The album – which is the Suffolk extreme metallers' 13th – arrives October 22 via Nuclear Blast
(Image credit: Nuclear Blast)
Longstanding extreme metal titans Cradle of Filth have announced their 13th studio album, Existence Is Futile.
While the record doesn't arrive until October 22, you can check out its first single Crawling King Chaos – which sees guitarists Richard Shaw and Marek "Ashok" Šmerda deploy a clutch of hellish drop-tuned riffs over a hauntingly orchestral backdrop – and appropriately devilish accompanying music video below.
Following the band's previous album Cryptoriana – The Seductiveness of Decay – which was released in 2017 – the new album was recorded during the lockdown periods of 2020 at Grindstone Studios in the band's native Suffolk with producer Scott Atkins.
Conceptually, the album is about “existentialism, existential dread and fear of the unknown,” explains frontman Dani Filth.
“The concept wasn't created by the pandemic. We'd written it long before that began, but the pandemic is the tip of the cotton bud as far as the way the world is headed, you know?
“I guess the title, Existence Is Futile, does sound a little morbid. But again. it's more about recognizing the truth and saying that everything is permitted because nothing really matters, which mimics the occultist Aleister Crowley's maxim. We all know we're going to die, so we might as well indulge life while we possess it.
“The final track on the album – Us, Dark, Invincible – really drives that point home. Also, the artwork for this record was created by the Latvian visionary Arthur Berzinsh, who also dressed the last two albums, and that reeks of the exceedingly beautiful yet apocalyptic, too.”
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Cradle of Filth fans will no doubt be thrilled to learn that horror icon Doug Bradley – who played Pinhead in the Hellraiser film series – will once again appear, lending his voice to what the band describes as their “most politically astute song to date”, Suffer Our Dominion.
Existence is Futile is available now for preorder. Check out the record's tracklisting below.
Sam was Staff Writer at GuitarWorld.com from 2019 to 2023, and also created content for Total Guitar, Guitarist and Guitar Player. He has well over 15 years of guitar playing under his belt, as well as a degree in Music Technology (Mixing and Mastering). He's a metalhead through and through, but has a thorough appreciation for all genres of music. In his spare time, Sam creates point-of-view guitar lesson videos on YouTube under the name Sightline Guitar.
