Midian rewiew

Music For Nations, 2000 10/10

There is not much to be said about this album really since black metal can hardly be done better than this. Most of you have probably already heard it already - beautiful orchestral keyboard arrangements, soft female voices, choirs, the most extreme black metal vocals and extraordinary riffing that will not leave one single mortal soul untouched. After the "From The Cradle To Enslave" MCD many fans of the band were scared to death that they would start bringing techno tunes into their songs like they did thereupon but fortunately Cradle of Filth has seemed to realize that it was a bad idea. Cradle of Filth has, as always, undergone a few line-up changes since their last recording. Behind the keys Martin Powell (Anathema, My Dying Bride) is now to be found and they have also found a new talented drummer in the Swede Adrian Erlandsson (At The Gates). The line-up changes doesn´t seem to hold the Cradle back since they are becoming better and better all the time but one can´t help to worry about how long Dani´s throat will hold up. This is one of the best releases of the year and the most diverse Cradle album so far. As usual the angelic voice of Sarah Jezebel Deva (Therion, Dimmu Borgir) can also be heard here and there on the album. Beautiful artwork, beautiful poetic lyrics and beautiful music - "Midian" is as close as possible to perfect and marks an important milestone in the on-going history of Cradle of Filth.