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CRADLE OF FILTH
Midnight In The Labyrinth

Peaceville (2012)
Rating: 3/10

Ah yes, the much maligned Midnight In The Labyrinth. This very talked about album features orchestral versions of some of Cradle Of Filth’s fans’ most loved works (ie the first four albums; 1994’s The Principle Of Evil Made Flesh, 1996 EP V Empire, 1996’s Dusk… And Her Embrace and 1998’s Cruelty And The Beast). It features a lot of the band’s early work and follows the format surprisingly closely but, notably, replacing the main instruments with orchestral ones. The set includes ‘The Rape And Ruin Of Angels (Hosannas In Extremis)’, ‘Dusk And Her Embrace’, ‘The Twisted Nails of Faith’, and more as well as one all new track, ‘Goetia (Invoking the Unclean)’.

As a bigger fan of the UK band’s post-major label work than their early ones, I considered myself a lot more open to this idea than many of the diehard fans. Even for a latecomer like myself, Midnight In The Labyrinth is a pretty mighty let down, despite being a very cool idea.

Realistically, the only disc worth talking about here is the first one, which features snippets of narration / kanoodling from Dani Filth and Sarah Jezebel Deva. Disc two features basically the same songs as complete instrumentals. It’s not that these interpretations are bad, it’s just that they go nowhere, with some mild exceptions. Without a proper vocal or an accompanying visual, it’s hard to wrap your mind around any of this.

There are a few bright spots though. For example, ‘Funeral In Carpathia’ is gorgeous as an orchestration and the band give you just enough extra to allow you to feel where they are taking it. It’s a twisted take that is almost better than the original. ‘The Forest Whispers My Name’ is another notable exception with its spoken word journey that clues you in just enough to the journeyman’s mind that you can understand why the music is as it is.

On the other side of that coin, ‘Dusk And Her Embrace’ falls flat on its face, losing all the power of the original due to the keyboard heavy instrumentation, and ‘The Rape And Ruin Of Angels (Hosannas In Extremis)’ starts off strong but becomes redundant and so brooding that it loses your attention by mid-song.

The lone new song, ‘Goetia (Invoking The Unclean)’, is subpar at best, starting off in a rather interesting way but failing to capitalize on what it has going by turning into a self-proclaimed “aural séance” that makes little, if any, sense.

All in all, this album is a mammoth two-disc set that drowns you in its soundtrack approach. Without a proper movie for it to follow, it just becomes a bit of a muddled mess after the fifth or sixth track. I am a huge fan of orchestral scores but this just doesn’t do it for me. If Cradle Of Filth had chosen a half dozen songs and set it to an animated story or a short film this could have been something truly special. Without an aid however, the songs just wander the labyrinth searching for a home that they never find.

Mark Fisher

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