Cradle Of Filth - Bitter Suites to Succubi

[Mark]

Cradle Of Filth - Bitter Suites to Succubi
Century Media - 2001
By Stephen Lord

While bands such as Fear Factory could be accused of diluting their sound to make it more accessible to the record buying public, Cradle of Filth seem to be moving in quite the opposite direction. Unlike the Factory's latest offering Digimortal, one would be very surprised to hear of Bitter Suites to Succubi being given away free with the purchase of a suit at Roger David.

Released in the aftermath of Cradle of Filth's recent Australian tour, Suites consists of six new tracks, three songs re-recorded from their first album The Principle of Evil Made Flesh and an unlikely cover of The Sisters of Mercy's 'No Time to Cry', which is destined to provoke the same sort of reaction that the band's reinterpretation of 'Hallowed Be Thy Name' caused among Iron Maiden fans.

Those who enjoy Cradle of Filth will know what to expect by now, and those who hope to be converted by this album are in for a disappointment. With a typically lurid cover design that serves as an advertisement for the disc's contents, Suites is best described as more of the same. Tales of Satan, death and netherworldly creatures dominate, delivered with the usual pomp, technical prowess and demonic lyrics that only the most attentive listener will be able to translate.

Lush keyboard arrangements and instrumental pieces like 'Sin Deep My Wicked Angel' and 'Dinner at Deviant's Palace' add atmosphere and texture. The latter wouldn't have sounded out of place as part of the music score for The Exorcist, and brings to mind images of Pink Floyd being booked as the house band for one of Dracula's cocktail parties.

One of the disc's major disappointments is that Sara Jezebel's voice is noticeably lacking. Her operatic vocals make an occasional appearance in the background, but unlike some of the band's other efforts, she is not given much of a chance to showcase her considerable skill.

That aside, Cradle of Filth prove here that they are still masters of the horror themed metal sub-genre they helped to create. Bitter Suites to Succubi is neither for the faint hearted, nor your reviewer's cup of blood, but it is one album that the faithful won't want to miss.

[Tranze]

totally agree

Watch out for the newly released live album recorded in Nottingham in April 2001, which contents many of the best COF tracks in the first CD and a 2nd CD with remixes and a cover song in the final, etc...
Bitter Suites... is a traditional COF album (or EP´) with all the gore, black magic and laughable stuff in it and won´t disappoint any fan who listen to this awesome band since 1993, like me.
Still, the live album, which has the best growls from Dani, makes me remember of Nick Barker (now on Dimmu B.) and what could have been this album with him!!
And, like the very bad live album from awesome In Flames, the drums are too low, I can´t hear them enough, still, it´s a very good live album, specially the old songs from "Principle..." and " Vempire" and, like this "Bitter Suits for Succubi", I strongly recommend the very recent Live album for each COF listener.

This band won´t disappoint nobody!!

8 out of 10 for "Succubi..." and 9 out of 10 for "Live Bait..."

Miguel Almeida - Portugal