'THORNOGRAPHY' - CRADLE OF FILTH

As a typically dramatic and theatrical musical intro leads into the snarling 'Dirge Inferno', pulses quicken and blood pressure rises, in anticipation for what surely promises to be a completely explosive album. The first 5 or 6 tracks do not exactly disappoint, but right from the start there is the sense that something is not quite right. As usual, Adrian Erlandsson appears to have sprouted a second pair of limbs. Aside from the bass drum resembling some bloke banging a block of wood with a few sheets of sandpaper, the sound is faultless – the production being at that precious stage where it is good but not too good. Dani’s screeches and grunts are as demonic as ever. The riffs are powerful and meaty enough to threaten evolving into monstrous lifeforms of their own at any moment. So what IS it that’s missing?

It’s only after 'Lovesick For Mina' that it finally becomes clear. After building and building and building………….there’s nothing. No apocalyptic climax. No vicious outburst of cataclysmic proportions. The song just ends. Armageddon seems to have been delayed. Indeed it seems that devil and his bestial hordes have decided to stay at home with a nice cup of cocoa. Aside from a brief respite during 'The Foetus Of A New Day Kicking', the rest of the album (and most of what comes before it) remains decidedly tame. It’s as if they’re holding back, afraid to let themselves go. Once you realise this it just gets annoying, and that kind of ruins it really. In a lot of ways this album is very similar to ‘Nymphetamine’, but where that had 'Medusa and Hemlock', 'Gilded Cunt', 'Coffin Fodder' and 'Nemesis', ‘Thornography’ makes do with 'I Am The Thorn', 'Rise of the Pentagram' and 'Under Huntress Moon'. Certainly not rubbish, but ever so slightly disappointing.

Cradle of Filth have everything here for an outstanding album. Everything, perhaps, except the fire. ‘Thornography’ has been made because they thought it should be, rather than because they had to make it. It is by no means a bad album; it is still a very good one…..but sadly it lacks the burning conviction to make it as remarkable as it could be.

5/7

'THE OPEN DOOR' - EVANESCENCE

Amy Lee has received a lot of flak since Evanescence erupted quite literally from nowhere into the charts, during the summer of 2003. She’s had hassle for the band’s last album ‘Fallen’, for being a moody bitch, for being melodramatic and egocentric both in the portrayal of her own life and the band’s videos, for being so popular and so successful so quickly, for being a despotic control freak, as well for taking so damn long to write this years ‘The Open Door’. But regardless of whether you like her or not, despite what you think of her, one thing is indisputable – she has one truly superb voice! And now that Ben Moody is out of the picture it might also be fair to give her some credit for the quality of Evanescence’s song writing. She might be confined to mildly nu-metallic theatrical balladry, but what she does she does incredibly well. Each of the tracks on this album is immediately accessible, their catchy pop-metal hooks flirting with irresistibly finger-tapping drums. A piano melting so well into the background it’s almost unnoticeable, combined with Amy’s beautifully dark, luscious crooning give it a nice depth – the invitingly blackened puddle that hides what may well be an abyss. The consistency between each track could be construed as a bit samey – certainly ‘Open Door’ is not an album you could listen to in any old mood – but this same consistency also adds greatly to the flow of the album. Each song plays almost seamlessly into the next and before you know it the entire thing has ended, and you’ve lost an hour of your life.

Even the hardest Evanescence critic must be forced to admit that this is a quality album. Put your biased preconceptions aside and give her some slack guys. Amy has worked very hard to produce a record like this, and it is a good record! Give her the credit she’s due.

7/7

‘NOW, DIABOLICAL’ - SATYRICON

Considering Satyricon comprises only two fulltime members, they make one hell of a racket. For a Satanic black metal band, they are also surprisingly bouncy. Unlike much of the aggressively bleak and hopelessly desolate material that is produced in the name of the dark lord, Satyricon’s lively riffs and stampeding drums produce a sound that is impossibly catchy. Anyone who listens to this album without bopping their head has surely had their spinal cord severed.
It is for this reason – its exceptional accessibility – that ‘Now, Diabolical’ will prove to be an incredibly important album, not only for Satyricon but also for black metal in general. It will open this often impenetrable and ridiculously self-serious style of music kicking and screaming (for better or worse) into the mainstream.

Its significance aside, ‘Now, Diabolical’ is a fantastically composed album; the musicianship is flawless, the sound perfectly balanced, the snarling lyrics so addictive you’ll be singing them all day without even realising it. Until now Satyricon have remained relatively obscure, but this album will undoubtedly change that. A definite contender for Best Album of the Year.

7/7