Cruelty and the Beast
Encyclopedia
Cruelty and the Beast is the third studio album by English extreme metal
Extreme metal
Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. The term usually refers to a more abrasive, harsher, underground, non-commercialized style or sound nearly always associated with genres like black metal,...

 band Cradle of Filth
Cradle of Filth
Cradle of Filth are an English extreme metal band, formed in Suffolk in 1991. The band's musical style evolved from black metal to a cleaner and more "produced" amalgam of gothic metal, symphonic black metal, and other extreme metal styles, while their lyrical themes and imagery are heavily...

. It is a concept album
Concept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...

 based on the legend of the Hungarian "blood countess" Elizabeth Báthory
Elizabeth Báthory
Countess Elizabeth Báthory de Ecsed was a countess from the renowned Báthory family of Hungarian nobility. Although in modern times she has been labelled the most prolific serial killer in history, the number of murders has been debated...

. The album features guest narration on certain passages by Ingrid Pitt
Ingrid Pitt
Ingrid Pitt was an actress best known for her work in horror films of the 1960s and 1970s.-Background:Pitt was born Ingoushka Petrov in Warsaw, Poland to a German father of Russian descent and a Polish Jewish mother. During World War II she and her family were imprisoned in a concentration camp...

 in-character as Báthory; a role she first played in the Hammer
Hammer Film Productions
Hammer Film Productions is a film production company based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic "Hammer Horror" films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Hammer also produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and comedies and in later...

 film Countess Dracula
Countess Dracula
Countess Dracula is a 1971 Hammer horror film based on the legends surrounding the "Blood Countess" Elizabeth Báthory. It is in many ways atypical of Hammer's canon, attempting to broaden Hammer's output from Dracula and Frankenstein sequels....

in 1971.

The album ranked tenth in a Kerrang!
Kerrang!
Kerrang! is a UK-based magazine devoted to rock music published by Bauer Media Group. It was first published on June 6, 1981 as a one-off supplement in the Sounds newspaper...

 top ten "Essential Black Metal" albums list in 2000. and is regarded by many fans as one of Cradle of Filth
Cradle of Filth
Cradle of Filth are an English extreme metal band, formed in Suffolk in 1991. The band's musical style evolved from black metal to a cleaner and more "produced" amalgam of gothic metal, symphonic black metal, and other extreme metal styles, while their lyrical themes and imagery are heavily...

's classic releases. This was the last Cradle of Filth album to feature guitarist and songwriter Stuart Anstis
Stuart Anstis
Stuart Anstis is a former guitarist and songwriter for the British metal band Cradle of Filth. He was in the band from 1994 until 1999, appearing on four releases, as well as in the video for From the Cradle to Enslave...

, keyboardist Les Smith and drummer Nicholas Barker.

The production and mixing for Cruelty and the Beast has attracted some criticism, particularly for the sound quality of the drumming and the mixing of the female vocals and guitars. Observers have stated that the drums and guitars have a cold and haunting feel to them and this has resulted in much debate about the overall sound of the album. Several of the band members have expressed their disappointment with Sarah Jezebel Deva
Sarah Jezebel Deva
Sarah Jane , better known by her stage name Sarah Jezebel Deva, is a British vocalist. She was the female vocalist in Cradle of Filth for 14 years and also fronts her own band, Angtoria. In 2009, Deva started her self-titled solo project. The debut album A Sign of Sublime was released in February...

 revealing on the band's official messageboards, "the production is absolute rubbish. When I first heard it I had tears in my eyes. I had spent 25 hours working in the studio on that album and it sounded like I had my head in a toilet. You couldn't hear most of my vocals. The songs are amazing, but the mix was an outrage. Most of us felt the album was ruined".

Track listing

Personnel

  • Dani Filth
    Dani Filth
    Dani Filth is the lyricist, vocalist and founding member of the metal band Cradle of Filth.-Personal life:...

     - Vocals
  • Stuart Anstis
    Stuart Anstis
    Stuart Anstis is a former guitarist and songwriter for the British metal band Cradle of Filth. He was in the band from 1994 until 1999, appearing on four releases, as well as in the video for From the Cradle to Enslave...

     - Guitars
  • Gian Pyres
    Gian Pyres
    Gian Pyres is a British guitarist, best known for his work with extreme metal band Cradle of Filth for which he co-wrote and recorded guitars for Dusk And Her Embrace , Cruelty and the Beast , Midian , Bitter Suites to Succubi and Lovecraft & Witch Hearts...

     - Guitars
  • Robin Eaglestone
    Robin Eaglestone
    Robin Mark Eaglestone is a British musician.- Biography :He was the bassist for the metal band Cradle of Filth. Also known as Robin Graves, he joined Cradle of Filth in 1992 as 2nd guitarist for the recording of the Invoking the Unclean demo then later changed to bass for the Total Fucking...

     - Bass
  • Lecter
    Les Smith
    Les 'Lecter' Smith is an English keyboard player. He originally did session work on keyboards for the British band Anathema on their 1996 album Eternity before joining extreme metal band Cradle of Filth. During his time in Cradle of Filth , his stage persona consisted of wearing a custom Vicar...

     - Keyboards
  • Nicholas Barker
    Nicholas Barker
    Nicholas Howard Barker is an extreme metal drummer .- Biography :He was the original drummer for British metal band Cradle of Filth, playing on the first three albums. After leaving in 1999, he joined Norwegian symphonic black metal band Dimmu Borgir...

     - Drums
  • Sarah Jezebel Deva
    Sarah Jezebel Deva
    Sarah Jane , better known by her stage name Sarah Jezebel Deva, is a British vocalist. She was the female vocalist in Cradle of Filth for 14 years and also fronts her own band, Angtoria. In 2009, Deva started her self-titled solo project. The debut album A Sign of Sublime was released in February...

     - Female vocals
  • Ingrid Pitt
    Ingrid Pitt
    Ingrid Pitt was an actress best known for her work in horror films of the 1960s and 1970s.-Background:Pitt was born Ingoushka Petrov in Warsaw, Poland to a German father of Russian descent and a Polish Jewish mother. During World War II she and her family were imprisoned in a concentration camp...

    - Guest vocals on "The Twisted Nails of Faith" and "Báthory Aria"
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK