Written by MétalNoir on 22.11.2009 at 20:21

Bah it's not like they didn't have the budget, right? If live Nightwish exists, there's no reason CoF couldn't play Damnation tracks. I guess it has something to do with Sony, which was the band's label at the time. I think Sony fired them after the so-so success of Damnation. Maybe there's some legal stuff in this.

Hope not, because I would love to hear them play those songs in the future.

Written by Baz Anderson on 22.11.2009 at 17:53

Yeh. "Damnation And A Day" is a little too clean I think (production-wise), but other than that - it really is an overlooked album. It isn't very accessible at all, and it is quite a long one - but it is worth getting to know.

"Damnation" is one brilliant album that got me into metal. To this day, the song "The Smoke of Her Burning" remains my #1 favurite song with very little chance of toping it. If the next Cradle's album is as good as "Damnation", they would regain all my respect for them that "Nymphetamine" and "Thornography" took away.

I saw them on tour in 2004 I think... long time ago now... I think they played "Babalon A.D." and "Mannequin". I don't really remember that show too well though. Cathedral and Octavia Sperati were supporting...

All this talk about Cradle lately made me listen through their whole discography again. For some time now I've only listened to "Godspeed". And I am... I don't know. You think you know a band, I guess I just forgot for some reason. I have been a huge CoF fan for years. And damn, this is so good, I just can't describe it. I think it was years since I heard some songs. It truly is one of my absolute favourite bands.
The "Dusk" to "Damnation" era is just flawless IMO, at least counting the studio albums.

I love it when you re-discover bands you have loved for years but for some reason forgot for a while.

Just fell in love with 'cruelty and.. ' again

Written by Warman on 01.12.2009 at 11:40

All this talk about Cradle lately made me listen through their whole discography again. For some time now I've only listened to "Godspeed". And I am... I don't know. You think you know a band, I guess I just forgot for some reason. I have been a huge CoF fan for years. And damn, this is so good, I just can't describe it. I think it was years since I heard some songs. It truly is one of my absolute favourite bands.
The "Dusk" to "Damnation" era is just flawless IMO, at least counting the studio albums.

I love it when you re-discover bands you have loved for years but for some reason forgot for a while.

I know what you mean.... I recently listened to their first 2 albums, like 8347 times in a row. Man, those two pwn every other musical form known to man so much it's funny.... That's just my modest opinion, however.

Got a chance to see them at Ozzfest 6 and a half yrs ago now... damn that was long ago
This is one band I would love to see in a better setting.

Ok...first album I heard from CoF was Thornography and that scarred me. In a bad way. Then I heard some stuff from Nymphblahblah and that deeped the wounds. Finally, quite literally years later, I gave some older stuff a listen and would you believe that this band used to be a legitimate musical force? I'm listening up to Midian now and there's some real good stuff here. The overly gothic moments make me bite my tongue but it doesn't change the fact that it's not that bad. So there, that's the nicest thing I've ever said about CoF so the world should take it before I take it back.

So beautiful. I think I'll go play myself some Nymphetamine now

Got Mayhem?: Up to Midian is definitely as far as you want to go man, every thing beyond that is pure shite. I can't recall if that was the last album with Gian on it or not but, I know that once he left the band continued to just spiral downward.

I_Die_Often: Hm, I think I saw them in 2003 and it was a pretty lame show, especially with them touring with a bunch of shitty US hardcore acts like Sworn Enemy, Killswitch Engage and some other boring band. I was literally falling asleep at the bar! Eventually CoF came on stage and I left about three songs into their set, never will I waste money on those guys again.

CoF should really just become a cover band as, their renditions of "Death Comes Ripping", "Hallowed Be Thy Name", "Hell Awaits", "Black Metal", and "Mr.Crowley" are their best attempts at 'making' music.

Yea, Midian is as far as I'll go. I just gave some of Damnation... a listen and I'm definitely not feeling it. Oh well, I gave them as fair a chance as I ever will. Gian just might be the difference because I enjoy the albums that he was on much much much more than the ones without.

I would've put CoF among the ten bands that ruined (in my view) metal. Unfortunately, there were others that had to be mentioned before them.

Quote:
belgianmetalman

Well you have to admit that Dani's vocals are pretty unique and it's amazing what he does

Say what?

Quote:
You may like them , or you may dislike them , but you can never deny they are actually pretty good!

Can't I? Oh boy?

Quote:
4look4rd

I think CoF is for people that are starting to listen to BM

Would be a tremendous mistake. Those should go to the basics. Take Venom or Slayer. Then survey the degradation.

Written by Thor26 on 23.04.2010 at 10:32

I would've put CoF among the ten bands that ruined (in my view) metal. Unfortunately, there were others that had to be mentioned before them.

Quote:
belgianmetalman

Well you have to admit that Dani's vocals are pretty unique and it's amazing what he does

Say what?

Quote:
You may like them , or you may dislike them , but you can never deny they are actually pretty good!

Can't I? Oh boy?

Quote:
4look4rd

I think CoF is for people that are starting to listen to BM

Would be a tremendous mistake. Those should go to the basics. Take Venom or Slayer. Then survey the degradation.

Technically, the first BM band I ever heard was CoF. Though whether you'd call their later albums BM or not can be debated until the end of time. The next time I heard a BM band would have been Dimmu Borgir and then Gorgoroth. I don't think listening to a band can ever be a mistake, it's actually a positive thing. You don't know whether you're going to like the music until you listen, a single band is hardly going to ruin a whole genre. And Slayer? For an introduction to BM? Really?

As for the vocals thing, not too many people actually use that technique. The most obvious example of someone who does would be the person who taught it to him, Jon from Hecate Enthroned. If you listen to the demo era Dani had some pretty good death growls as well. Though I'd suspect he was doing something wrong because they stopped pretty quick.

Oh boy, Thor26 seems to be one of those haters that spew hatespeech on CoF out of prinicple, and he aparently hasn't given a single album a good, carefull listen. Just go listen to Amon Amarth, mate, their music is simple and catchy enough for you to enjoy it.

Venom as an introduction to black metal? Ahem.... seriously.... The only black metal element they ever had in their music was the album name and somewhat Satanic-ish lyrics on it. As for Slayer, almost as stupid of a suggestion.

Quote:
Slayer666
Just go listen to Amon Amarth, mate, their music is simple and catchy enough for you to enjoy it.

That I do indeed. I like it simple. I like it music. After all, that's what it's supposed to be, isn't it?

Quote:
Venom as an introduction to black metal? Ahem.... seriously.... The only black metal element they ever had in their music was the album name and somewhat Satanic-ish lyrics on it. As for Slayer, almost as stupid of a suggestion.

You're a teen, aren't you? Gazing at your beer bottle, still hoping for the Genie to pop up?
Otherwise, you would know the meaning of the going back to the roots dictum.

Written by Bitter Dawn on 23.04.2010 at 00:57

Got Mayhem?: Up to Midian is definitely as far as you want to go man, every thing beyond that is pure shite. I can't recall if that was the last album with Gian on it or not but, I know that once he left the band continued to just spiral downward.

Gian left the band in the middle of 2002 when they were in the studio recording 'Damnation And A Day'.

Written by FreezingMoon on 07.05.2010 at 01:12

Written by Bitter Dawn on 23.04.2010 at 00:57

Got Mayhem?: Up to Midian is definitely as far as you want to go man, every thing beyond that is pure shite. I can't recall if that was the last album with Gian on it or not but, I know that once he left the band continued to just spiral downward.

Gian left the band in the middle of 2002 when they were in the studio recording 'Damnation And A Day'.

That explains why it was a sub-par album then, and why they down spiraled there after. CoF may have been able to stay a decent band if it wasn't for Dani.

Yep, that pretty much explains it. Though I have to say I am interested in this new record. It'll be interesting to see how much of their new sound was influenced by corporate arm twisting or if it was really just a cash grab.

"Damnation and A Day" seems to be their best album to me. There's a small problem though. I somehow feel that, in order to fully grasp the whole album, one needs to give it a lot more listens than to any other CoF album. It's really ambitious, intricate and well thought-out. Because of that "effort" required, many people dismiss the album too fast, and come back to "Midian" and the like. Countless nuances included in "Damnation and A Day" only show themselves after many listens.
Generally, a briilliant album with surprisingly bad production, which is the only thing that I dislike.

They look like idiots, as usual.

Luckily, I don't give a flying fuck about their image. As long as the music is good at least.

You say that like it's something to be proud of.

It's a fact, not reason for pride. I like CoF probably more than an average MS user, but I see their faults as well. "Thornography" is a disaster, "Nymphetamine" is quite weak with a few good songs (e.g. "Mother of Abominations"), "Goodspeed" shows signs of betterment. All in all, the last really good CoF album was "Damnation" - yes I know how unpopular this opinion is, but I seem to be strangely attracted to this generally hated release.

Written by Daniell on 15.09.2010 at 17:41

yes I know how unpopular this opinion is, but I seem to be strangely attracted to this generally hated release.

Generally hated?
I thought that was one of their well-received releases. I've never heard anything bad said about it.... I personally love it.

Haha, awesome pics. Shows how serious they are about the whole occult thing. Dani looks like "Wtf, where am I?".

I meant that basically everything after "Midian" is deemed shit. As is the case with every metal band that gains wider recognition. I repeat this every chance I get.

Not so much that they get wider recognition as much as people simply don't like it.

I think it's good though.

Written by Daniell on 16.09.2010 at 12:49

I meant that basically everything after "Midian" is deemed shit. As is the case with every metal band that gains wider recognition. I repeat this every chance I get.

I cannot go past Cruelty... everything after that is just mainstream garbage. I saw them live before Cruelty came out and they were damn good and entertaining, but after that the masses formed and that was just to much for me.

It's surprising, because Midian as well as Damnation and a Day are solid releases.

Midian - it does have some weaker songs, but numbers like "Tearing the Veil from Grace", "Her Ghost in the Fog" or "Tortured Soul Asylum" are simply excellent, they would easily fit on Cruelty and the Beast. Not to mention the fact, that they aren't different musically.

Damnation and a Day - that must be one of the most misunderstood extreme albums in the last decade. It's completely devoid of catchiness and mainstream softness that is evident on Nymphetamine or, even more so, on Thornography. the music is much harder to digest than ANY other CoF album. Also, there aren't any "radio-friendly" songs there. It's definitely CoF's most ambitious and complex release.

I agree that Nymphetamine and Thornography are on the weaker side. Fortunately, Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder is much much better.

Problem for me with Cradle is that Dani's horrendous Donald Duck on helium vocals psoil it all, especially on all the albums after Cruelty. Musically Midian etc are quite good, but the vocals just ruin it. They totally don't fit the music there.