Review: Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa
Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 9:54AM 
Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa by Cradle of Filth is the latest and ninth studio album by heavy metal band Cradle of Filth. I find it to be quite a breath of fresh air when comparing it to the previous album, Godspeed on the Devil’s Thunder. Although I won’t say that I hated that album, I do think it was much too generic and it just didn’t feel like they put much effort into it. I thought that I was potentially losing interest in this band or maybe their musical genius was fading away.
Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa breathed life back into my love for Cradle of Filth and I was disappointed that I did not hear it sooner. I was a little let down that there were no instrumental tracks and I was not very surprised to find out that this was the first album where this has happened. Another let down for fans is the fact that the band’s primary female vocalist, Sarah Jezebel Deva, does not appear on this album. She has moved on to start her own project. This is a downer because she has such an amazing voice and because this time the main character of the story in the album is a female. It makes you dream of what could have been possible if she were on the album. I’m sure they would have had some very cool parts for her. Regardless, there are some satisfying female vocals primarily done by Lucy Atkins.
The album's story is about the Biblical demon Lilith; the alleged first wife of Adam. Cradle of Filth have often centered songs and entire albums around historic killers. Godspeed on the Devil’s Thunder tells us the story of Gilles De Rais, a serial killer of children in the 1400s. However, Cradle of Filth created an original story about Lilith. Lead singer Dani Filth explained that it was about the revival of Lilith into contemporary civilization as a divine being and that it is “a nice gothic horror story.” I have always had adoration for his lyrics and the stories behind them. I also admire the fact that I always seem to learn a ton of new words with every Cradle of Filth listening spree I go on.
I believe I could go so far as to say that these are some of the best lyrics Dani Filth has ever written. I believe Cradle of Filth has the most literate and compelling phrases in their songs compared to almost any other band that I’ve listened to. Their dark and morbid imagery has always been astounding and I think they really took it to the next level with Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa. I find the narrative behind the songs to be very well put together and you can see that Dani Filth was very motivated to astonish all listeners.
This is all around a very strong album. I find the pacing was done well; the band really took their time to make sure that this album would unfold to fans in a certain way. This is one that is sure to reel in new fans. Yes, even those of you that swore up and down that you would never listen to Cradle of Filth. All the musicians did a fantastic job. The music had a nice flow and it was done well and with class. The solos were very memorable and tend to play in your head over and over. The vocals were absolutely top notch. Dani Filth has pipes like no one else, and he displays it like I’ve never heard before. For Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa, I think he wrote songs that were nothing short of perfect for him and his voice. I also find that he varied them very nicely, so I was never bored for a second. After the release of Godspeed on the Devil’s Thunder, Cradle of Filth have given fans a true favour by doing this one with a lot of heart.
As someone who has loved Cradle of Filth as long as I have, I am very pleased to be able to tip my hat to new material. They had scared me with the last album. I thought that they would go down in history as another mediocre metal band but I should have known that would never happen. I hope they will continue to surprise and enthral me for years to come. Believers and non-believers, this is one for the ages. Now, I will just sit back to wait and see if they can top it.
cradle of filth, goth, metal in Review
Reader Comments (1)
Very good review, Laura Leigh - as someone who has no clue about this band's music, I felt I got a real sense of it from your descriptions and responses.
Editorial comments: remember to place end punctuation inside quotes, not outside.
There's a debate among grammar types about whether collective nouns, such as "band," take the singular or plural - see this link. We'll talk about it in class but I would say, whichever one chooses, be consistent.
http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/collective-nouns.aspx