I think very few people out there know nothing or haven’t heard before of the Englishman’s Dani Filth crew. For those who aren’t aware of their sound you could think of a thrash like heavy metal with some blast beats, keyboards and female vocals in a special mixture that’s either loved or hated by some but also doesn’t make a difference to others.

As far as this 9^th release of theirs, the band still does the same stuff. If you’re wandering why black metal isn’t mentioned anywhere it’s because there isn’t any besides their darkened (not by sun tan!) concept themes. So we have an indeed interesting story about the nobleman Gilles De Rais who was hanged back in 1440 as a serial killer in the name of dark forces. Filth presents this theme beautifully, applying their cinematographic keys that give a different color to their sound whilst the guest voices (the child you’ll hear is Dani’s daughter!) make an even more screen like result.

Musically I’d say is closer to “Dusk…And Her Embrace”, without a particular riff reminder but mostly because of the way it expands. The –once more- fantastic production work by Andy Sneap (Nevermore, Machine Head, Testament etc) makes the total outcome sound even better than it is & if you want to buy the album run for the limited digipack edition with a 10-track bonus disc with unreleased songs, versions of older ones and a cover of Celtic Frost’s “Into The Crypts Of Rays”.

That’s the whole story…What? My opinion? Unique style, love their first two works but now they have nothing to say. Some might find interesting the fact that they are Britain’s most successful metal band after Iron Maiden…