𝕲𝖔𝖉𝖘𝖕𝖊𝖊𝖉 𝖔𝖓 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝕯𝖊𝖛𝖎𝖑'𝖘 𝕿𝖍𝖚𝖓𝖉𝖊𝖗

(𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐛𝐮𝐦)

Unlike many other albums of Cradle of Filth, this one has a clear narrative: the life of Gilles de Rais (c. 1405; † 26. Oktober 1440), a knight and lord from Brittany, Anjou and Poitou, a leader in the French army, and a companion-in-arms of Joan of Arc. De Rais apparently in the year after her execution began to commit assaults on children, and his figure has been robed in numerous legends, references in occultism, etc.

Therefore the album cover perfectly pictures what is to come: the execution of Joan de Arc, Gilles de Rais turning from her luminous sacred image toward the Devil, the “stone jaws of Tiffauges,” a castle that served to be his dwelling, and of course the images of slain children.

Enframed by the brilliant introduction and gorgeous afterword, the album has perfect structure and balance. Participation of the choir gives a tangible note to the environment, creating an ethos of an epic narration from the past.

Gilles de Rais. Artist’s impression by Éloi Firmin Féron (no contemporary portrait has survived)

𝟏. “𝐈𝐧 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐒𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐬”

One of the best album introductions in black metal serves as an epigraph. The expanded music development expressed in powerful orchestral sound perfectly places the listeners into an atmosphere of gloomy narrative.

The musical material of the orchestra reaches its highest point and opens the space for the succumbing of chromatic cluster-scales in the organ when the voice pronounces:

When light no longer rose to kiss me
I swore to tear heaven asunder
As flights of fallen angels wished me
Godspeed on the devil's thunder

The accurate timing of the first appearance of the human voice at the second minute gives an amazing contribution to the created environment. And this voice is not singing or screaming, but talking, pronouncing the epigraph enframing the coming story. The speaking voice of this character will appear in each song, inevitably making it a significant trait of the album.

The word “Godspeed” is coming perfectly on the first big tutti whereupon the orchestral music acquires the features close to ones of Alban Berg's Wozzek.

𝟐. “𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐎𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐥”

The squall of the drum battery announces the beginning of black metal narration. The main character of the story is introduced for the first time and his appearance in history is characterized as “He was shat out of hell.”

𝟑. “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞”

The simplest in both its musical language and lyrical transparency, this song of the album describes the final scene of Joan of Arc’s life, and therefore the turning point in Gilles de Rais’ life.

𝟒. “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝟏𝟑𝐭𝐡 𝐂𝐚𝐞𝐬𝐚𝐫”

After the first quasi introduction part of the album is finished, it is time to begin the core narrative itself.

The name of the song is referring to the “De vita Caesarum” (Latin; lit. “About the Life of the Caesars”), commonly known as The Twelve Caesars, which is a set of twelve biographies of Julius Caesar and the first eleven emperors of the Roman Empire written by Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus. And since Gilles De Rais was obsessed by the figure of Caesar and in general with the roman emperors, the song speaks of him as the 13th emperor after Domitian.

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𝟓. “𝐓𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐞𝐬” (𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥)

Orchestral painting of the castle where Gilles de Rais lives, an inseparable part of the story which is further unfolded in the next songs:

𝟔. “𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐝𝐨𝐦”

𝟕. “𝐒𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚”

𝟖. “𝐇𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐮𝐥𝐩𝐡𝐮𝐫"

9. “𝐌𝐢𝐝𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐂𝐫𝐚𝐰𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐥 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞"

---

𝟏𝟎. “𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞"

In my perception, the highest point of the album, where the threads of the story are tied into a knot centered on the topic of assaulting children.

The song is opened by a couple of children’ voices whispering:

'Something thicker than despair
Rides upon the midnight air
The smell of blood, the taste of prey
We spy you hiding Gilles de Rais'

At 4.40 of the song after the cynical phrase thrown by the murderer:

”Death is only a matter of a little pain”

the climax of the entire story is expressively narrated and describes one of the Gilles de Rais´ numerous nightmares:

Beneath the sallow moonlight
In a wonderland of pain
Gilles fled back through the castle
Terrified and drained
He sought his deep red velvet bed
And the sleep it preordained
Exhausted, forced into the dead
The creep of nightmares came again

Sadness clouded everything
Like a lycanthropic shroud
And through it's ghastly lineaments he saw
Hundreds of slain children
Some came crawling disemboweled
To where he stretched out howling on all fours

Corpses tore at his legs and knees
As he clawed to the cross, begging reprieve
From a Lord that soared above the awful scene

He sobbed and wept, no voice was left
To scream, the dream was not drubbed yet
He heard the horrors hiss beside him, 'Herod, you'll regret...'

The ghosts of the slain surround their murderer and keep repeating one and the same phrase over and over, the effect is doubled by the participance of the entire choir.

'Who hears the tears of nightfall?
Who steers the spears so spiteful?'

After many repetitions the voices subside, leaving the murderer alone who utters:

Oh my dearest angels
Go pray to God for me

---

The next couple of songs build the end of the narrative:

𝟏𝟏. “𝐓𝐞𝐧 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬 𝐁𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭"

𝟏𝟐. “𝐆𝐨𝐝𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐥'𝐬 𝐓𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫"

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And here it comes, the last number of the album:

𝟏𝟑. “𝐂𝐨𝐫𝐩𝐬𝐞𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫” (𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥)

An absolutely stunning Afterword, which should rightly be written down into the list of masterpieces in the black metal field, from both musical and verbal standpoints.

Music is vividly mirroring the turmoil occuring in the character’s mind, on top of that his voice is pronouncing:

I have told you the truth
And everything as it happened

The orchestra, organ, choir are building an epic crowning of the told narration, then subside and give space for the character's voice:

All the evil that I could do has been accomplished
I am redeemable, and I believe the clemencies of God
And suffrages of the holy church
Have succored me with much mercy

The last couple of words are echoed and Gilles de Rais adds in a slowed, brooding tone:

“I have only ever wished to satisfy my desires”