V Empire, or Dark Faerytales in Phallustein

There are some things that are just designed for people to argue about. One of those is the narrowness of distinction between a full-length album and an EP. Metal fans may bring to mind such cases as Opeth's 'Orchid', which the band insist is an EP, yet straddles 65 minutes and is longer than 5 of their other albums; then there's Gorgoroth's 'Pentagram' that clocks in at 24 minutes and only contains 5 real songs, yet is regarded as an album; Sacred Reich are more famous for their EP 'Surf Nicaragua' than any of their full-lengths; and so on. Then there's Cradle of Filth, who would appear to have shot themselves in the foot by releasing 'Vempire' (I'm not going to write the full title, because it's a bit stupid and I can't spell most of the words) as an EP when it might well represent their best work. In my eyes, whether EP or album, this length of release suits Cradle's early, more extreme sound, since it allows the attack to be preserved without having to resort to too much of the storytelling/interlude breaks which are often tedious. If the songs are going to be long, I would rather the band chose a few great ones rather than a couple too many, some of which lack quality.

The main things that Cradle gain when releasing 36 minutes of music are brutality and focus. Pre-2000 Cradle was always more of a black metal prospect than many would admit nowadays and 1996 would appear to be an annus mirabilis for these guys, with two great records. The style is reasonably similar to the following full-length 'Dusk...and Her Embrace', though there's something more extreme and traditional going on in songs like 'Queen of Winter, Throned', when at the 7 minute mark Dani Filth screams like Varg Vikernes at his most perturbed, following which a vaguely folk/viking melody crops up that wouldn't embarrass Enslaved if it appeared on their late 90s work. Of course, it's followed by the sound of a woman climaxing and the famous line that inspired the 'Vestal Masturbation' t-shirt, but that's par for the course for these guys - I mean, there's a naked and bloody woman on the cover. (Just out of interest, does anyone know if Cradle got the female singers to do the sound effects, or if those were supplied by the "model succubi", or even the backing vocalist known only as Rachel? I mean, Dani has a high voice, maybe we've just been listening to him jacking off on every Cradle album for years.)

What stands out about this release is that there aren't really any poor songs. It does irk me a little that 'She Mourns a Lengthening Shadow' snuck in when it's basically an interlude instrumental parked right between two decent songs, but that interlude isn't too awful and sets up the heavy opening of 'Rape and Ruin...' very well. The general style of the songs is black metal first and symphonic or gothic afterwards, with few keyboards for the most part and rather a lack of slower sections, except in the longer songs, which need them more and make better use of this dynamic than on 'Cruelty and the Beast'. When the guitars drop out of 'Queen of Winter, Throned', there is a distinct black metal atmosphere of danger and the smell of flame that wouldn't be out of place on 'A Blaze in the Northern Sky' or 'De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas', the female vocals aside. I'm dropping big black metal names in here to emphasise the fact that 'Vempire' doesn't sound a million miles away from those guys, even if there are distinct rhythms, riffing styles, and vocals that you couldn't mistake for anyone but Cradle. The extremity is all there, and that's what makes the extra trappings all the more palatable: an hour of poncy goth wank this is not, there's substance on which to place the dressing and heaviness with which to make a contrast.

The individual talents on offer are generally better represented than other Cradle albums. The production is good, with no necro fuzz nor too much polish: everything has its place in the mix and neither rhythm nor melody dominates, making both the fast and the slower moments sound heavy and huge. The drums are slightly clattery for me, though I must say that Nick Barker does a very good job, never settling down to blast his way through a song or rest in the breaks. The riffs are a good mixture of tremolo black metal, doomier and atmospheric parts, and a sort of churning deathish style, all of which are represented to great effect in the closing 'Rape and Ruin...'. There's also one guitar solo, which doesn't necessarily define 'Nocturnal Supremacy' but is a big plus for the song. Robin Graves plays a surprisingly important role on bass, perhaps resulting in the much more interesting slower parts and more varied sound when anything other than blasting is happening; for example, the gradual opening of 'The Forest Whispers My Name' gives him about a minute to add detail, nor does he disappear as the band plunges into the heavier riffs. Dani Filth has his own unique style, a part of which I usually dislike: here, his high-pitched shrieks occasionally get on my nerves (it's impossible to hear what he's singing, which is a shame since he's an overblown yet terrific lyricist), but they are better than on many other albums, and he straddles the divide between almost every extreme vocal style, adding in some of his own for good measure.

'Vempire' doesn't end up a perfect release by any stretch of the imagination, but it does represent the point at which Cradle of Filth assimilated all of their talents into a meaningful whole and contains some of their better songs. This shits all over 'Cruelty and the Beast' and 'Damnation and a Day', and I would rather listen to 'Vempire' than many other black metal releases.