“You either love them or loathe them, and that is what will always make them one of the best Metal bands of all time.” Rob Milz TMO

You can tell the boys have been dabbling in some other ideas, possibly due to the addition of new guitarist James McIlroy, but this is still nevertheless CRADLE at their best, and they in no way have lost any of their chemistry or fury...not to mention their dirty minds aren’t going anywhere soon. If anything they have only gotten better and nastier, if you need proof, just listen to songs like “Nemesis”, “Medusa And Hemlock” or “Coffin Fodder” and the familiarity will strike you like a case of plague, yet the feeling of progression (no, not that kind of progression, thankfully) will have you begging for more. However, to say that they have returned to form after the 2003 underappreciated masterpiece “Damnation And A Day” would be only half true...rather, they have taken all of the elements that make for that unmistakable C.O.F sound along with their improved chops, lost the concept album uh...concept, and wrote quite possibly their best album to date!

Opening with the instrumental “Satyriasis”, a choir in perfect chorus matched with stunning passages from the Bulgarian “Vulgarian” Philharmonic Orchestra in typical C.O.F fashion, your aural palette is properly cleansed only to be promptly violated in the filthiest of fashions by a meat mincing guitar riff matched with Adrian’s relentless double-bass drumming, followed by Dani screaming “Cunt! Cunt! Cunt! Gilded Cunt!” with a shriek so blood-curdling, it would make a banshee tuck her tail between her legs in embarrassment and promptly return to the hole from which she came. Yep, now you know...this is CRADLE OF FILTH, and you’re definitely in for one hell of a ride.

Now, I friggin’ love CRADLE, why people have such a problem with them I’ll never know. Why people had such a problem with “Damnation And A Day” I will really never know, as it is one of my favourite albums ever! Now, the consensus is “Man, they haven’t put out anything good after “Midian” or “Awe, they sold out when they went to Sony”, that’s a crock, I know “Midian” is a kick ass album, we all do, in fact I think all of their albums are awesome in their own right and I enjoy every one of them for different reasons. However, that doesn’t mean that a band can’t get better and/or try new things or (gasp!) grow, and I think it’s really closed minded and foolish when people feel like that and/or say things like that. On this record you’re going to hear everything from Thrash to Death Metal, Classical and Opera, Gothic Rock and Classic Heavy Metal, Black Metal duh (“Mother Of Abominations” opens up with a very EMPEROR-like riff), why, there’s even a couple little Viking Metal riffs in there too. Sometimes music just reaches a point where it is difficult to classify it because the band is growing or is in transition, that’s where C.O.F are today, and I think that’s where people end up getting angry. When people can’t understand something, they become angry with it, thus pushing it aside or worse yet criticize it. It’s just plain simple, the better you get, the more popular you get, the more popular you get, the more fingers there are pointing at you. That’s just people for you, and I just think that those people are just ashamed to admit that they really love this band.

About the title: “Nymphetamine”. Where would a word like that come from and what does it mean? Well, take Nymph (definition: a lovely young woman) and put it with amphetamine (definition: a drug used esp. as a stimulant) and there you go, but what does that mean? Well according to the band, “Nymphetamine” is supposed to be an addiction to classical women. Hmmm, either way it’s a pretty original title, and the originality doesn’t stop there, the title track itself is something way out of character, it’s a duet featuring Liv Kristine. A Duet?!? And, considering the fact that I usually can’t stand female vocals (let alone duets) unless they are the likes of KITTIE or ARCH ENEMY, Liv Kristine’s voice fits in perfectly, quite pleasant actually. Not to mention, this is the first duet CRADLE OF FILTH have done to my knowledge, and in my opinion it turned out great. And yes, Sarah Jezebel Deva is still with the band, she didn’t get replaced...I mean c’mon, she’s just as big a part of the C.O.F sound as any other, she just doesn’t do duets with Dani or anything...yet?

To put it bluntly, CRADLE OF FILTH’s “Nymphetamine” kicks ass! This album is just as strong, if not stronger than any of their other efforts and I believe it is strong enough to win back some old fans, as well as being a great way to greet some new fiends as well. With songs like “Coffin Fodder“, “Filthy Little Secret“ and “Gilded Cunt“ the heaviest of Cradle craving’s will be satisfied and “Medusa And Hemlock“, “Nemesis“ and “Mother Of Abominations“ are bound to become CRADLE classics.

Bottom line, CRADLE OF FILTH are CRADLE OF FILTH, always have been and always will be, and one rule will always apply to this band: You either love them or loathe them, and that is what will always make them one of the best Metal bands of all time. \m/ (Online November 5, 2004)