wars Christmas special edition. Its bad, all the wookies have got family and kids and theyre all sitting round the table eating dinner. Its terrible.”
The Manticore And Other Horrors is available now!
