A Triumph of Symphonic Black Metal – 100%
SlavicBes, August 9th, 2021
Written based on this version: 2003, CD, Epic Records
Cradle of Filth had always been a bit controversial band oscilating between underground metal and pomp metal that could eventually attract listeners who are not usually into black metal. At least, when it comes to the present. When Damnation And A Day was being released, it was 2003 and many had cursed the band because of their “betrayal” that they had moved under a mainstream label Sony. The truth is that this “betrayal” only helped them to create a really magnificient and unbeaten piece of art that many bands could learn from. No, Sony did not mean a betrayal but a chance to do what they had always dreamt of – to compose an Hollywood-sounding quality soundtrack embracing Hell, Satan and an anti-christian prophecy.
It is said that Damnation And A Day is a conceptial album partly based on an epic poem called Paradise Lost written by John Milton in 1667. Indeed, this album, as well as the poem itself, deals with Satan and his companions trying to corrupt the man the God have created, however I would say “partly” is a weak word. I would rather say that Damnation And A Day mixes some parts from Paradise Lost, some parts from the Bible and some parts totally unrelated to any of those two. The reason I am saying this is that, for example, Paradise Lost ends with Adam and Eva being banned from the Paradise because they have eaten “the” apple, though the song (Serpent Tongue) about this scene is somewhere in the middle of the album. The album itself ends with a story about Methuselah of the Tribulation (The Smoke of Her Burning) who enters Heaven and kills all the sin in there, though this event is not described in Paradise Lost. Also, Paradise Lost has no mention of Satan/Lucifer being thrown from Heaven to Hell as in the poem Satan is already in Hell, though there is a song dealing with this event (Better to Reign in Hell). There are many changes. But I really ador the idea that this is not just a musical version of Paradise Lost, but it adds its own ideas and plot twists making an entirely new context. Very smart from Cradle of Filth as a result of what every song can surprise listeners with a completely new experience.
Lyrics-wise it´s one of the best efforts Dani Filth has ever written. Beautifully lyrical poems full of eerie and obscure moments will get you excited. His ability to describe his vision of something he read or saw before and re-tell it is phenomenal. It has always been like this, but when Cradle of Filth deals with biblical matters, it is always their best. My personal highlight is Babalon A.D. with a breathtaking description of Satan corrupting the people through the ages and planting his seed into the mankind´s hearts.
Damnation And A Day sets new standards for symphonic black metal. From the first seconds you can feel its monumental atmosphere enriched with the Budapest Film Orchestra and the forty-piece Budapest Film Choir. Such a magnificient orchestral work cannot be done by synthetizers, you need real musicians and a professional place to record. The beautifully dark and almost an apocalyptic feeling having the intro A Bruise Upon the Silent Moon sets the mood with sounds of a tempest which soon are accompanied with the strings and the choir slowly forming the main theme resulting in the first song The Promise of Fever having the same melody. What a powerful beginning which deals with the creation of the world, Hell and Heaven.
The grandiose orchestrations can be heard in every other song, whether it is a normal song or an instrumental song. The instrumental songs perfectly fits with the normal songs having Dani´s lyrics with their lyrical expression that literally says its own story. It is just something as if from another world. Not only that every song has a perfect orchestration, almost every song is pumped with an absolute energy meaning that even some longer songs really feel much shorter. There are slower songs like Thank God for Suffering or Serpent Tongue, but they do not interrupt the overall flow of the album.Damnation And A Day itself is a symphonic black metal album, but as usual there are influences from other “metals” as well. Better to Reign in Hell begins with a drum solo leading to fast-paced melodic death metal with appropriate deeply growling. Carrion is basically a blackened thrash metal song, Babalon A.D. is avant-garde blackened death metal and the catchy Mannequin is a gothic metal song with Dani´s typical black metal shrieking.
In my opinion, there are three highlights. The first one is The Promise of Fever, spectacular black metal, the second one is really weird (in good sense) Babalon A.D. and the third is the last song The Smoke of Her Burning, which is the most brutal and fastest song on the album. The Smoke of Her Burning is a black metal tempest with “thrash metal” guitars during its chorus leading to an absolute end of this mental catharsis with a clear anti-christian message. A special place in my heart also belongs to An Enemy Led the Tempest.
Damnation And A Day is a melodic album but on the other hand – ironically – it is difficult to get into it in just one/first hearing. It is basically impossible, as there is so many information that just cannot be processed at once. And this is just good as every other listening will uncover something new you did not catch the last time. When an album can provide you with such an experience, it means, that that album just does something damn right.
Cradle of Filth would not create a better / more majestic / more extreme / more satanic album after Damnation And A Day, this triumph of symphonic black metal. Though there is a little hope that they could do something similar in the future as John Milton wrote a sequel named Paradise Regained dealing with Christ´s temptation in the desert. This could lead to something very interesting.
rafazardly 