After more than 20 years, Total Fucking Darkness, the infamous third demo from Cradle Of Filth, was officially released on vinyl and digipak formats back in May. Ghost Cult Mag recently caught up with original COF guitarist Paul Ryan to discuss the re-issue. An excerpt from the interview is available below:

Ryan: “There’s a little bit of self-indulgence with it, but we were aware there was some interest from the old school Cradle fans that they wanted to see some of the earlier material, but we did it because we wanted to do it. Dan and I hadn’t spoken to each other really, outside of bumping into each other at festivals, for 16 years. Then, by chance, we end up having a meal together, catching up, talking a lot about old times and when a mutual friend of ours (Frater Nihil of Mordgrimm Records, who originally signed the band to Cacophonous for the debut), found out we were hanging out again he suggested the idea of sticking the demo out as he had the master.”

Rather than just reissuing the original five tracks, the ball was rolling with impetus to put out something that would really interest Cradle fans, old and new.

Ryan: “Dan went up in his loft, and I went round me Mum’s and went up in her loft and we literally sat down at the table and between the three of us we had quite the horde of old pictures and tapes. And when we sat down with the tapes one of the things that we managed to find was the first track on this release, which was ‘Spattered In Faeces’. The only existing song from the Goetia album was a tape copy that had sat in a shoebox up in Dani’s loft for literally 20 years!"

Go to this location for the complete interview.

Housed in a heavy gatefold sleeve with paintings featuring the twisted visions of Radio One Presenter and Occult Artist, Daniel P Carter, the release includes some tracks previously unreleased by the band. Frater Nihil, the founder of Cacophonous Records, the label that first signed Cradle Of Filth, got together with Dani Filth and Paul Ryan (former guitarist and now in The King Is Blind) to bring fans of the band, both old and new, a remastered version of the demo along with material that had been sitting in the vaults for 20 years. They entered Turan Studio in Oxford and with the help of the engineer (who has worked on everything from Emperor to Thin Lizzy) brought the old recordings a new lease of life.

The album kicks off with the track "Spattered In Faeces", the only surviving track from the now mythical Goetia sessions, followed on Side A and the rest of Side B with the recordings from Total Fucking Darkness. Side C begins with another previously unreleased track, "Devil Mayfair (Advocatus Diaboli)", recorded at Samhain 1992, the rest of the side and the next feature the other three tracks from that session, along with two short instrumental pieces from the band's former keyboardist, Ben Ryan.

Side I

'Spattered In Faeces'

'The Black Goddess Rises'

'As Deep As Any Burial'

Side II

'Unbridled At Dusk'

'The Raping Of Faith'

'Fraternally Yours, 666'

Side III

'Devil Mayfair (Advocatus Diaboli)'

'The Black Goddess Rises'

'Seance And Mandrake' (Instr.)

Side IV

'The Raping Of Faith'

'Unbridled At Dusk'

'Hekate Enthroned' (Instr.)

"Unbridled At Dusk" from Total Fucking Darkness can be heard below: