Cradle of Fear [Import]

Cradle of Fear is a cult modern horror anthology, a gruesome mix of four stories written and directed by Alex Chandon. This varied and eclectic soundtrack is a brutal and electrifying aural assault on the senses with tracks that evoke the necessary terror and horror of the film.

With a movie featuring Dani Filth from Cradle Of Filth you would expect a expect metal soundtrack but is actually a mix of fairly unconventional electronica and industrial pieces mixed with dialogue and atmospherics from the film.

The CD features some excellent tracks from Dark Poets, Cradle Of Filth, Slacker, Rugged Vinyl and Lungworm. Heading this list are the Dark Poets. They have two tracks here one of which is THE track of the album - "Breakbeat Hallowe'en". This pounding yet upbeat undiscovered gem of a track remains (incredibly) officially unreleased and is exclusive to this compilation. It's a rollercoaster ride of a breakbeat journey that twists and turns and leaves you feeling bruised at the end (although regrettably cut off prematurely into Jezebel's "Plastic Surgery") and is just as eerie and percussive as its name suggests. The Dark Poets also have another track on the album "It Doesn't Matter" which is an atmospheric drum and bass track that perfectly fits the grim images of the film with its dark brooding bass lines and scattered beats.

Other tracks like Lungworm's "Blueprint/Rip the Face Off" feature glowering, growling vocals and a rhythm that sounds like it came straight from the boiler room. Industrial music works best when it revels in the complexity of which it is capable. Perversely, it can also succeed when it keeps it simple as in Jezebel's "Plastic Surgery" which features a strangely jaunty beat and a NIN sound fuzz guitar and synths surround the singer's nasty little-girl vocals. Slacker's `Psychout (O.S.T mix)' occupies the other end of the spectrum, a danceable layering of beats, spoken word, strings and snatches of easy-listening vocals

The Cradle of Filth supply two songs on the album one of them "Lord Abortion" (taken from their Midian album) is the only metal song here and "Dance Macabre" (taken from their Lovecraft and Witch Hearts Greatest Hits) is remixed as an industrial song. Tracks by Calyx, Intense, and Slacker complete the moody yet aggressive feel of this soundtrack, which works equally well outside of the film's context.

Overall the CD soundtrack is an excellent mix of industrial music and as mentioned before the stunning and rare track by the Dark Poets "Breakbeat Hallowe'en" is worth the cost of the CD alone. But anyone who hasn't seen the film will get a clear picture via this soundtrack. Those of us who have seen it, myself included, have sunken deep into that paradise of depravity. LONG LIVE THE FILTH!

The CD comes packaged with a 12-page full colour booklet, and special bonus extras on this CD include an exclusive on-set image archive with previously unseen material.

Track Picks: "Breakbeat Hallowe'en," "It Doesn't Matter", "Plastic Surgery" "Blueprint/Rip the Face Off".

Chances are...if you need a little dark electronica in your CD collection - Then this is a damn good place to start. I watched the film around a friends house a while back...and there was much fun and laughter had by all - not the greatest movie ever made perhaps (It's obviously shot on video) - however, you can tell the director had an ambitious vision and some really big ideas - most of which work incredibly well...much to the amusement of my friends and I.

I noticed during the film that it had a rather energetic techno/electronic/drum and bass soundtrack - and was keen to keep an eye out for the soundtrack artists featured on the film. However - thankfully the soundtrack is available here in it's entirety. Having owned the CD for a while - I can honestly recommend it. It has an incredible aura of dark coolness throughout. Although you'd imagine a film starring 'Dani Filth' from Black metal group 'cradle of filth' would feature an entirely 'rock' soundtrack - we have instead an excellent compilation of dark breakbeat - drum and bass and darkwave electronica. My favourite track on the album 'The Dark Poets' incredible 'breakbest Hallowe'en' - which is already something of an underground classic. Also dark and moody D&B tracks from 'dope' and 'calyx' keep the listener glued.

Unlike a lot of electronic compilation albums - there's no rubbish and no fillers...each and every track on this album is strong enough to stand up on it's own merits (although admittedly 'Plastic Surgery' by 'Jezebel' is not my cup of tea.) However, pretty much everything else is flawless...outings by industrial hardcore group 'Lungworm' provide the aggression - as do remixes from the band 'Cradle of Filth'. Thankfully 'The Dark Poets' also make another appearence on the album with the frentic I.D.M track 'It doesn't matter'.

Tracks also by by D&B outfits 'Intense' (sums them up well) and 'Quicksilver' - will keep this compilation on your stereo.

The album is 'Parental advisory' - and features a fair bit of bad language, predominantly because each of the tracks is mixed in with an element of dialogue from the film (sometimes the dialogue is somewhat disturbing...sometimes exceptionally hilarious - the opening of 'the Dark Poets' 'It doesn't matter' for example is very funny indeed.

I highly rate this soundtrack - and would advise anybody thinking of investing in it to do so...also if you're a fan of any of the artists here - you're likely to get on with the other artists on this soundtrack. Dark and pumping stuff indeed. This shouldn't really be considered a 'soundtrack' album - more a compilation of some of the best underground dark electronica around...no doubt the director of the movie and the team behind it had that in mind too.

Cradle of Fear is a cult classic; i love Alex Chandons' work and the addition of Cradle of Filth cameos made it perfect.So i go to my local record shop three years later to find the soundtrack sitting on the shelf.I buy it and run it home but i'm disappointed it sounds hollow and unbelieveably a bit rushed. The first two tracks just drift on and on until you skip them because your bored. Plastic Surgery by Jezebel is a great track and it really captures the feeling of intensity in the movie with just a hint of tongue in cheek humour.Now you think you're on a role the Intense, Lungworm, Dark Poets tracks are all great too. Dance Macabre is a great remix of Cradle of Filths Saffrons Curse track. Then you hit the Slacker track Psychout and i promise you move this track to any part of the four minute length and you'll here the same sound, so this is a track to skip, it annoyed me in the movie and on this CD. Journey to the unknown by Intense is just the kind of heavy techno that you need to get over that Slacker track,its a light techno sound that builds up to the two tracks that make this CD worth owning. Blueprint/Rip the Face off by Lungworm and Lord Abortion by the mighty Cradle. The Lungworm track is really intense techno with a hint of underlying vocals that just rounds it off amazingly. Then Lord Abortion, what can you say but classic. Introduced with a great soundbite from the movie that leads into Dani singing his heart out about all the most foul noctournal pleasures. The D.O.P.E. track stuck on the end is an anti-climax after such a song as Lord Abortion. This is a soundtrack that sits well next to my Cradle albums and if you liked the movie the sound bites will raise an evil cackle, if you haven't seen the movie spend your money on that instead.