Album Notes:

The Principle of Evil Made Flesh is the debut album by English extreme metal band Cradle of Filth. Its sound is significantly rawer than the style the band would subsequently develop, and Dani Filth had yet to find the voice he would use on future recordings. Some of Principle’s tracks were later re-recorded for V Empire, Bitter Suites to Succubi, and Midnight in the Labyrinth.

 

Gavin Baddeley’s The Gospel of Filth describes the album and its place within (or alongside) the contemporary black metal scene:

 

Principle... did share several characteristics with the Scandinavian black metal emerging at the time, above and beyond the kindred fascination with all things dark and devilish. Cradle’s debut is their rawest recording, chiming with the crude underproduction now demanded by black metal purists (though how much of that rawness was due to inexperience and budgetary limitations is another matter). It’s still the only Cradle of Filth recording accepted as “true” black metal by many in the murkier corners of the underground... [but] there were as many things separating Cradle of Filth from the emerging black metal pack as they had in common... Just as important to Cradle’s developing identity as the metal bands they grew up with in the 1980s and their contemporaries in the ‘90s, was the dark verse and literature of the 1880s and ‘90s, produced by the artistic deviants of the day, known as the Decadents... Under the icy influence of the Norwegians, black metal had become a nihilistic, savage world of darkness and suffering, with little space for sensuality... Cradle pioneered a slick Gothic image, emphasising the seductive aspects of the dark side...

 

The cover is a stock image from Nigel Wingrove’s Redemption portfolio, chosen in part under the influence of Type O Negative’s Bloody Kisses sleeve. The CD booklet also features a Baphomet pentagram, and photos of the band members wearing corpse paint, inverted cross necklaces, and T-shirts featuring the black metal acts Marduk and Darkthrone. Despite this however, and despite backing vocalist Andrea Meyer styling herself the band’s ‘satanic advisor’, the album’s lyrics do not once mention Satan, barring a single indirect reference to “satanic decree” on the track “Of Mist and Midnight Skies”.

 

The album’s lyrics do make reference to Set, the Valkyrie, Hecate, Baphomet, Artemis, Bastet, Astarte, Ishtar, Khem, Uzza, Eve, Aleister Crowley (through quotation of “Do what thou wilt”), Diana, and Lilith. The sleeve also quotes Hegel and Swinburne. Dani Filth explained the album’s overwhelmingly female pantheon in The Gospel of Filth:

 

The personification of evil as a woman comes down to a really simple equation with me. If you’re going to write very intimately about a character, I’d rather be intimate with a woman... I’d rather worship a female entity than a male one. If God’s representative on Earth was male, it seems logical to me that the opposite would be female, especially with the traditional symbolic association between femininity and the moon. In a sense, we venerate woman as the author of original sin, and therefore, the reason for man straying from God...

 

Sixteen years on from Principle, Lilith reappeared as the central character of Cradle's concept album Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa.

 

Additional vocals on “A Dream of Wolves in the Snow” are performed by Anathema’s Darren White. This would be the last album featuring guitarist Paul Ryan and keyboardist Benjamin Ryan. Paul Allender also left the band at this point, but returned five years later for Midian.

 

Cradle of Filth are an English extreme metal band that formed in Suffolk in 1991. The band’s musical style evolved from black metal to a cleaner and more “produced” amalgam of gothic metal, symphonic black metal and other extreme metal styles. Their lyrical themes and imagery are heavily influenced by gothic literature, poetry, mythology and horror films.

 

The band has broken free from its original niche by courting mainstream publicity (often to the chagrin of its early fan base). This increased accessibility has brought coverage from the likes of Kerrang! and MTV, along with frequent main stage appearances at major festivals such as Ozzfest, Download, and even the mainstream Sziget Festival. This has given the band a more “commercial” image. They have sometimes been perceived as satanic by casual observers, even though their outright lyrical references to Satanism are few and far between. Their use of satanic imagery has arguably always been more for shock value, rather than any seriously held beliefs.

 

Personnel:

Dani Filth: vocals

Paul Allender: guitar

Nicholas Barker: drums

Robin Eaglestone: bass guitar

Paul Ryan: guitar

Benjamin Ryan:- keyboards

Andrea Meyer: backing vocals

Darren White: additional vocals on “A Dream of Wolves in the Snow”

 

Track List:

Side One:

All lyrics written by Dani Filth, all music composed by Cradle of Filth.

1. Darkness Our Bride (Jugular Wedding) (Instrumental)   [ 2:00]

2. The Principle of Evil Made Flesh   [4:34]

3. The Forest Whispers My Name   [5:06]

Side Two:

4. Iscariot (Instrumental)   [2:33]

5. The Black Goddess Rises   [6:48]

6. One Final Graven Kiss (Instrumental)   [2:15]

7. A Crescendo of Passion Bleeding   [5:30]

Side Three:

8. To Eve the Art of Witchcraft   [5:28]

9. Of Mist and Midnight Skies   [8:10]

10. In Secret Love We Drown (Instrumental)   [1:29]

Side Four:

11. A Dream of Wolves in the Snow   [2:10]

12. Summer Dying Fast   [5:39]

 

The Principle of Evil Made Flesh 2xLP (180 gram Colored Vinyl) by Cradle of Filth is factory-sealed new. It has never been played and has always been kept in its original packaging. The LP is not a promo or cutout. There are no marks or punches of any kind. All our CDs and vinyl are new! If you have any questions or want to see additional photos, just email us.

 

Same day shipping for payments received by 4:00 PM EST.

 

Payment must be received within 7 days. We accept and prefer PayPal.

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