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Cradle of Filth > Total Fucking Darkness > Reviews > Ouijamage
Cradle of Filth - Total Fucking Darkness

Necro Dani !!! - 85%

Ouijamage, March 25th, 2005

For a demo recorded onto a cassette, the inferior quality can be overlooked as a somewhat necro sound to a band waiting to unleash themselves upon the UK as the answer to the Scandinavian black metal movement at the time.

For those of you familiar with Dani's infamous screech, you can forget that here. He growls and snarls his way through the tracks, sounding just like what you would expect a black metal vocallist to sound, punctuating with death metal grunts when required.

Opening with "The Black Goddess Rises", this track is very similar to the Principle... version, including bass solo and subsequent guitar solo. This is an excellent track and will always remain one of Cradle of Filth's masterpieces, with a beautiful slow and melodic part in the middle.

"Unbridled at Dusk" begins with some haunting keyboard effects, setting the atmosphere, whilst the guitars perform a spiralling riff over the top. As the song gets going, the heavy, fast paced rhythm kicks off, before soon slowing down as an eastern sounding keyboard melody gives the song a sinister touch. The song ends with a bizarre effect which sounds like a tape being rewound at high speed.

"The Raping of Faith" is another great track, opening in pure Cradle style with the sounds of women screaming, then some of Dani's most evil sounding vocals on the record. For what is presumably the chorus, there is a Hitchcock's Psycho style synth effect (you know what I mean!) in the background, which adds a nice menacing touch. Roughly halfway through the song, the guitars give way to another classical melody, this time much more familiar to their more modern gothic melodies. As the song winds down, it returns to its original opening riff and verse construction.

The next track, "As Deep as Any Burial" opens with a pipe organ melody, with heavy chugging guitar over the top. A fast, more thrashy song than the others, this song has small solos littered all over the place, accompanied by fast drumrolls and given breathing space by only the occasional organ melody. Again, like many Cradle song endings, this one has its own, a short piano bit, which sounds like something from a dark music box.

The final piece is, in my opinion, one of Cradle's better instrumentals. "Fraternally Yours, 666" is a short pipe organ solo, a jolly rolling bass laced with a sombre treble melody on top, providing an effective contrast. Short and too the point, this makes a nice outro to the demo which doesn't have time to go wrong.

I have given this demo a high rating because I can overlook the quality to see a varied and well-constructed piece of work, which clearly paves the way for Cradle's invasion into the black and gothic metal scene.