CRADLE OF FILTH - The Screaming Of The Valkyries LP (Black Vinyl)

The Screaming Of The Valkyries restores the balance, melding the jet-black elegance of 2000’s Midian with the high-gloss pop savvy of 2006’s Thornography, plus touches of Nymphetamine’s florid radiance and shades of Dusk And Her Embrace’s orgiastic prowess.

More diverse, playful and direct, its gleaming hooks sharper and more concise, its lyrics simpler and less exhaustive, Dani’s arch tongue-twisters are forsworn in favour of more punchy, expressive verse. Additionally, the cover art is among Cradle’s most distinctive and grotesque, and the band have seldom looked more ostentatiously bizarre. Asserting their approachable ‘fun’ side without blunting their metal edge, Cradle’s second Golden Age continues to flower.