CRADLE OF FILTH's DANI FILTH says he doesn't 'really give a shit about religion': “in an age of science, it makes no sense”
20-03-2025
In a new interview with Angela Croudace of Australia’s Heavy magazine, CRADLE OF FILTH frontman Dani Filth was asked what his thinks about the fact that some people view his band’s music as “blasphemous”. He responded: “It’s only blasphemous to certain people. It’s pigeonholed, really. Well, I don’t really view it as that, as such. I mean, if you’re not confined by religion, this sort of thing doesn’t really enter into everyday life. So, are you actually being blasphemous, if you don’t think you’re being blasphemous? If you’re blasphemous to one religion, surely that would be blasphemous to all religions, which it evidently isn’t, because all religions essentially are different, but they just argue about God’s messenger. They can never decide which one’s the true. Well, they can, but it’s always theirs. (Laughs)
“So, no, I don’t really give a shit about religion,” he continued. “I do love the iconography and I love the fact that… There are good messages in it. I just think that time has just worn out the message. I think there’s just too much blood, too much misery in religion’s name to warrant it being regarded as a modern thing. I mean, surely nowadays everybody can see the world is not flat and the world wasn’t born 2,000 years ago or 4,000 years ago or 6,000 years ago. And the dinosaurs weren’t part of the Bible… What I’m saying is, it’s ridiculous, the notion of it all. The message, I get it. But the notion of it being still valid today, it just makes no sense. In an age of science, it makes no sense. So, that being in mind, it’s totally invalidated in my opinion. And I don’t give a two shits about it… I respect it — don’t get me wrong, I respect people’s belief. It’s the belief that’s the most important part of it, and I respect that. But all the rest is utter garbage.”
Following CRADLE OF FILTH‘s acclaimed recent single “To Live Deliciously” and its exquisitely twisted music video, the Grammy Award-nominated extreme metal institution is back to give fans more of the sinful sounds they crave with “White Hellebore”, another bewitching new single and music video.
Watch “White Hellebore” below.
Featured on CRADLE OF FILTH‘s upcoming 14th studio album, “The Screaming Of The Valkyries”, which is due on March 21, 2025 via Napalm Records, “White Hellebore” is devilishly direct, juxtaposing traditional heavy metal with blasts of thrashing fury, then spinning back to operatic goth while remaining cohesive. The track’s must-see new music video was directed by Shaun Hodson.
CRADLE OF FILTH mastermind Dani Filth says about the song and video: “The wintertime flower of the title reminds us scintillatingly of our own mortality, flourishing in seasons of dying light and cold, frozen earth. Blossoming in the shadows, this Hellebore’s flowers draw us deeply into the stygian darkness with her. In context of this song, the White Hellebore of the title is an alluring woman not too distant in danger from the predatory black widow, fostering both hope and despair; a poison and an elixir, she is stunning to behold but ever deadly to taste.
“This video — reeking of Lovecraftian gothic horror — presents the White Hellebore as a movie starlet who survives the grave through her dalliances with dark occult forces, a necromantic mystic tryst that an overzealous morgue attendant encounters with terrifying results, complementing the song’s unholy matrimony of melody and mayhem.”
Watch the previously released “To Live Deliciously” and “Malignant Perfection” below.
On “The Screaming Of The Valkyries”, Dani‘s recognizable scream and equally identifiable growl stand mightily alongside twin guitar attacks, symphonic flourishes and explosive rhythm section, implemented by drummer Martin “Marthus” Skaroupka, bassist Daniel Firth, guitarists Marek “Ashok” Smerda and Donny Burbage and keyboardist/vocalist Zoe Federoff.
Produced, recorded, mixed and mastered by Scott Atkins at Grindstone Studios in Suffolk, England, The Screaming of the Valkyries beckons the brave into a new era of CRADLE OF FILTH misadventure, celebrating massive melancholic melody, blackened thrash, and apocalyptic existential dread with a grinning smattering of unbridled revelry. The Screaming of the Valkyries is a bloody dark love letter to the longtime legion of CRADLE OF FILTH faithful and a stunning entryway for fresh lambs to the sonic slaughter.
The Screaming Of The Valkyries will be available in the following formats:
– 1-CD Digisleeve
– 1-LP Gatefold Black w/ 4 Page Booklet
– 1-LP Gatefold VIOLA Vinyl w/ 4 Page Booklet (GSA retail only – limited to 300)
– 1-LP Gatefold GOLD Vinyl w/ 4 Page Booklet (UK retail only – limited to 500)
– 1-LP Gatefold WHITE Vinyl w/ 4 Page Booklet (North American retail only – limited to 600)
– 1-LP Gatefold LIQUID-BLOOD Vinyl w/ 24 page booklet + certificate (Napalm Records mail order only – limited to 100)
– 1-LP Gatefold SPLATTERED BLACK SMOKE/WHITE ORANGE BLACK Vinyl w/ 24 page booklet + Patch (Napalm Records mail order only – limited to 300)
– 1-LP Gatefold MARBLED TRANSLUCENT RED BLACK Vinyl w/ 24 page booklet (Napalm Records mail order only – limited to 300)
– 1-CD Digisleeve Coffin Shaped BOX SET w/ Pencil, Bookmark, Notebook, Flag (Napalm Records international mail order only – limited to 500)
– Bundle: 1-CD Digisleeve + Quill + Coasters
– Bundle: 1-LP Gatefold BLACK Vinyl + Quill + Coasters
The Screaming Of The Valkyries track listing:
1. To Live Deliciously
2. Demagoguery
3. The Trinity Of Shadows
4. Non Omnis Moriar
5. White Hellebore
6. You Are My Nautilus
7. Malignant Perfection
8. Ex Sanguine Draculae
9. When Misery Was A Stranger
FESTIVAL DATES 2025:
04.-07.06.25 PL – Gdańsk / Mystic Festival
13.-15.06.25 UK – Derby / Download Festival 2025
10.-12.07.25 NL – Emmen / Pitfest
23.-27.07.25 SI – Tolmin / Tolminator Metal Fest
CRADLE OF FILTH is:
Dani “Filth” Davay – Vocals
Marek ‘Ashok’ Smerda – Guitars
Martin ‘Marthus’ Skaroupka – Drums
Daniel Firth – Bass
Donny Burbage – Guitars
Zoe Federoff – Vocals, Keys
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