It’s been seventeen years since Cradle of Filth unleashed their ‘From The Cradle To Enslave’ EP out into the world, and this year it finally got its long awaited release on vinyl for the first time. The band have remained extremely busy throughout their impressive career that spans almost three decades.

In recent times, Sony have taken the entire Music For Nations back catalogue under their wing and as a result are re-releasing some of their classic titles. Having just reissued albums by Opeth, Paradise Lost and Anathema, Sony are clearly ‘doing the rounds’ so to speak. “We were approached about ‘From The Cradle To Enslave’ and they did a good job with it, it’s great. They put the Massacre cover on it that was on the American version along with ‘Perverts Church’ which was on the British and European versions. I got a copy through the other day and it sounds fantastic they’ve done a superb job on it.” explains Dani. “I also like it because it carries the infamous MFN yellow, red and black labels of the guy with the flag just like the old Metallica records.”

Although the EP has been re-issued and put through the necessary mastering process to be converted to vinyl, the songs haven’t been tampered with in any way regarding remixes but still retain their intensity and vibrancy. “I’m glad they’re tackling the MFN back catalogue because they’ve got some great stuff. Music For Nations were a real contender back in the day, it’s ironic really because when I went to the Nuclear Blast offices in London for the first time I thought bloody hell, the whole of London and you’re literally opposite the building MFN used to be based in. It’s almost like coming full circle.”

To coincide with the EPs re-release there was also a video made for Cradles cover of ‘Sleepless’ originally by Anathema. “It’s a simplistic animation video. It’s got a story book vibe to it, its clever and it really works very well with the music. It’s great in fact!” Dani explains that the video had been put forward by a label manager at Sony / MFN, a guy named Joel De’ath which Dani thinks “sounds like an old thrash band.”

“He suggested it and showed us the concept behind it. One would’ve thought they’d have just pushed the original ‘From The Cradle…’ video because that was a bit of a game changer for us. It was our first video which then led to the ‘Cradle of Fear’ the movie.” Shocked that they hadn’t taken the easy route regarding the EPs promotion and used the original single, the video choice came as a pleasant, though somewhat ironic surprise. “The track ‘Sleepless’ has come up quite a bit recently. A few years back I went to Iceland to attend my friend Bam Margera’s wedding with my wife and for some reason he bundled me into a studio to record a cover of it with him for some reason. We also performed it at the wedding as well which was just bizarre but I wasn’t going to moan about it because he’d paid for our travel and hotel and everything.”

Cradle of Filth’s history is littered with line up changes and turbulence, especially the recording sessions that would make up the ‘From The Cradle…’ EP. “Most of the songs were recorded separately at Parr Street Studios in Liverpool. It was the first and last time we used the place on two separate occasions. It was a great studio but we prefer being in the middle of nowhere. We’ve been to some great residential studios where you get to live in the countryside for months but this was right in the middle of Liverpool. Also it was partly public with night clubs everywhere so you can imagine what it was like, distracting.”

This release wasn’t exempt from a shuffle in band members either, as over the seven tracks that make up the EP the band went through three different drummers. “There was a big upheaval because we parted company with Nicholas Barker halfway through. Originally it was just the song and the video but then it got put onto an EP. I think we had three drummers on that EP, Dave Hirschheimer, Was Sarginsonand Adrian Earlandsson so it was a bit of a chrysalis but fortunately we came out the other side of it with Midian. That was a great line up as well which only survived for that album because Rob left after that, but the core of the band survived right up to ‘Thornography’. We’ve only ever kicked out two people in the entire history of Cradle and one of them was Lecter, who ironically is now the tour manager for Devilment on the upcoming tour in December. Lecter decided to leave the band as well so the band was in a bit of a flux at that point indeed but not on the next album, that’ll be the same current line up.”

Of late Cradle of Filth have also released the original recordings of ‘Dusk…And Her Embrace’ otherwise known as ‘The Original Sin’, something of an “urban legend” among Cradle fans. The release was handled by the underground English label Cacophonous Records and as such “it didn’t come out to massive accolades but it wasn’t an official, major Cradle release. It had to be released at some point though otherwise it would’ve continued festering on some exec’s shelf somewhere, so I’m pleased it did eventually get released.” The album also sparked some disorientation amid devotees who hadn’t been aware of the original recordings existence. “This version of ‘Dusk…’ was actually the first version of the album that we made, it’s ever so confusing and still confuses the die hard fans as well. I constantly see posts on Facebook saying ‘it’s not as good as the original’ and ‘why did you bother re-recording it?’ But when you try to explain the whole scenario you find yourself thinking oh god, bullet in the head please.”

Despite there being a number of years between Cradle of Filth and Devilment releases Dani Filth has managed to maintain his position in the proverbial spotlight. Over the past few years we’ve witnessed the re-release of their ‘Total Fucking Darkness’ demo, the first Devilment album, Cradle returning to the top of their game with last years ‘Hammer of The Witches’ as well as the two aforementioned releases this year Dani says “it’s been hard trying to put everything into its natural order. One thing we had to move actually was a remaster and remix of ‘Cruelty and the Beast’.” Earlier this year Dani Filth entered the studio with a producer to test the waters and “re-vamp” the songs that make up ‘Cruelty and The Beast’. ‘Cruelty and The Beast’ was a major success for Cradle of Filth and pushed them onto the “international stage” but all in all Dani was never really satisfied with the final outcome. “Cruelty’ was such a game changer for us and having been in the studio with my hand on a couple of tracks alongside a producer, it just sounds so much better.”

Having already started to undertake the project, it’s now been put back until 2018 so that the re-release will correspond with the albums 20^th anniversary. “It’s going to be great because it’s an amazing album, but the drum sound sucked and everything had to be built on top of that!” The album is going to be re-mixed and mastered but Dani insists that there are no changes in the overall tone or mood of the album. “We haven’t stripped it bare to just the audio files, it’s still got all the atmosphere but we’ve just started with the drums and worked our way up. It just sounds phenomenally bigger and better. It’s like labouring down a bridge, you can’t put too much weight on it. We’re bolstering it up and we’ve already done a couple of mixes which sound fantastic. We’re also going to throw ‘Hallowed Be Thy Name’ into that mix as well as a bonus track.”

Alongside the constant slew of material that pours forth from the band, they somehow also manage to fit extensive touring into their schedules. With much of their older material being re-released or re-mastered, it poses the question of whether or not Cradle of Filth will follow suit and perform any of these relics in their entirety which seems to have become something of a trend lately. “I noticed Behemoth did it with their newest album that’s only been out a year and a half. They played it in its entirety apparently but billed it as ‘the classic album’. As much as I like behemoth, it’s slightly pompous isn’t it. Naming a fledgling album as ‘classic’ and playing it all in its entirety because of that very reason, it’s a bit ‘oh hark at us I’m fucking ace.’” With regards to whether or not Cradle would or will ever take that path is a complicated and exciting tale of history, geography and opera.

“Everything Cradle related has a long story attached to it so I’ll cut it down a little bit.” Dani teases. “We were in contact with the last living descendent of Elizabeth Bathory, a guy called Stephen Bathory who lives in Canada. He got so wrapped up in tracing his family history that he actually wrote an opera based on her. I contacted the Czech tourist board because I think the borders of Hungary had curtailed a little bit and eventually one of her castles fell into the newly formed Czech Republic. He wanted to perform his opera with Cradle of Filth at one of these castles and it was all going quite smoothly. It could still happen to be fair, but it was just a case that we’d have to go to a very small village and it would have to be very carefully organised. It would have to go before various commissions due to structural damage and building stages etc. There’s something else that’s been offered to us as well that a few other bands have done in Turkey or Bulgaria or something. I think Nightwish and Anathema have done it, but you play in an old Roman Pantheon theatre. That was offered to us as well which also sounds pretty good but I don’t know that we’d do the whole of one album. We thought about doing the whole of ‘Dusk…’ then coming back afterwards for an encore and doing a slew of what other songs are to be expected, but I don’t know if that’ll really happen.”

Although there doesn’t appear to be any immediate plans for one off shows or playing albums in their entirety, Cradle of Filth definitely have a lot on their plate. “This time next year we’re undergoing a full world tour. It’s something we’ve been building up to for a few years now and we’re under new management as well. The stars are just right for it so with that in mind, I don’t think we’re going to get the opportunity for a while to do something of that ilk.” Dani goes on to explain that even with a busy touring schedule ahead of them, the band are also heading back into the studio to record album number twelve. “I can’t really talk about it,” he says facetiously before reeling off as much information as possible. “The music is all in place and I’m six songs into it. The record will be nine songs long and have bonus material with a cover of ‘Alison Hell’ by Annihilator which we’ve totally Cradled up. It’s great, I love it.” The Album is said to be “a cross between the last cradle record (‘Hammer of the Witches’) and ‘Cruelty…’ really fast, really ornate and melodic, the musicianship’s ace. We’re looking at going to record with a choir in the Czech Republic in February, it’ll an eerie album.”

It seems Cradle of Filth have returned to their former glory and are more passionate than ever with regards to their forthcoming album, whilst describing how the current line up have been working and bonding together, be it touring or “partying like fuck” in the countryside, Dani sounds so excited with each and every story he has to tell. “This album may seem like it was turned around quite quickly, especially with the fact that we just came off tour and I was in the studio straight away with Devilment, but the truth is that we worked really hard on it. We went to Brno in the Czech and collated all our ideas. We spent a week there in a rehearsal room which was great fun because it was an awesome place with plenty of beer going down. We did something similar for ‘Damnation and A Day’, ‘Nymphetamine’ and ‘Midian’. We’d come away with the majority of a record written which was the main thing but It was good character building for the band. Like one of these office paintballing trips or a bonding sessions. As I said, the band members are so diligent and so into making it a great Cradle record, they’re just fucking fantastic musicians.”

Confirming his excitement and gratification toward his bandmates, Dani sums up the plans that will be keeping Cradle of Filth busy over the next year and why he feels the new album will be a great record. “When you’ve got great a real love for what you’re doing it sounds genuine and I think ‘Hammer…’ sounds like a genuinely good Cradle record. I think this one is the step up from that as well because as a line up we’re a bit more comfortable, we’ve done world tours, we’re quite familiar with how each other work and nobody feels like new boys or passengers anymore. We’re going to be in the studio from the end of November and beginning of December but we’ve got to deliver the album in the second week of May, so we’ll be in the studio for a good four or five months, I’m really looking forward to it. I’ll be on tour in the UK with Devilment throughout December but we’ve demoed everything quite extensively, so there’s no problem there. There’s a lot of hard work ahead and I think we might be going to Riga in Latvia to shoot the first video too, so it’s exciting times.”

‘From The Cradle to Enslave’ Is out now via Music For Nations

‘Hammer of The Witches’ is available through Nuclear Blast

Devilment are currently on tour in the UK, tickets are here and ‘The Mephisto Waltzes’ is also available now via Nuclear Blast