During a conversation with Ultimate Guitar's David Slavković, Cradle of Filth guitarists Richard Shaw and Marek "Ashok" Šmerda talked about pop superstar Billie Eilish donning some of the band's imagery, while also touching on their influences, future plans, and more.

UG: We've seen some of the mainstream pop stars wear metal T-shirts. This also includes Cradle of Filth merch, we've seen Billie Eilish wearing some of the band's imagery. Opinions on this are divisive. What's your stance on this?

Ashok: "I do not see any problem here. Maybe they just like Cradle of Filth music. I do love a lot of different music genres myself, sometimes surprise even my close mates as they would not expect metalhead to be open-minded at such a level."

Richard: "I love it. If they love the band, amazing. If they don't, still amazing. Anything that gets the word of the band out into the mainstream, I'm all for it. It's great that Cradle's name is synonymous with controversy after all these years."

UG: Is there a piece of advice that you'd give to young metal musicians who are just starting out today?

Ashok: "Work hard, repeatedly and systematically. Do not be discouraged if it sometimes feels harder than the previous day. Each day is different and all the stuff we face and experience are affecting us both mentally and physically. And find a good guitar teacher as soon as possible. He is going to save a lot of your time by taking away the bad habits from your playing."

Richard: "Same thing I tell a lot of my guitar students: keep doing what you love and do it every day. You will constantly improve as long as you keep going and be consistent in your work ethic. Do it for the purest of reasons and genuinely love what you do."

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Cradle Of Filth released their new album, Existence Is Futile, on October 22nd via Nuclear Blast. The album consists of 12 new tracks with a total playing time of 54 minutes.

Tracklisting:

"The Fate Of The World On Our Shoulders"
"Existential Terror"
"Necromantic Fantasies"
"Crawling King Chaos"
"Here Comes A Candle… (Infernal Lullaby)"
"Black Smoke Curling From The Lips Of War"
"Discourse Between A Man And His Soul"
"The Dying Of The Embers"
"Ashen Mortality"
"How Many Tears To Nurture A Rose?"
"Suffer Our Dominion"
"Us, Dark, Invincible"
"Sisters Of The Mist" (Bonus track)
"Unleash The Hellion" (Bonus track)

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"Crawling King Chaos" video: