That’s how it was with CRADLE OF FILTH

Automatic translation. Improvements are constantly being worked on.

July 19, 2025
Munich, Backstage

A nice little horror show

It was the end of a beautiful Munich summer’s day and the sun began its descent behind the horizon. As darkness fell in the evening, the popular Backstage event area also became gloomy, because when Dani Filth and Cradle of Filth come to town, a mob dressed in black has reliably gathered for more than three decades now to be captivated by the charismatic frontman. To mark the release of their latest album entitled “The Screaming of the Valkyries” (we reported on it in our March/April issue), the band are currently on a major European tour and, after big festival appearances such as the Download Festival, are now also making stops in the cozier halls.

Leather and metal rivets

After a two-minute light show to the soundtrack of the horror classic “Hellraiser: Resurrection”, which transformed the stage lined with skeletons into a wild play of colors, the band appeared in front of the crowd. The whole band? No, one was still missing. The frontman. Suddenly, the eyes fell on a stooped figure standing in the background of the set, hidden under a black cloth. The cloaked figure wandered around the stage for a few moments, somewhat distraught, before tearing the cloth off his head and revealing himself to be Dani Filth. Dressed in a black leather outfit, which was studded with several huge metal rivets on the shoulder. At best, this would have caused questioning looks at any airport control. At almost the same moment, the rest of the band joined in and sang “To Live Deliciously” from the new album and the wild ride began!

Masterful

This was followed by “The Forest Whispers My Name” and “She Is a Fire”. Between songs, the Englishman repeatedly addressed the fans in the almost sold-out hall and urged them to shout their enthusiasm at him. He paced back and forth like a wild animal, gesticulating wildly, almost as if he were conducting every riff and every melody. From his pedestal, on which the gruesomely beautiful microphone stand was mounted, depicting a multitude of intertwined skeletons and other macabre objects, he controlled the action and was master of his entourage. With the microphone, he proved once again that there are few in extreme metal who can hold a candle to him. The growls were still on point and with his shrill, high-pitched screams, such as in “Cruelty Brought Thee Orchids” – which has long since become a classic – he still gave us goosebumps. And the rest of the sextet also seemed completely in tune. With a good-humored euphoria, the two guitarists Marek “Ashok” Šmerda and Donny Burbage, who only joined the band in 2022, harmonized perfectly with each other. Keyboardist Zoe Marie Federoff, also new since 2022, made the most of the vocal interludes entrusted to her and backed her colleagues’ shivering pieces with the fine synthesizer bed that gives Cradle of Filth its unmistakable sound. Dani Filth’s short but amusing speeches, in which he talked about the creepy backgrounds of the individual songs, always provided excellent introductions for the brutal sounds that followed.

After about an hour and a half in the hall, which was heated to well over 30 degrees, the band left the stage after “Her Ghost in the Fog”. The little horror show was over and the darkly dressed crowd was released back into the night.

Text: Michael Schille
Photos: Markus Werner /thefreelenser

Setlist:
“To Live Deliciously” – “The Forest Whispers My Name” – “She Is A Fire” – “Malignant Perfection” – “The Principle of Evil Made Flesh” – “Heartbreak and Seance” – “Nymphetamine” – “Born in a Burial Gown” – “White Hellebore” — “Cruelty Brought Thee Orchids” – “Death Magick For Adepts” – “Her Ghost in the Fog”