ALBUM REVIEW: Existence Is Futile – Cradle Of Filth

CRADLE OF FILTH have been an extreme metal institution for three decades now; from their simpler black metal beginnings through to their current incarnation as one of the UK’s most famous metal exports, blending all things gothic and macabre with an ear for the symphonic and blasphemous. With their thirteenth (unlucky for some) album Existence Is Futile, the question is whether they can sustain the creative renaissance they’ve been undergoing arguably since 2015’s Hammer Of The Witches, or if, much like its title, this album’s existence is futile. 

From the outset it’s apparent this is a CRADLE OF FILTH album, but that’s no bad thing. Their sound is well-established now, Dani Filth’s shriek instantly recognisable, along with his various styles from low intonations to screeching wails. This works mainly in their favour throughout the album’s frankly bloated 70-minute runtime, a bombastic, macabre circus revelling in gothic horror. While in the past they’ve delved into occult legend or historical fact for inspiration, this time they’ve taken the far more simple and perhaps relatable route of writing an album about sheer existential terror. The world is in bad shape – we all know it – and with that in mind Filth and his merry band are ringleaders heralding the coming apocalypse. 

After The Fate Of The World On Our Shoulders sets the scene with ominous strings and a swelling classical arrangement replete with timpanis and choirs, Existential Terror roars into life with thundering double bass drums and grandiose orchestration. Blast beats underpin furious guitar work, Filth screeches like a banshee hellbent on destruction, and it’s a glorious cornucopia of destruction and grim tidings. It’s followed by Necromantic Fantasies, which features some stomping, almost trad metal riffs, and Crawling King Chaos, a sprawl of bombastic keys and frenetic guitars that swirl around blast beats and howling vocals. 

Here Comes A Candle – (Infernal Lullaby) is a foreboding interlude before Black Smoke Curling From The Lips Of War returns once more to the fray with its NWOBHM-inspired duelling guitar leads. “No escape from an enemy of billions/Pity the creatures that suffer our dominion” declares Suffer Our Dominion late into the album’s second half, as clear a sign as any that this is perhaps their most straightforward work in years, at least lyrically. It delivers a cautionary tale of ecological collapse, with its opening seeing long-time collaborator Doug Bradley declare “The ability to sustain life on Earth is shrinking, in perfect unison with rising population,” as well as “either we reduce our race voluntarily, or nature will do it for us – and she will be fucking brutal”. 

Closing the album prior to two bonus tracks is Us, Dark, Invincible which relishes in the darkness and the macabre, a slow-burning beginning that moves swiftly to a furious speed. It contains perhaps the most straightforward hook of the album, but delivered with CRADLE OF FILTH‘s well-established venomous bite. To answer the question posed earlier, Existence Is Futile is futile in name only. It’s a stark warning and examination of not only the destructive behaviour, but the inaction and apathy that lets it flourish, which is leading to the destruction of the planet. It revels in terror with baroque, devilish glee. As soundtracks to the apocalypse go, you could certainly do much worse. 

Rating: 8/10

Existence Is Futile is out now via Nuclear Blast Records.

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