2020 Year in Review...

Greeting fellow Filthlings…

It has, without question, been a very strange year, but one not without interest.

In fact, I have to selfishly say that I have really enjoyed it despite the isolation and lack of live touring; it at least contributed to what may be our best album of current years, if not all time.

That being said, many sincere condolences for those who’ve had to suffer with COVID either by becoming infected and ill, or those who have lost loved ones.

So, there was absolutely no pressure to turn the album in, in fact there really was nothing better to do than indulge our creative juices and thus a huge swathe of the year was spent in the sultry depths of the Suffolk countryside polishing and perfecting our latest musical excretion.

It’s an absolute killer of an album (if you forgive my self-flattery), with an immense production courtesy of Scott Atkins and Grindstone studios once again and I’d like to be able to describe it to you but there is so much bubbling intently in this album… Fast and slow parts (and faster still), new delectable flavours and those reminiscent of earlier COF albums galore, massive choruses and melancholic drop-downs, old skool melodic NWOBM amid furious, scathing black metal amid apocalyptic groove and we as a band can’t wait for everyone to hear it…. And more importantly, experience our birthed monster live.

Of course the postponed Cradle of Filth livestream is happening in February and that promises to rival the production we put into our fabled London Palladium show of last year, so there’s still plenty of time to purchase online tickets if you want to see Cradle as big and as soon as possible, complete with our as yet-undisclosed new keyboardist/backing singer, who has waited patiently in the wings for over a year without due merit. I must add that her contribution to the new album has been exceptional, as has the rest of the band’s.

So what else does the new year have for Cradle of Filth I hear you ponder?

Well, aside from the new album and no livestream, we are working on getting our Pale Countess pale ale produced in different territories as soon as possible; tours are now being booked for the third and fourth quarters of the year (with a slew of amazing touring partners); our custom Cradle guitars (both Vempire and Midian models) courtesy of Vorona Instruments are now well into production; lots of exciting new announcements are also to be set in motion in and around the launch and lastly, our Pitch Black North tea, VE cosmetics make-up pallets, Electric Bear Brewing beer, Corpsepaint soap, Drop Dead clothing collaboration and my VShout video shoutouts are all still available, albeit in dwindling quantities for the limited items.

So, thanks once again to our loyal and expectant fans, the Crewdle Of Filth (who’ve had a wholly uneventful working year), our management team at Oracle, all our professional associates near and far and the friends we’ve gathered along the way but haven’t been able to meet due to the spread of this f**king pandemic… Salutations! We can’t wait to crawl back out on the road and see you again; Fans, bands, friends and fiends alike, countries, venues, staff, tourbus drivers, that washing machine in Prattein…

Lastly, thank you Laura Woodley for her continuing online finesse and to New Rock and Blackcraft Clothing for their ongoing swaddling.

Exciting times indeed! Unless this is the actual Apocalypse.

So may you find peace this holiday season and remember to cherish the things clutched deep to your vampire hearts.

And here’s to a better, more productive year in 2021!

Stay FILTHy!

Dani Filth, The Year Ov The Plague 2020 eh.