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Album Details

• Artist: Cradle Of Filth
• EP:
Bitter Suites To Succubi
• Label: Abracadaver
• Year of Release: 2001
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: solitaryman on 2012-11-26

Marked improvements and heightened success were quickly leading Cradle Of Filth into the world-wide spotlight, the pinnacle of this transition being 2000's Midian, an album of marked improvement in production and sound values. Easily accessible (relative to the extreme nature of their sound, of course) and quickly sold, Midian made Cradle of Filth a household name. While it was a fantastic record (preceeded by what I consider their absolute best, Cruelty and the Beast) in it's own right, it left many fans and critics on the fence. Unsure of whether or not the band was rooted in it's underground black metal, lo-fi gothic horror stories or some point in between. The obvious, which would be cemented by the LP-length EP Bitter Suites To Succubi, was that the band was travelling forward with all of it's past influences, in order to forge a totally unique, if somewhat watered down, musical identity.



Bitter Suites To Succubi marked a transitional phase for the band, shifting members (longtime bassist Robin Graves and guitarist Gian Pyres would not return) and record labels (from Music For Nations, to their own Abracadaver for this EP, to Sony Records for a brief stint in the future). Despite the changes that have seemingly always followed the band throughout their entire history, Bitter Suites is a perfectly logical continuation of Midian, featuring several new compositions of similar direction. The true treats, however, are the much-needed reworkings of several tracks from their debut record, "Summer Dying Fast", "The Principle Of Evil Made Flesh", and "The Black Goddess Rises". These are spaced out with tracks ranging from average (the simplistic "Born In A Burial Gown" and the so-so cover of The Sisters Of Mercy's "No Time To Cry") to the outstanding (the apocolyptic thrashing of "All Hope In Eclipse", and the twisted "Scorched Earth Erotica"). This EP has the distinction of including my absolute favorite Cradle of Filth interlude piece, "Dinner At Deviant's Palace", a truly haunting combination of sound effects, strangled melody and a reversed recording of guitarist Paul Allender's song reading the Lord's Prayer. Absolutely creepy.




While the early stages of the band's shift into a more accessible, polished and refined state were tough for me to swallow, there's no doubt how good Cradle Of Filth were at conjuring up atmosphere and imagery with intensity and aplomb. While many bands have attempted to point their middle fingers at their alienated fanbase on the course of their own evolution, few have done so and remained respectable and successful. CoF are one such band, even if much of what they were to do on future releases would be less than satisfactory. Never has this group strayed from whatever course they felt was best for them, and that much is certainly worthy of applause.

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