Entry 1625 - Cradle of Filth - The Principle of Evil Made Flesh

Style: blackened death metal with gothic influences

Thoughts: Before the hundreds of thousands of records sold. Before the gimmicks. Before the fame. Before all the bullshit... before everything came The Principle of Evil made Flesh.

Every band has their origin, even mega bands such as Cradle of Filth start somewhere. In the case of this British powerhouse their debut album is quite different than nearly every album that came after it. Sure the DNA that makes the band what it is can be found here, but overall this is a fundamentally different beats. 

First and foremost: Dani. The vocals are so different than any of the follow up releases it's hard to believe this is actually Dani Filth on vocals. Instead of the shriek, this is more of a rasp, like a dying gasp for air over and over again. Hardly the banshee vocals that would eventually become the staple of the band.

Secondly the riffing. Instead of the extreme black metal infused gothic riff fest that the later albums would be the is a huge death metal aspect to these songs. Many of these riffs are outright heavy, one may even say they are brutal from time to time  The riffs are still intricate and have hints of the Iron Maiden harmonies that would come later, but this is very much a blackened death metal album. 

They keyboards are also much less prevalent than they would be in later albums. Most of the songs are prominently guitar driven with the keys providing a melodic accent here and there rather than being a main force.  

The production is also much less clean than any of the later releases. There is a muddiness to this that makes the record have a more honest... less polished feel to it. This very much feels like a less refined version of what the band would become. 

Despite all this difference, The Principle of Evil Made flesh is still an extremely enjoyable album. It's nice to hear the band just play music they want to at this point rather than trying to cater to a specific audience like they would with some later albums. This, like many other albums at the time, is just the band putting all their ideas out there and seeing what sticks. 

I love albums like this. There are no rules, no per-conceived notions on what the band "should" be. It's just the band and their music - take it or leave it.