By Carl Begai

British black metal heathens Cradle Of Filth have been through over 25 line-up changes since clawing their way into the spotlight in 1991. Following their 2012 album, The Manticore And Other Horrors, the band went through a noteworthy shake-up with the exit of original guitarist Paul Allender (for the second time), resulting in founding hellmouth Dani Filth conscripting two new guitarists and a keyboardist / backing vocalist. Canadian songstress Lindsay Matheson – better known pre-Cradle as the voice, heart and soul of Schoolcraft – was brought on board as said keyboardist / vocalist and, ultimately, Dani Filth’s on-stage foil. It’s a post she’s held since 2013 and she has no intention of leaving any time soon, which is a good thing when fans consider Lindsay played an important role in the making of Cradle Of Filth’s new critically acclaimed album, Hammer Of The Witches.

Lindsay admits that being a Cradle Of Filth fan didn’t prepare her for the experience of being part of the band. She had no idea how deeply she would be involved in creating Hammer Of The Witches.

“I didn’t know what I was getting into because I’ve never written an album long distance before. It was the strangest experience. The thing was, I was hired as a temporary replacement just as a part of the live band. In the first few weeks of the tour Dani got to know me – we didn’t really get a chance to talk until we were into the South American tour – and we figured we’d just grab a drink and talk for an hour. We stayed up until 5:30am talking. I showed him my solo stuff and he said ‘That’s beautiful: can you do that for Cradle?’ which surprised me, but that didn’t transpire until we got our new guitarists Rich (Shaw) and Ashok (Šmerda) in the band. Me and bassist Dan Firth started writing stuff on our own for Cradle, and ‘Yours Immortally…’ and ‘Hammer Of The Witches’ were the first demos for the new album that we did together. We showed them to Dani and I think that kind of lit a fire under his ass and convinced him we could do things with this new line-up.”

“It was intimidating at first because our drummer Martin (Skaroupka) is a very talented multi-instrumentalist,” she adds. “He could have said ‘I don’t want to work with you’ or ‘Show me what you’ve got and I’ll help you.’ He was so good to me through the entire process. Sometimes you get a noob in who has no idea what they’re doing, and when I showed up I felt like I was wearing a helmet and water wings saying ‘I’m gonna write for the new Cradle album, check me out!’ (laughs). I was so scared; it was like kindergarten all over again. The guys were very cool, it was just a strange way of working together.”

Looking back on her experiences going into and during the making of Hammer Of The Witches, Lindsay admits there are many mixed emotions listening to it now.

“I think the fear of screwing it up kept me and the new guys motivated. When the demos were done the music sounded like it was going in the right direction, but when it was done – something like a week before the release – we were so scared. We liked it, but would the fans like it? All of us were Cradle fans before we joined the band so it was that classic Cradle Of Filth music that influenced the new music. The response has been overwhelming.”

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Cradle Of Filth will return to North America in 2016 with the Inquisitional Torture tour. Joining them will be Ne Obliviscaris and Butcher Babies as support. Tickets are now available on Ticketmaster.

Tour dates:

January
26 - Philadelphia, PA - Theater Of The Living Arts
27 - Boston, MA - House Of Blues
28 - Baltimore, MD - Baltimore Soundstage
29 - Raleigh, NC - The Ritz
31 - Charlotte, NC - Filmore Charlotte

February
1 - Atlanta, GA - The Masquerade - Heaven
2 - Orlando, FL - Venue 578
3 - St. Petersburg, FL - State Theater
9 - Memphis, TN - New Daisy Theater
10 - Dallas, TX - House Of Blues
11 - Houston, TX - House Of Blues
12 - San Antonio, TX - The Aztec Theater
14 - Eaglewood, CO - Gothic Theater
15 - Salt Lake City, UT - The Complex
17 - Los Angeles, CA - Avalon
18 - San Diego, CA - House Of Blues
20 - Sacramento, CA - Ace Of Spades
21 - San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore
23 - Seattle, WA - The Showbox
29 - Ringle, WI - Q and Z Expo Center

March
1 - Chicago, IL - House Of Blues
2 - Cincinnati, OH - Bogart’s
3 - Cleveland, OH - House Of Blues
5 - Detroit, MI - St. Andrew’s Hall
6 - Toronto, ON - Phoenix Concert Theater
7 - Montreal, QC - Corona Theater
8 - New York, NY - Webster Hall

Cradle Of Filth's latest album, Hammer Of The Witches, was brought to fruition in Britain's Witch County, in darkest rural Suffolk at the reputedly haunted Grindstone Studios. The album's title is named after the Malleus Maleficarum, a medieval document of guidelines regarding the persecution and torture of witches - but Cradle Of Filth’s title version is more retributory: It's the Hammer Of The Witches; the hammer is in the witches' hands and it's payback time.

Unquestionably one of the greatest and most influential British metal bands of all time, Cradle Of Filth have cast a commanding and macabre shadow across the metal scene for nearly a quarter of a century. Armed with their trademark, cross-pollinated assault that taps into myriad strands of sonic extremity and morbid opulence they have steadily conquered the entire world, unleashing a malevolent slew of classic albums along the way. From the raw and rambunctious savagery of their 1994 debut The Principle Of Evil Made Flesh to the wickedly monstrous, technicolor bombast of 2012's The Manticore & Other Horrors, the Cradle ethos and aesthetic has had a huge impact on the evolution of metal, the band's insatiable appetite for performing live and frontman Dani Filth's unerring charisma and sense of occasion ensuring that they have established a powerful and enduring connection with Hell-bound acolytes everywhere.

Tour trailer: