I may be a little late with this one, but how did everyone feel about the "Godspeed..." album? (And just so we are clear, I am no wannabe/newbie/mallcore kid type, my forum presence isn't here very often).

I felt the album was pretty good. It doesn't seem to have any memorable songs, but I might have to hear it more in order to figure out what's memorable and what's not. I felt there was a little bit more talking in there than I wanted, but otherwide it's very musically powerful.

Thoughts?

one thing's for certain: the cover is absolutely terrible

The special edition is good, but yeah the original cover art is shit.

Copy-pasted (with small modifications) from my last post on this topic, which has been lost:

I actually think the new one is very good. I had lost all hope that they would come up with anything worth my time after Nymphetamine which had some okay songs but was ultimately a tedious release, and Thornography which as we all know is the product of a botched abortion. I have only given it two or three spins so far, but it's cool stuff. I don't think I'd go so far as to compare it to Cruelty and the Beast-- it's not THAT good, in fairness-- but what it does remind me of is some Midian songs with the keyboards removed (that is, I am thinking about riffs) and replaced by Damnation and a Day-style orchestration. They have re-used many of the DaaD ideas in that area. There are a lot of very gloomy sections which I like. It's all cheesy as hell but a lot of fun. I guess the song structures themselves have more in common with Cruelty than the ones used in Midian and also in the new songs on Bitter Suites to Succubi.

Based on this assessment I wouldn't even consider recommending the release to somebody who is only a fan of Cruelty and earlier, but to those of us who can enjoy the (bulk of the) material up to and including Damnation it's not a bad release. Problems I have with it include that not all the songs are so great, and The Death of Love seems like a stylistic throwback to Thornography. They have also over-used Doug Bradley and damaged his impact on the atmosphere. The blasting parts, though fortunately not too common, are pretty insipid and don't get me going at all. But these points notwithstanding, I am glad I bought this.

What I've heard wasn't that impressive. Other people have said it sounds like old Cradle Of Filth, but what it really sounds like is new CoF trying desperately to sound like old CoF.

Overall it is very boring. The riffs do not move me, sadly they just pass blandly before my ears. However, I do think Tiffuages is a great instrumental track. Those have certainly got better over the last few albums. Oh, and "The Death of Love" is quite enjoyable too.

Agree. I actually like most COF covers, at least those I've seen. but this one was really fucking bad.

I got it the other day, and I've listened to it about five or six times now. Unfortunately, as has been mentioned, not much is memorable. However, The 13th Caesar chorus is possibly the catchiest thing they've done.

Respect goes to the new drummer; there's some amazing work in there (the most blastbeats ever on a COF cd?). I also love the spoken parts from Doug Bradley, and didn't think that there was too much of it at all, it seemed just about right to me.

My favourites would have to be Shat Out Of Hell (:lol:), The 13th Caesar, Darkness Incarnate and Ten Leagues Beneath Contempt. But there's not a bad song on it to be honest.

In my opinion, these are some of Dani's best lyrics, too. In their usual quantity I might add - the booklet will hardly fit in the CD case!

It's been some time since I listen to CoF, but I might check this one out. I must be one of the few here who enjoys Damnation and a Day so if it remotely sounds like that album and those around it, it should be interesting.

I agree about the terrible cover art, and the music was fairly catchy but not very interesting. Just because it's better than CoF's late albums it doesn't mean it's a good album. Also why the hell do they have to put a narration at the beginning of almost every song??

I really like it. To me it sounds like a very natural, strong regression back to their roots, while keeping a very sort of "modern" COF sound, which all things considered isn't that terrible. The title track is one of the coolest things they've written in three albums as well.

hic hic, the cover got sucked, and the music recalls me Damnation & A Day's stuffs, so a bit better than Thorno... and Nymphe.... i think!
Good topic!

I just checked it out today; I've enjoyed it much more than the past two or three albums. It's great that they finally decided to put melodic leads back at the forefront of the sound, and the drum work is probably some of the best since Cruelty. It seems like they've finally struck a real balance between the old and new. Dani's vocals are slightly more tolerable than they have been for the past few years, but clearly, he's past his prime.

This may be the final hiccup from the band that turns out to be decent. After putting out a solid stream of merely passable albums and putting out this beast, it's hard to tell if the band still have a bright future ahead of themselves.

I got the special edition and the case is pretty nice, and for the album I enjoyed it. Dani's vocals aren't as annoying as they usually are which is a bonus and the drummer has amazing talent. As for the guitars they are trying to be more black metal then Gothic.

Overall good effort.

I was thinking that this morning as I was listening to it on the way to work, how the guitars do seem more blackmetal based than gothic rock. That's what annoyed me about Thorno... it didn't quite seem blackmetal enough...

How was the 2nd disc? Good tracks on it?

The second disc is pretty good, It's got 5 songs that didn't make it on to the album and some demos and two live songs. One being "Dusk and her Embrace .

I enjoyed the album thoroughly. I never really delved much into the world of Cradle of Filth and decided to use this album as a gateway. I definitely enjoyed what i heard; although I find the chorus of "The 13th Ceaser" the absolute worst part of the album, opposite of the earlier poster

Do you see it fit to advocate such a thing? It shouldn't matter if you are or not. At any rate, just like anything else this band has done...it fails. The closest things to tolerable this band has done were the old demos and Principles of Evil Made Flesh.

This album is excellent. I see no problem with it. Sure it has tons of gothic elements, but believe it or not, Cradle of Filth is back on the black metal scene and kicking ass. Their last 5 or so albums have been a travesty of their old sound (Thornography being the worst piece of shit in existence), but this one is really a step towards their reivindication. Really good album.

Boring album, not fun to listen to unlike other Cradle releases. The vocals, both Dani's screams, clean, and spoken word, are terrible. Didn't mind Dani's vocals on other albums.

The score on Metal Archives should be a lot lot lower.

I liked the album. While I'm not a great CoF fan, I've always liked their old-mid era stuff to some extent. And while Nymphetamine and Thornography seemed rather dull - here they are back in business. Like it's been said, they've finally found a balance of sorts with the "old material meets new material with a modern sound" -sound.

I was surprised at how naturally the album flows, given there's lots of blast beats, some tremolo-picking and overall a pretty black metallish feel (that's not to say it's black metal at all, though), compared to their previous album and its rather mellow sound. I also think that Dani's vocals in here are pretty damn good. Unlike most of us in here, I've never really hated his vocals, although I've never really liked the high-pitched stuff he does, either. And on this album, he's balancing well with the blackish rasps, some of the higher end stuff, as well as some croaky/somewhat guttural stuff and low end growling. The drumming is also pretty damn good. Even the production is ok, especially for a Sneap product.

My only gripes regarding the album would be the overall lack of memorability and rather dull riffing. The drums compliment the guitars well and vice versa, but overall, the riffs as they are, are just pretty boring. Sure they are heavier than in Thornography, with some of them sounding relatively blackish, but they're still damn boring. As for the memorability part: while I think that the songwriting in here is a definite step-up from their few past efforts, and while the album is solid, being a good listen - there isn't really that much stuff that stands out and screams to be replayed.

Still, I'm pretty glad I bought this album - it's always nice to see a long-running band like CoF releasing a genuine, pretty good and solid album. Overall I'd give this album a low 8/10 or so.

Wait wait wait so you would give a "damn boring" album with "dull riffing" an EIGHT out of ten?

I did not say that the album was damn boring, only the riffs. Both of those bolded parts imply that, you must've misread. Anyways, as much as riffs do matter, the lead-work and songwriting is still up there, with other instrumentation and vocals as well. Not only that, but as boring as the riffs may get, the guitarwork in generall still goes well with the drumming, as I said previously in my post.

This sounds funny.

Even if Cradle of Filth makes an album with amazing music, I could never listen to them unless they replaced that vocalist. I tolerate his voice 15 years ago, but it's unbearable now.

I certainly did not misread your post.

An album with boring riffs make a boring album. To say otherwise would be idiotic.

You say "songwriting" is "still up there"...it doesn't make sense considering you also said that the riffs were boring. Unless you regard the riffs not part of the songwriting?

The guitar work can go perfectly with the drumming. Doesn't prevent it from becoming a boring album due to the riff oriented nature of COF's music.

I like it, enough to go and see them with Gorgorth and Septic Flesh. A nice mix of songs and some very memorable ones!

Cover art is way too unprofessional,like it was made by a newkid studying 3dsMAX. Too cartoonish I think.On the other hand,the record is beyond my expectations but it is not a perfect release.

I've only spun it a few times in the car, and haven't really given it a proper listen yet. So far I think it's a pretty solid album, but where it fits in the discography with the others I couldn't say yet. As of now my favorite song from the album would be "The Death of Love".

Yes, perhaps you are right to some extent. Even if you say that COF is a riff-oriented band, I do not really listen to them for the riffs. If I want riffs, I'll just listen to Pandemonium, Coma of Souls, Time Does Not Heal, or you name it... CoF has always been more of an atmosphere-oriented band for me, if that makes any sense. Riffs are a part of songwriting, but as the songs themselves are interesting enough, it doesn't bother me that much.

The songs on GotDT aren't as formulaic as they were Thornography, and I felt that they had a nice flow. They also returned for a more "haunting" sound, should I say, having some nicely used choir effects blending in well with the instrumentation. When the vocals as well are good (well, on Dani's scale), the songs in general are fast, with enough tempo/mood changes, nice drum patterns are to be found, as well as impressive doublebass work, some nice leads here and there - what's there to complain? Even if I said that the riffs are boring and forgettable, there's some cool riffs to be heard as well. Although, in most cases the thing that makes them sound excellent is the way the drums back up the guitars and vice versa. (Eg. "Shat out of Hell" @ 2:44 and onwards, and "Honey and Sulphur" @ 1:16 and the tremolo-riff before that part as well).

Slightly off topic, but is anyone going to see them with Satyricon? I'm going mainly just to see Satyricon.

Back to the new album, I liked it. Nothing that blew me away, but it was good.

To be honest, I'm rather shocked to see a Cradle of Filth topic that isn't purely bashing them... I am definitely going to have to check this album out; I'll likely buy the Special Edition

IMO, 'Cruelty' was their strongest album, so it's nice to hear they are striking a true balance between the black and gothic sides of their music.

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Now playing: Behemoth - The Arrival
via FoxyTunes

I find it to be painfully boring. I like the majority of Cradle's work up through Nymphetamine, but this and Thornography are just lifeless albums that do nothing for me.