For the second time in a row, 19 November served us with an outstanding concert experience. Last year at the New Age Club (Roncade, Treviso) in neighbouring Italy, we witnessed an interesting combo: Fear Factory, Butcher Babies, Ignea and Ghosts Of Atlantis, and this year, the long-awaited gothic extremes Cradle Of Filth with a variety of support. A cloudy and dark day with occasional rain provided the perfect backdrop for quite many people to gather in front of the Kino Šiška, predominantly fans of the cult band Cradle Of Filth. The band, which has brought horror, has been terrorizing the poor earthlings for 33 years, and this year, it is celebrating the 30th anniversary of its debut, The Principle Of Evil Made Flesh, album.
The tour called By Order Of The Dragon, besides Cradle Of Filth, offered two American bands, New York industrial/modern metal band Black Satellite, Los Angeles alternative metal champions Butcher Babies, and German deathcore group Mental Cruelty. I was very interested in Black Satellite's performance, mainly because I got acquainted with its music recently, and it attracted me from the first listen. By the way, more of its newer stuff is still waiting to get released on the upcoming album, which Black Satellite has been promising for quite some time, and of course, the excellent remake of Rammstein's "Sonne".
Black Satellite, led by vocalist Larissa Vale, performed an energetic performance, but, unfortunately, in front of a more than half-empty hall. The band only played new stuff, forgot about the songs from the debut album, and finished with the aforementioned excellent cover of the hit "Sonne". Black Satellite's performance was convincing, mainly thanks to Larissa, who looks like a cross between Pink and Marilyn Manson, and the sound image also moves in between here. The performance would have left a much better impression if the sound was more in favour of the band - it should have been more "industrial", as on the band's recordings, and not so "metal". I hope to see Black Satellite one day with a more extensive repertoire and in its better "sound condition". Nevertheless, it was more than a decent opening to what had to come.
Jerneja and I skipped Mental Cruelty because deathcore, even if it's "blackened" or whatever, doesn't appeal to us. But I looked into the hall a few times, and it was clear that the audience was enjoying themselves.
Then, it was time for Butcher Babies. Unfortunately, we didn't see its entire show last year because we had two interviews during its performance, so we paid more attention to the band this time. The band, founded in 2010 by the charismatic vocalists Heidi Shepherd and Carla Harvey, performed with only one vocalist, Heidi, last year due to health problems, and early this year, Carla finally announced her departure from the band. Nothing for that, but not for anyone, because the excellent performer and singer, Heidi, fills any void, not only with her vocals, which can be brutal, screaming, rock, and pop-sang without any problems, but also with her flirtatious movements and appearance. Butcher Babies dedicated its performance mainly to the last studio album, Eye For An Eye... / ...'Til The World's Blind, released through Century Media Records in July 2023. Of course, (perhaps) its biggest hit, "Monsters Ball", from the album Take It Like A Man, was not missing. An excellent and perfect performance was supported by a solid sound, which probably did not leave any of those present indifferent.
After some break, it was time for the stars of the evening, or at least we thought so. Cradle Of Filth started its performance more than half an hour later than planned due to technical issues with speakers. Some even feared that the performance would be cancelled because of this. The hall was almost filled with audience, kept company by two magnificent defenders of the stage in the form of alien skeletons. Once the technical issues were solved, it was finally time for Cradle Of Filth to show us why they are still considered one of the world's best extreme metal bands. Did the band do justice to its status? Hell, yeah! The extremely dark performance, full of theatrical elements, was pure perfection. The sound was great, and "petit" Dani Filth and the team seemed to enjoy their performance. Special praise goes to guitarist Marek "Ashok" Šmerda, who, with his very appearance, movements and head drawn in the style of Pinhead, serves a decent amount of creepiness.
The repertoire spanned the band's entire history, and since this year marks the 30th anniversary of its debut album, The Principle Of Evil Made Flesh, we got treated with two tracks from that album ("Summer Dying Fast" and "The Forest Whispers My Name"). Among the thirteen songs played, I was most impressed by the new masterpiece, "Malignant Perfection", which I consider a true gothic artwork. I think the audience enjoyed the "evergreen" songs, "Malice Through The Looking Glass", "Cruelty Brought Thee Orchids", or "Nymphetamine (Fix)" the most. I was missing something from the magnificent album Hammer Of The Witches, but, understandable, it's not one of the band's significant albums. In short, it was an excellent performance that probably did not leave anyone in the hall indifferent. I believe that everybody, like me, will try to see another performance of the exceptional Cradle Of Filth as soon as possible. For Jerneja and I, it will - most likely - happen already at Tolminator Fest 2025.
It was a great evening with four different bands, which on paper somehow don't belong together, but in reality, it all turned out perfectly, and I hope for many more similar tour combos.
Report by Tomaz
Photos by Tomaz
Edited by Jerneja
Links: Cradle Of Filth, Butcher Babies, Black Satellite, Mental Cruelty, Dirty Skunks (promoter)
