Band:	Cradle Of Filth
Album:	Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa
Style:	Extreme gothic metal, Symphonic metal
Release date:	November 2010

"Fan Edition" Version

Disc I
01. The Cult Of Venus Aversa
02. One Foul Step From The Abyss
03. The Nun With The Astral Habit
04. Retreat Of The Sacred Heart
05. The Persecution Song
06. Deceiving Eyes
07. Lilith Immaculate
08. The Spawn Of Love And War
09. Harlot On A Pedestal
10. Forgive Me Father (I Have Sinned)
11. Beyond Eleventh Hour

Disc II [bonus]
01. Beast Of Extermination
02. Truth And Agony
03. Adest Rosa Secreta Eros
04. Mistress From The Sucking Pit
05. Behind The Jagged Mountains
06. The Cult Of Venus Aversa [demo]
07. The Nun With The Astral Habit [demo]
08. Deceiving Eyes [demo]

Disc III [dvd]
01. Forgive Me Father (I Have Sinned) Promo Video
02. Forgive Me Father (I Have Sinned) Video Making Of

Cradle Of Filth are a band that have performed a slow but legendary downfall. And they managed to rise like a phoenix from its ash, but faster than any phoenix could. Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa is now the second count in their rise and still has something to add in terms of speed, darkness and pure blasting metal. This record is once more a concept album and deals with the demoness Lilith, which happened to be the first wife of Adam in the book of Genesis. But we are here to talk about music, so let's get into it!

As said above, this is an extreme heavy album unlike Cradle Of Filth have done yet. Remarkable and supporting this is the fact that we have no instrumental tracks here, only straight forward metal in every song. At some parts this whole in-your-face attitude sounds familiar with Slayer stuff, but of course this is no thrash metal we're dealing with here. But imagine a band like Slayer with an orchestra and a drunk cat on vocals and you can get pretty much the idea of what a weird melting cauldron Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa is. This shall be no offense to anyone because all parts do their deeds gratefully.

Nevertheless, this album is awesome. It's mostly ever changing from dark and grim metal parts to the gloriously sung slow parts with all their harmonies. Dani Filth might have lost some power in his voice but he still is unattainable in his skills that reach through several octaves. His whispers still send chills through my back. Also we have again more screams in here. Actually a whole lot more than on the previous albums. And Dani still has the guts in his profession, one time he'll be called the Dio of extreme metal. But enough of the vocals, the plucked instruments are perfect as always (thanks to some of the most talented musicians), but who really deserves credit is Martin "Marthus" ?karoupka, the best drummer CoF ever had. He can raise hell out of his kit!

The songwriting does not diversify much from song to song; they all have their fast and slow parts, whereas last mentioned are wrapped within the fast parts. The only song which is the other way round in this is "The Persecution Song," but its fast part is one of the true highlights of this album. There are many highlights on the whole record but also some cheesy parts resembling Nymphornography, which were not necessary to include in my opinion. But in the whole context they are neither remarkable nor disturbing.

Overall a brutal second album on the new high rail of Cradle Of Filth that goes slightly beyond the previous album but fills the gap of medieval atmosphere with "extreme symphonic gothic metal" in its most literally meaning and an erotic story built around a demoness that maybe would be a member of this band if she was alive.