at this year's wacken festival i finally crossed a long time want off the list. i am not speaking about a record, although i also bought a record want there, what i mean is a live appearance of cradle of filth. i couldn't make it happen to that point, but this night of the 31st of july to the first of august the time had come. the days before had been exhausting. constant rain turned the festival site into a big puddle of mud and especially the folks that were camping over the weekend were pretty drained.
this and the fact that cradle was the last act on the mainstage of the whole festival, the crowd wasn't at a high energy rate. me included, even though i was able to drive home every night and sleep in my warm, dry bed - yes, i'm old, ok?! dani filth was a bit pissed considering this situation but the band still delivered a great show and i enjoyed every bit. at this day their new record 'hammer of the witches' was released and i pre-ordered it, of course.
actually the album was released on tenth of july but the pressing plant delayed the vinyl delivery. so this date was set instead. i don't know about the nuclear blast store versions but my emp mailorder exclusive couldn't adhere to this date too. so all in all after over a month i got my opaque blue version and, even though i just had a few spins of the record, i have to say this album is pretty good. i think it's safe to say that it's better than 'darkly, darkly venus aversa' and 'manticore'. maybe at eye level with 'godspeed and the devil's thunder'. time will tell.
after the anew departure of paul allender, the main song-writer, i feared cof couldn't keep up to former glory, but after the first listen of the record all my worries had been washed away. with the two new guitarists they even added a new facet to their trademark sound. while paul allender wrote the songs for one guitar, now the pieces hold some real nice iron maiden twin-guitar harmonies. we will see if this line-up is of consistency. the lyrical concept is pretty cool too. history gets turned up-side down and the witches go on hunt for church dignitaries. check the first single 'right wing of the garden triptych'. 200 copies on opaque blue. nuclear blast. 2015.
