Cradle of Filth's first three demos bore a death metal feel, with occasional symphonic elements. However, when they released their fourth demo, Total Fucking Darkness, their genre became more akin to black metal. Their "true" black metal status however, has been in debate since near the time they became popular. Dani, in a 1998 interview for BBC Radio 5 for example, said "I use the term heavy metal, rather than black metal, because I think that's a bit of a fad now. Call it what you like: death metal, black metal, any kind of metal...", while Gavin Baddeley's 2006 Terrorizer interview states that "few folk, the band included, call Cradle black metal these days."
Their format differs from most black metal, and they have thus, at one time or another, been labeled symphonic metal; symphonic black metal;[34] extreme gothic metal; melodic black metal; satanic metal;vampyric metal; speed metal; death metal; melodic death metal;horror metal; and dark metal, some of which are regarded by critics and fans alike as entirely apocryphal categories.
However, the band's evolving sound has allowed them to continue resisting definitive categorisation. They are audibly influenced by Iron Maiden, have collaborated on projects like Christian Death's Born Again Anti-Christian album (on the track "Peek-A-Boo"), and have even dabbled outside of metal music with dance remixes ("Twisting Further Nails", "Pervert's Church" etc), although these have fallen by the wayside in recent years. In a 2006 interview with Terrorizer magazine, current guitarist Paul Allender said "We were never a black metal band. The only thing that catered to that was the make-up. Even when The Principle of Evil Made Flesh came out — you look at Emperor and Burzum and all that stuff — we didn't sound anything like that. The way that I see it is that we were, and still are now, an extreme metal band."
Appearing on the BBC music quiz Never Mind the Buzzcocks on April 9, 2001, Dani jokingly claimed Cradle's sound as "heavy funk", and in an October 2006 interview stated "We'd rather be known as solely 'Cradle of Filth', I think, than be hampered by stupid genre barriers."
Post je objavljen 28.03.2009. u 14:51 sati.