CRADLE OF FILTH vocalist Dani Filth has issued the following update for The Order Of The Dragon fanclub. It's dated August 4th.

"Dear boys and ghouls from all walks of death...

Ta-da! Here I am again, a perennial bantam phantom returning to haunt your browser once more with all that is current in the Cradle camp. And things are moving rather swiftly along, I can assure you of that.

Album-wise everything is close to completion, with an imminent date already scheduled for the first free album download and the mail-out watermarked copies for journalists and their librarian ilk. The artwork is nearing finishing by the master-fabulist David Ho (and amazing it is too, fully complementing the Gilles De Rais concept that runs like blood throughout the lyrics and music. Believe me this is pure and utter theatre!) and by next Tuesday everything will be laid out and finalised, awaiting the printing press and it's insatiable grinning maw.

We are most definitely set for Hallowe'en!

A fun day out was had by all when we undertook a lengthy photo-shoot at Kentwell Hall in Suffolk (in fact, not too far from where I used to live in Hadleigh), set against a plush backdrop of landscaped gardens and Tudor interiors. The day was hot and agitated from time to time by marauding bees and an irksome peacock which insisted on pecking at it's reflection in our make-up lady's car. This resulted in the rarely seen sight of our manager Fay waylaying her temper and chasing off the persistent bird with a large, knobbly stick. On several occasions.

The actual shoot with Thornography photographer Daragh McDonagh was great despite the heat and we managed loads of set-ups with fantastic results, much to the bemusement of visitors to this vast ancestral home, who were no doubt wondering just what on earth these leather-clad, corpse-like waifs were doing, intruding on their idyllic country afternoon strolls.

On the festival front, the pair thus far have both been exceptional, Latvia and Finland (the 'Rock Cock' festival in Kuopio being appropriately titled for us) receiving humungous support from fiends and fans alike; both shows fluent without hitch, despite the Latvian one finding the band confined to a hot tent on a midge-infested lake for the best part of a day (we didn't play until midnight) and me being asked to leave the flight home after a 'friendly' altercation with another passenger whilst in transit. I still protest my innocence to this day, but my track record seems to have pulled the boy-cries-wolf granny blanket down over everybody's opinion on the matter, but hey, I got home, albeit a bit later than expected and at a different airport!

Then we almost didn't make the Finnish one after our connecting flight was suddenly cancelled (the pilot hadn't shown up by way of an explanation), but luckily we managed to snag another early on the day of the show. I wouldn't of missed the tumultuous fireworks that heralded the end of our concert for the world. They were staggering -and so were we- as we couldn't leave the backstage area until they had all shot heavenward over the crowd.

Now we are really looking forward to the next four shows, especially Bulgaria, as it is the first time COF have graced it's Balkan shores and of course, the forthcoming European tour with Gorgoroth, Moonspell and Septic Flesh which creeps ever the more closer as the Summer drags on. And speaking of tours, the finished routing for the US leg should be with us from our Stateside booking agents, so keep your eyes peeled for an update on that and for the second support slot confirmation really, really soon.

Again, that's going to be a killer tour!

'The Gospel Of Filth' is still with the publishers, I believe at the time of press they were actually working on chapter five, so again, expect some updates shortly, as well as some chapter previews (here first, naturally) leading up to the planned limited extra special edition release on Hallowe'en.

So there we have it fellow squibs. Until next time we meet 'neath the darksome spread of the interweb...

Godspeed On The Devil's Thunder

Dani Filth, Suffolk, The Angel Isle."