CRADLE OF FILTH: DUSK... AND HER EMBRACE

SCORE: 96/100

The second coming of Cradle of Filth is much more polished than their debut - and it's clear that they knew exactly where they wanted to go in terms of sound and eventual style. The album will take you through slow and hauntingly heavy tracks with an atmosphere that is even more eerie than their first album - and this cloud of darkness showcases the band's style perfectly.

Cradle of Filth continue their atmospheric and heavy storytelling with gothic and horror elements that make this album highly unique when compared to work by any other band. The style that they manage to pull off here is some of the most technically impressive that they have put out - and knowing that this is just their second album makes this fact that much more profound. They have always had a sort of clear prowess for metal and its various elements that makes their music that much more alluring - and this album is one of their best artistic outputs with a drastic feeling of consistency and comprehensiveness throughout each long and winding track.

'Dusk... and Her Embrace' is incredibly dense, with just ten tracks that total to fifty-nine minutes of music, there are only two tracks that are under 5 minutes in length. This makes for an album that uses its runtime to tell a story and showcase the band's sound in songs that don't waste any time at all - the longest of the songs feel like multiple tracks in one with all of the gorgeous switches and different soundscapes within them; and it manages to be immersive despite a somewhat lengthy runtime for such a small batch of songs.

There's an unmatched level of technical precision within the heavier breakdowns of this album - from softer, more symphonic sounds to heavy, fast-paced, relentless slashes of guitars and rugged drumming; 'Dusk... and Her Embrace' is a massive metallic spectacle that no other band could pull of quite like how Cradle of Filth did - something that can be said about any one of their projects. 

This album is much different than some of their later projects (even when compared to their third album, 'Cruelty and the Beast'), but this helps to give the first pieces of their discography a sort of flair and heavy uniqueness that is highly impressive when considering just how well they pulled these changes off. The heavier aspects of this album are done incredibly well and the long songs allow for the instrumentals and vocal performances to thrive in less confined spaces than short-average length tracks can allow for in most settings.

'Dusk...' feels like a complete landmark in the symphonic metal scene - after years of legal troubles before the release of this album was made possible, Cradle came back swinging with one of their most important and striking albums to date. The sound of this album is incredibly full and lush - and the sheer darkness of this album is a feat no other band could pull off quite like this. It's unapologetically dark and full of macabre, and it's an album that you won't want to let go of if you're a fan of dark metal.

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