The Principle of Evil Made Flesh
Encyclopedia
The Principle of Evil Made Flesh is the debut album by English extreme metal
band Cradle of Filth
. Its sound is significantly rawer than the style the band would subsequently develop, and Dani Filth
had yet to find the voice he would use on future recordings. Some of Principles tracks were later re-recorded on V Empire
and Bitter Suites to Succubi
.
Gavin Baddeley
's The Gospel of Filth
describes the album and its place within (or alongside) the contemporary black metal
scene:
The cover is a stock image from Nigel Wingrove
's Redemption portfolio, chosen in part under the influence of Type O Negative
's Bloody Kisses
sleeve. The CD booklet also features a Baphomet
pentagram on the back cover, and photos of the band members wearing corpse paint
, inverted cross necklaces, and T-shirts featuring the black metal acts Marduk
and Darkthrone
. The album's lyrics make reference to Set
, the Valkyrie
, Hecate
, Baphomet
, Artemis
, Bastet, Astarte
, Ishtar
, Khem
, Uzza
, Eve
, Aleister Crowley
(through quotation of "Do what thou wilt
"), Diana
, and Lilith
(who, sixteen years later, would take centre stage for Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa
). The sleeve also quotes Hegel
and Swinburne
.
Additional vocals on "A Dream of Wolves in the Snow" are performed by Anathema
's Darren White. This would be the last album featuring guitarist Paul Ryan
and keyboardist Benjamin Ryan
. Paul Allender
also left the band at this point, but returned five years later for Midian
.
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...
. Its sound is significantly rawer than the style the band would subsequently develop, and Dani Filth
Dani Filth
Dani Filth is the lyricist, vocalist and founding member of the metal band Cradle of Filth.-Personal life:...
had yet to find the voice he would use on future recordings. Some of Principles tracks were later re-recorded on V Empire
V Empire (or Dark Faerytales in Phallustein)
V Empire is an EP by British metal band Cradle of Filth, and their first release following their 1994 debut album, The Principle of Evil Made Flesh. It was the band's final release for Cacophonous Records, and was hastily written and recorded for that label as a contractual obligation, before the...
and Bitter Suites to Succubi
Bitter Suites to Succubi
Cradle of Filth's Bitter Suites to Succubi is essentially an EP—or "transitional mini album" as the band's singer Dani Filth would have it; bridging the gap between Midian and Damnation and a Day while the band negotiated their label change from Music for Nations to Sony...
.
Gavin Baddeley
Gavin Baddeley
Gavin Baddeley is an ordained Reverend in the Church of Satan, and an experienced journalist who has worked for The Observer and Metal Hammer. He is the occult authority for the BBC and Channel 4, has addressed Cambridge University, and has been profiled in The Independent and The London Evening...
's The Gospel of Filth
The Gospel of Filth
The Gospel of Filth: A Bible of Decadence & Darkness is a book by Dani Filth and Gavin Baddeley, documenting the history of the band Cradle of Filth and straying further afield to explore their influences and "lay bare the fascinating underworld of contemporary culture".-Biography:According to the...
describes the album and its place within (or alongside) the contemporary black metal
Black metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....
scene:
The cover is a stock image from Nigel Wingrove
Nigel Wingrove
Nigel Wingrove , is the founder of the horror film company Redemption Films and the Salvation Group and creator of the online alternative female collective, Satanic Sluts...
's Redemption portfolio, chosen in part under the influence of Type O Negative
Type O Negative
Type O Negative was a gothic metal band from Brooklyn, New York City. The band also incorporated elements of doom metal and thrash metal. Their dramatic lyrical emphasis on themes of romance, depression, and death resulted in the nickname "The Drab Four"...
's Bloody Kisses
Bloody Kisses
Bloody Kisses is the third album by Brooklyn band Type O Negative. It marked significant stylistic growth for the band in terms of songwriting and production values, and it is also the last recording to feature Sal Abruscato on drums...
sleeve. The CD booklet also features a Baphomet
Baphomet
Baphomet is an imagined pagan deity , revived in the 19th century as a figure of occultism and Satanism. It appeared as a term for a pagan idol in trial transcripts of the Inquisition of the Knights Templar in the early 14th century...
pentagram on the back cover, and photos of the band members wearing corpse paint
Corpse paint
Corpse paint or corpsepaint is a style of black-and-white makeup, used mainly by black metal bands during live concerts and photo shoots. The makeup is used to intensify the bands' imagery of evil, inhumanity, and corpse-like decay. It is most commonly used just on the face, but also on arms and...
, inverted cross necklaces, and T-shirts featuring the black metal acts Marduk
Marduk (band)
Marduk is a black metal band from Norrköping, Sweden. The band formed in 1990 and released their first record in 1991. Their name is derived from the Babylonian god Marduk, patron deity of Babylon.-Musical style:...
and Darkthrone
Darkthrone
Darkthrone is a Norwegian black metal band. They formed in 1987 as a death metal band, but after embracing the black metal style in 1991, they became a driving force in the Norwegian black metal scene. For most of this period Darkthrone has consisted of just two musicians, Nocturno Culto and...
. The album's lyrics make reference to Set
Set (mythology)
Set was in Ancient Egyptian religion, a god of the desert, storms, and foreigners. In later myths he was also the god of darkness, and chaos...
, the Valkyrie
Valkyrie
In Norse mythology, a valkyrie is one of a host of female figures who decides who dies in battle. Selecting among half of those who die in battle , the valkyries bring their chosen to the afterlife hall of the slain, Valhalla, ruled over by the god Odin...
, Hecate
Hecate
Hecate or Hekate is a chthonic Greco-Roman goddess associated with magic, witchcraft, necromancy, and crossroads.She is attested in poetry as early as Hesiod's Theogony...
, Baphomet
Baphomet
Baphomet is an imagined pagan deity , revived in the 19th century as a figure of occultism and Satanism. It appeared as a term for a pagan idol in trial transcripts of the Inquisition of the Knights Templar in the early 14th century...
, Artemis
Artemis
Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Her Roman equivalent is Diana. Some scholars believe that the name and indeed the goddess herself was originally pre-Greek. Homer refers to her as Artemis Agrotera, Potnia Theron: "Artemis of the wildland, Mistress of Animals"...
, Bastet, Astarte
Astarte
Astarte is the Greek name of a goddess known throughout the Eastern Mediterranean from the Bronze Age to Classical times...
, Ishtar
Ishtar
Ishtar is the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility, love, war, and sex. She is the counterpart to the Sumerian Inanna and to the cognate north-west Semitic goddess Astarte.-Characteristics:...
, Khem
Min (god)
Min is an Ancient Egyptian god whose cult originated in predynastic times . He was represented in many different forms, but was often represented in male human form, shown with an erect penis which he holds in his left hand and an upheld right arm holding a flail...
, Uzza
Uzza
Al-Uzzá was one of the three chief goddesses of Arabian religion in pre-Islamic times and was worshiped as one of the daughters of Allah by the pre-Islamic arabs along with Allāt and Manāt. Al-‘Uzzá was also worshipped by the Nabataeans, who equated her with the Greek goddess Aphrodite Ourania...
, Eve
Eve
Eve is the first woman created by God in the Book of Genesis.Eve may also refer to:-People:*Eve , a common given name and surname*Eve , American recording artist and actress-Places:...
, Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley , born Edward Alexander Crowley, and also known as both Frater Perdurabo and The Great Beast, was an influential English occultist, astrologer, mystic and ceremonial magician, responsible for founding the religious philosophy of Thelema. He was also successful in various other...
(through quotation of "Do what thou wilt
Thelema
Thelema is a religious philosophy that was established, defined and developed by the early 20th century British writer and ceremonial magician, Aleister Crowley. He believed himself to be the prophet of a new age, the Æon of Horus, based upon a religious experience that he had in Egypt in 1904...
"), Diana
Diana (mythology)
In Roman mythology, Diana was the goddess of the hunt and moon and birthing, being associated with wild animals and woodland, and having the power to talk to and control animals. She was equated with the Greek goddess Artemis, though she had an independent origin in Italy...
, and Lilith
Lilith
Lilith is a character in Jewish mythology, found earliest in the Babylonian Talmud, who is generally thought to be related to a class of female demons Līlīṯu in Mesopotamian texts. However, Lowell K. Handy notes, "Very little information has been found relating to the Akkadian and Babylonian view...
(who, sixteen years later, would take centre stage for Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa
Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa
Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa is the ninth studio album by English extreme metal band Cradle of Filth. It was released on November 1, 2010 by Peaceville Records...
). The sleeve also quotes Hegel
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was a German philosopher, one of the creators of German Idealism. His historicist and idealist account of reality as a whole revolutionized European philosophy and was an important precursor to Continental philosophy and Marxism.Hegel developed a comprehensive...
and Swinburne
Algernon Charles Swinburne
Algernon Charles Swinburne was an English poet, playwright, novelist, and critic. He invented the roundel form, wrote several novels, and contributed to the famous Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica...
.
Additional vocals on "A Dream of Wolves in the Snow" are performed by Anathema
Anathema (band)
Anathema are an English band from Liverpool primarily known for their ever evolving sound. Beginning as pioneers of the death/doom metal sub-genre, their later albums have been associated with genres such as alternative rock, progressive rock, art rock, new prog, and post-rock.-History:Anathema...
's Darren White. This would be the last album featuring guitarist Paul Ryan
Paul Ryan (guitarist)
Paul Ryan is a guitarist and singer for the Kansas-based technical death metal band Origin. He is the only member who has been continuously in the band since its formation in 1997. He is an extremely proficient guitarist in the genre of death metal and extensively utilizes extremely difficult...
and keyboardist Benjamin Ryan
Benjamin Ryan
Benjamin Ryan is a keyboard player and multi instrumentalist from Sudbury, in Suffolk, England.His earliest collaborations were with his guitar playing older brother Paul Ryan, with whom he went on to form Cradle of Filth, along with their school friend Daniel Davey Benjamin Ryan (brother of Paul...
. Paul Allender
Paul Allender
Paul Allender is the lead guitarist of the British extreme metal band Cradle of Filth.-Early life:...
also left the band at this point, but returned five years later for Midian
Midian (album)
Midian is the fourth studio album by Cradle of Filth, released on Halloween 2000. The album marks the return of Paul Allender and Gian Pyres to the band and the introduction of Adrian Erlandsson and Martin Powell...
.
Track listing
Personnel
- Dani FilthDani FilthDani Filth is the lyricist, vocalist and founding member of the metal band Cradle of Filth.-Personal life:...
- vocals - Paul AllenderPaul AllenderPaul Allender is the lead guitarist of the British extreme metal band Cradle of Filth.-Early life:...
- guitar - Nicholas BarkerNicholas BarkerNicholas 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 - Robin EaglestoneRobin EaglestoneRobin 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 guitar - Paul RyanPaul Ryan (agent)Paul Ryan is a British music agent for The Agency Group, and former guitarist of Cradle of Filth.His first foray into the music industry was as the original guitarist for Cradle of Filth, along with his brother Benjamin Ryan, and school friend Daniel Davey...
- guitar - Benjamin RyanBenjamin RyanBenjamin Ryan is a keyboard player and multi instrumentalist from Sudbury, in Suffolk, England.His earliest collaborations were with his guitar playing older brother Paul Ryan, with whom he went on to form Cradle of Filth, along with their school friend Daniel Davey Benjamin Ryan (brother of Paul...
- keyboards - Andrea Meyer - backing vocals
- Darren White - additional vocals on "A Dream of Wolves in the Snow"