Live Review: Cradle Of Filth, Somnium Nox

Why Somnium Nox get the 'post' or 'ambient' black metal tag is a mystery as they deliver enough scorched-earth fury to put the most grim and frostbitten badger-painted horde to shame. That said, as they belted out efforts from their Terra Inanis LP it was clear that the boys had thought about actual songcraft and their technical precision ensured that it didn't all end up as a thick pea soup, which of course is an occupational hazard of the genre.

Once upon a time, Cradle Of Filth were actually scary - a threat to public morality, if you will. These days, and a thousand line-up changes later, the band are a veritable vaudeville act led by the tongue-in-cheek man himself, Dani Filth. With a discography as large as theirs, they could never haved pleased everyone, but the band managed to deliver a balanced set including cuts from last year's well-received Cryptoriana LP (Heartbreak And Seance and You Will Know The Lion By His Claw) and a raft of cuts spanning their entire career highlighted by Dusk And Her Embrace, Her Ghost In The Fog and From The Cradle To Enslave. Frontman Dani Filth was in fine form, cracking jokes, claiming our fair city was named after Sidney Poitier and managing to hit the high shrieks and low growls with equal aplomb.

As befits a band in the middle of a huge world tour, Cradle Of Filth were tight and benefited from a mix that accentuated their Iron Maiden-esque melodies, although Lindsay Schoolcraft's vocals were buried a little deep in the mix. Overall, Cradle Of Filth gave the crowd what they wanted: a theatrical tour de force delivered with musical precision and some patented wry humour.