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Review: Cradle of Filth/Butcher Babies/High Parasite, O2 Academy
It’s the first night of the tour, ‘production difficulties’ are delaying the kick-off, and a long queue of remarkably patient metalheads – many of them dressed a tad prematurely for Halloween – stretches up the road and snakes round the corner. Finally, the doors are opened a full 45 minutes late and we stream in to find that a four-band bill has become a three-band bill. The losers are Black Satellite, who’ve flown all the way from New York to play for us but don’t make it as far as the stage. Later, Dani Filth will reveal that this apparently cursed show also inconvenienced the headliners when they got locked out of their tour bus (“We thought we’d have to perform in our pants”).
As the vocalist with veteran Yorkshire miseries My Dying Bride, Aaron Stainthorpe has a strong claim on being one of the founding fathers of both doom metal and goth metal. His new band, High Parasite, apparently operates in tandem with My Dying Bride, who are currently on hiatus, and gives him an outlet for something a little less funereal. Indeed, they’re billed as a ‘death pop’ act.
is needed now More than ever
Clad entirely in white for the occasion, perhaps to provide a contrast with the prevailing black attire, the droll frontman greets us with a polite “Good evening”, as though he’s about to deliver a set of lounge music. Instead, we get a selection of songs from debut album Forever We Burn, which, while being rather more uptempo, aren’t too far removed from ye olde doom metal template, with Stainthorpe’s familiar throat-ripping vocals very much to the fore. Hate Springs Eternal certainly delivers on the dark pop side of the promise, while Grave Intentions and Concentric Nightmares serve up the gloom we’ve come to expect and are ably performed by the Parasites (including their mysterious masked bassist).
Last time LA’s Butcher Babies played here, supporting Fear Factory at SWX, they were one woman down, as Carla Harvey was undergoing emergency eye surgery. Now it emerges that she’s left the band altogether to return to her original career path in the ‘deathcare’ industry (she has a degree in mortuary science, which is probably the most heavy metal qualification one could possess). That leaves Heidi Shepherd to carry the show, which she does with considerable headbanging enthusiasm.
As usual with the Butcher Babies, you can’t help but wish they could channel that some of that boundless energy into writing a few really killer songs. Shepherd has a great singing voice, as she demonstrates during sole ballad Last December, but makes little use of it, preferring to roar like a female Phil Anselmo. A new song unveiled tonight bodes well however, and the band certainly succeed in whipping up a wild circle pit.
While many fans still fondly wear their Jesus is a Cunt T-shirts, extreme metallers Cradle of Filth’s tabloid-baiting days are over – though watch out for what happens when they finally release their long-awaited collaboration with Dani Filth’s wealthy Suffolk neighbour Ed Sheeran. But they haven’t sustained a successful career over more than three decades by churning out the same black metal outrage. A clear musical evolution has seen Satan’s fun-sized emissary and chums move into slicker symphonic metal territory. It helps that Dani hasn’t fired anybody for a couple of years, allowing the talented current line-up to gel as a unit.
The stage is garlanded with foliage and flanked by giant green-eyed alien skeletons for this fan-pleasing ‘By Order of the Dragon’ production, which draws on albums from across the Filthies’ catalogue, stretching all the way back to 1994’s The Principle of Evil Made Flesh.
Maybe it’s muscle memory from the summer festival circuit or that recent Australian tour, but they don’t seem at all rusty as they power through the set, with just a brief break to sing Happy Birthday to their guitar tech. Dani’s distinctive shriek is undiminished and he showcases his signature stage moves: shadow-boxing and hopping up and down on the spot as though unable to contain his demonic energy.
The ever-popular Nymphetamine (Fix) permits Marek Šmerda and Donny Burbage to showcase some terrific twin lead guitar. It’s great to see the Filthies making such good use of the talents of keyboardist/vocalist Zoe Marie Federoff too. Halloween-themed recent single Malignant Perfection makes its live debut and passes off without a hitch despite Dani’s warning that it may go horribly wrong.
It’s not long before waves of crowd-surfers are heading stagewards. Meanwhile, the bloke in front of me appears to be serenading his girlfriend with the lyrics to Born in a Burial Gown. Hey – romantic gestures take many forms.
With that curfew fast approaching after multiple delays and over-runs they just have enough time to squeeze in Scorched Earth Erotica and bound back to career standout album Midian for Her Ghost in the Fog before the plug is pulled on their pleasingly infernal racket. Here’s hoping the rest of the tour runs a little more smoothly.
All pix by Mike Evans
Read more: Metal & Prog Picks: October 2024
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