Paul Allender, guitarist for UK-based black metal misfits CRADLE OF FILTH, is featured in a new interview with Ultimate-Guitar.com. An excerpt is available below.

UG: Darkly, Darkly Venus Aversa was based on the concept of the demon Lilith. Many other Cradle of Filth albums were also concept albums. What is the appeal musically of creating records around a central theme?

Allender: "The concept doesn’t actually get decided ‘til like everything’s recorded and finished. That’s the very last thing, which gets decided whether it’s going to be a concept or not. Because when I’m writin’ songs, I try to write each track so it can stand out on its own. I don’t have songs that follow from one to another—I’d like to think each track can stand out on its own as its own entity. They’ll go to Dani and he’ll suggest, 'Oh, can we put this one here and this one here?' because lyrically it might fit better or blah blah blah blah blah. You know? It gets put together like that and then the concept will get decided right at the last minute when Dan’s writing the lyrics. All the music and everything comes first and then it goes to Dani for lyrics and concept and whatnot. Doing a concept album musically is fine but lyrically—stuff on Dan’s side of things—to be honest is a bit of a pain in the ass."

UG: Will the next studio album be a concept record?

Allender: "I know the next one we’ve got coming out isn’t a concept. I’m writing it at the moment and it’s just a collection of songs. The new album has definitely, definitely gone back to what we used to be like for The Principle of Evil Made Flesh and Dusk… and Her Embrace. It’s totally gone back that way though it’s a bit hard to explain really. I know I’ve had a few friends that have come over and heard me writin’ and asked me to play them stuff. I’ve played it and they said, 'Oh, well that sounds old.'"

UG: Did you want the next album to specifically sound like it was from the Principle and Dusk… era?

Allender: "The last thing we want to do is come out with another album that sounds like the last two. So this is the reason why we decided to change up the direction and go back to what we used to do with the female vocals like we used to have on there. All the strong melody lines and harmonies and that sort of shit. I’ve also put a lot of punk orientated riffs back into it again. It’s really gone quite dark and pretty hardcore."

UG: Did the punk riffs come from touring with certain bands or listening to any specific albums?

Allender: "I’ve always wanted to put the punky stuff back into it again. Yeah, I’ve always wanted to do that. It’s just what happened—it’s just the way it’s come out. I mean I must admit this time ‘round like I said, 'Let’s try and make it a bit different' but different in a good way. We listened to a lot of the fans this time and we’ve kind of gone the direction they wanted or the suggestions they’ve come up with. So we’ve done that but as I said, I’ve always wanted to put the punky stuff back in. For like Principle, there was loads of punk-styled riffs all over that and there were some in Dusk… as well. So we decided to go back into it again and the people that have heard it have gone, 'Fuck, it’s amazing.'"

Click here for the complete interview.

Cradle Of Filth's new CD/DVD package, Evermore Darkly… is out now. The tracklist for Evermore Darkly… is as follows:

'Transmission From Hell' / 'Thank Your Lucky Scars'

'Forgive Me Father (I Have Sinned)' - Elder Version

'Lilith Immaculate' (Extended Length)

'The Persecution Song' - Elder Version

'Forgive Me Father (I'm In A Trance)'

'The Spawn Of Love And War' - Elder Version

'Summer Dying Fast' ('Midnight in The Labyrinth' breadcrumb trail)

Venus Diversa DVD:

'Lilith Immaculate' Promo Video

‘You Can't Polish A Turd…But You Can Roll It In Glitter’ Rockumentary

Burning Down Graspop, Dessel, Belgium, 25th June 2011 Live Footage

A follow-on from last year’s triumphant Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa album, Evermore Darkly will arrive as a CD/DVD package including new tracks and rarities, with a lengthy on-the-road documentary and ten songs filmed live at this year's Graspop metal meet, as well as the video for 'Lilith Immaculate'.

The CD features brand new musical beast ‘Thank Your Lucky Stars’, plus a special remix of ‘Forgive Me Father’, courtesy of Rob C from ANTHRAX, an extended rendition of ‘Lilith Immaculate', as well as tempered demo versions of three ‘Darkly, Darkly…’ songs. The mini-album closes with a special taster from Cradle Of Filth’s impending orchestral project, in the form of a haunting, classic reworking of fan-favourite, ‘Summer Dying Fast’.

The ‘Evermore Darkly’ DVD contains footage from Summer 2011, when Cradle Of Filth embarked on a rapid spat of tours, accompanied by two eager filmmakers. The resulting documentary, 'You Can't Polish A Turd, But You Can Roll It In Glitter', combined with performance and interview footage culminates in a forty five minute film of the not so glamorous reality of life in a touring band at work and play, as they trawl their way across Europe over eight performances. The DVD includes an interview with ghoul-guide Dani Filth, interspersed and peppered with live footage and backstage shenanigans, culminating in the entire hour long set from this year's highly anticipated Graspop festival appearance.

Dani states that it is 'a much-loved musical stop-gap between albums, a pleasure treasure trove of wild and wicked wonders primed especially for fans. Something for them to sink their teeth into this Autumn as the Cradle invasion fleet is primed for future contagion….'

A mini-site has been launched in anticipation of the release, and contains audio samples from the new mini-album, the band’s latest music video for 'Lilith Immaculate', album info, downloads and more. Check it out at this location.

A new video clip from the DVD portion of the release is now availble. Check out two clips below:

Cradle of Filth - Evermore Darkly (clip from the documentary)

Cradle of Filth - Evermore Darkly (clip 2 from the documentary)