When exactly did Cradle of Filth live most “deliciously”? The band’s “To Live Deliciously” was inspired by the idea of living free from the constraints of religion, fashion or state and during his appearance on Full Metal Jackie’s weekend radio show, Dani Filth reflected on the period i which his band lived most “deliciously.”The singer cited good times from early in their career shouting out of their most beloved albums, but admitted that there’s another period in their career that rivals his pick. He also broke down why both times were creatively and personally rewarding to him as an artist and musician.Within the discussion, Dani Filth also discusses The Screaming of the Valkyries album, how his influences impact the band’s music and his thoughts on how we consume music in today’s culture.The singer also shares his love for the Chaos and Carnage tour lineup and the state of modern metal, offers some insight into his long gestating collaboration with Ed Sheeran and comments on having two band members who recently got married.Check out more of the chat below.It’s Full Metal Jackie. So excited to welcome Cradle of Filth’s namesake frontman, Dani Filth. Dani’s a little sick right now. Cradle of Filth is back with their new album, The Screaming of the Valkyries while also hitting the road with the Chaos and Carnage tour this year. What an amazing lineup. It’s like a who’s who of extreme metal with Dying Fetus, Fleshgod Apocalypse. As one of the elder statesmen of extreme metal, how excited are you about this lineup and how do you feel about the state of extreme metal music in 2025?Wow. Way to test my adult brain. Obviously very excited about it, otherwise we wouldn’t have taken it on. But I like it. I like the juxtaposition of us and Dying Fetus. I think that works kind of well, not too similar, but similar enough and everything in between with the other bands and it’s going to be very exciting.It’s great to come out in support of our new record. It’s going to be during the spring in America. Brave new horizons are afoot. Obviously going out In support of a new record is a big enough event as it is, let alone going out and doing something on this magnitude. So I’m very much looking forward to it.Cradle of Filth, “To Live Deliciously”Dani, one of the key tracks on this new record is “To Live Deliciously,” the song you view as a celebration of life living free from the constraints of religion, fashion or state. What has been the most free or celebratory period of your career as an artist?When we joined Sony back in, I believe it was 2002 and we headlined the B stage at the American Ozzfest that year as well. Took Type O Negative and Moonspell out as a support act and just generally had a really cool year.We were very aware of the time and what everybody was saying about metal bands going on a major label and that it would be like this golden ticket at first, but then they’d move around the person that sold you on the label to another job, et cetera, et cetera. We took all that into account. We didn’t care.Subsequently all that happened as well. But it was just one of those rare occasions where financially we were very astute or … well, we actually weren’t. Actually. But we had a lot of money and we spent it mostly on a 101 piece orchestra and did everything that I guess Sony probably didn’t think we were going to do.They probably thought we were having dance lessons and we were going to be the next Backstreet Boys. But we actually did an album that was literally falling off the vinyl. It was. It was that long and convoluted and this big, grave, overarching story about the fall of Lucifer and it felt free, it felt liberating being like that and just being in control of your own destiny, despite the fact that you knew you that it wasn’t going to last for forever.We’ve kind of got that vibe now as well because as I said, we’re older and things are going very well in the Cradle camp at the moment with the new blood. Zoe, our new keyboardist, has married Ashok, our guitarist. So things are going very well internally as well. Yeah, it just feels like you’re in kind of in the driving seat. We’ve got great people around us, great management, great record company who are just letting us do our jobs.Dani, this is the band’s 14th studio album. You’ve covered a lot of territory over the years. What was the jumping off point for this new record? Was there an idea or topic that kicked off where you wanted to take the new music?Firstly, thanks for pointing out that I’m old. It isn’t about age is just the number.We all know this isn’t it, isn’t it?We had new blood in the band. We were the new record label, Napalm. We just put out a double live record, but doesn’t really count as such until you actually bring out something for original material. So this is our first album per se for a new label with fresh blood.We’ve been doing a lot of touring post Covid, hence why it took a lot longer for the album to come out. And the modus operandi that the sort of kind of kickstarter for it was basically just to write a killer record. Very catchy. We decided we’re going to deliver a special edition or bonus tracks for Timbuktu or whatever.We’re just gonna literally do an album and deliver it as they used to, albeit a little longer than the works of the ’80s. But, yeah, just nine songs, no separate intro outro or convoluted middle break or anything like that, and just a real celebration of everything that.We’ll show what we are as a band and what metal is, and to do whatever it takes, whatever ingredients need to be stirred to make it happen. So if it’s like there’s some death flash in there or new wave of British heavy metal or some gothic aesthetics, then so be it. It’s all about the song. That was what we intended anyway.Cradle of Filth, “You Are My Nautilus”Dani, I know this is a PR speak, giving people something to compare music to, but “You Are My Nautilus” has been described as “the darkest song Iron Maiden never wrote.” Yes, it’s a descriptor, but how much does the music you listen to inspire you? Have you ever felt parts of your music are unique, nods to your love of other artists?Oh, absolutely, yeah. Essentially, as a British band, originally, we were a British band. It felt like we had the baton passed along by our forebears. It sounds very romantic, doesn’t it? Well, with the originators, Black Sabbath and Priest and Iron Maidens and what have you those new wave of breach heavy metal legends.And I guess with that and the longevity of the scene and our influences from Peaceville Records back in the day, the doom scene, soundtracks, whatever. I guess we’ve got a bit of a melting pot going on and we wear that on our sleeve on this record, for sure.We listen to all kinds of different music, mainly dark music, atmospheric music, and you can’t help but be influenced. We, and I still am, despite everything with my nods to the past and my massive thrash metal album collection. I still buy new music, like physical copies as well and I enjoy it for that. I think it’s not a case of plagiarizing, it’s just embracing everything and enjoying it.Dani, in a recent interview you discussed the soullessness of AI, but there was something else in that discussion I wanted to hit on. You spoke of there being something spiritual of going to a record store, growing up and seeking out music. While it’s great that there are so many things at our fingertips now, do you feel that things are perhaps too easy for the music consumer? Have we lost some of what makes music great in how the listening public consumes music nowadays?Well, I think that’s just my opinion. I don’t think that relates to everybody. I think the main thing here is that people like music and for some people, they don’t have the time to or all the money to be going around buying CDs and trolling through record stores and each to their own.That’s fair enough and I’m not going to preach about it. People like our records and they get it off Spotify and Spotify don’t pay well, so be it. But we’re just pleased that it’s getting out to people who like our, our music.But yeah, I do think the magic has been lost. There was a certain magic back in the day of finding bands and discovering them for yourself, waiting for records. I actually bought back in the day [Slayer’s] Hell Awaits. I had Show No Mercy very early on and then Raining Blood. My mum got me the import and it arrived way before anybody else had heard it, like a month before. I was totally blown away.READ MORE: Cradle of Filth’s Dani Filth Names His 5 Favorite H.P. Lovecraft StoriesBut Hell Awaits. I had to order it from a local department store and it took about three months to arrive and then when it did, it had a chunk like just been taken out of it. So that got sent back. So about six months later I actually got a copy of a record and it was a real big deal. I wanted to take the day off school.It’s not quite like nowadays where if you wanted to you could open a title account this afternoon. That’s probably 60 to 65 albums in your collection by dinner time. And does that attach significance to each and every one of it? I still listen to CDs in the car just for the fact that I get to experience the whole thing as the artist intended. And generally, or not, they stay in there for months because I’m too lazy to take them out.Dani, there’s been a lot of talk in recent years about your collaboration with Ed Sheeran, and I know that it’s not part of this album but it will eventually come out. I just wanted to get your first impressions of meeting with Ed. Did you have certain expectations of how it would play out? And was this experience something you see as opening up a different type of musical option for either of you?Possibly. The marriage was made because, long story short, he did a video. The subject matter, I guess, was vampires and somebody asked him about metal and the video was very sort of in that vein. And he said that, yes, he used to listen to metal and Nymphetamine was one of his most favorite albums.And then he related a story about how he was going to do his college work experience at a studio working for Cradle of Filth’s new album. Well, we were never, ever going to record this album, which was Nymphetamine. at that particular studio. We were just rehearsing there. It was just a market employee by the guy that owned it that said hey, we’ve got this band in. So he never ended up doing the album with us and instead was sent to the local council, which he absolutely effing literally hated it and subsequently said, that’s why I pursued music, because I’m never going back to a crappy job like that.Obviously, before he came to the studio and it took a while to sort it out because we’re busy, he’s obviously way busier. So there was just one text because I was in contact with him quite a while, said, how do you fancy next week doing it? Are you free? Basically, he turned up at the studio and our studio is in the middle of the countryside. But there were no expectations and no questions. Like, for example, he could have had a selection of our family there with him. All they’re asking for autographs or something. It was nothing like that.He was very cool with it. He turned up on his own. No entourage, no bouncers or management, just him, his guitar, Cradle of Filth hoodie, drove his wife’s car there to be incognito. We went out to the pub afterwards and had a nice lunch, well a late lunch because we were working all afternoon.Yeah, he’s just a really down to earth guy. And it was great. The song is awesome. It’s not a comedy song by any means. And it sounds exactly like people imagine it. It sounds like Ed Sheeran because he plays his acoustic guitar and sings and it also sounds like Cradle of Filth.The reason why it isn’t out quite yet is because he’s managed to place some jurisdictions on it because he’s got some plans which you can’t talk about. Don’t really know. And also we didn’t want it really overshadowing this album that we’ve written either. So there’s no real rush for it. It will come out possibly at the end of the year, early next year.It’s just cool. And I like the marriage of extremes. I like doing stuff like that. I worked with the guy from Goblin on a horror movie once and I did a song with Bring Me the Horizon and 69 Eyes and Motionless [in White], bands that are different just for the fact that I think it works, the marriage of extremes.Dani, you mentioned it, but the Cradle of Filth family got a little more connected earlier this year with the wedding of Ashok and Zoe. As someone who’s seen band members come and go and been there through the trajectory of this band, what has it been like to witness a love story evolve amidst the backdrop of this job. It sounds like a movie, one of those feel good movies on the Hallmark Channel. That must be an interesting dynamic to see as it developed over the last few years.It’s one of those things. It happened and it’s a sure sign that things are going well in the band and we all attended. It was brilliant. I took my girlfriend and her son, well, my partner and her son to Arizona. We had an amazing week and everything was was really magical.It’s cool. Great start to the year. And it just shows that things are going well with the band and it is different, but it’s one of those things, you get on with it, don’t you? I don’t know how that’s going to pan out. I mean, they’ve been together for a couple of years now, so I don’t think it’s going to be too different. Maybe she’ll have bigger trousers than he has from now on.Each record is its own thing. At the end of the Screaming of the Valkyries album cycle, this all will be a success or will have met expectations for you if what happens? Are there things you look to achieve over the course of a record cycle?Well, playing a lot of shows, I should imagine will be order of the day. I think we get to the point now that every record is monolithic. It’s a big deal. It’s a big deal for us at least, and hopefully a big deal for our fans.We try and make each one as individual as possible. Obviously we have plans with great management, Dez Fafara and his wife Anastasia, and they have the greater idea of what we’re doing, where we’re going, how to achieve it and stuff like that which is great because it leaves us to just do what we do best is which is to write music.We’re really getting into the flow of that in the present. I know we’re talking about this album, but we’ve already started writing another. But don’t get too excited, obviously it’s not going to be a final.But at the end of the day, that all we really wanted to do. And the trouble is as you pointed out, we’ve been in this for 14 records and 30 years at the beginning, it’s always super magical because there’s no expectations, there’s no real concern about making it a living.Sometimes that takes away from the sort of fire of it when you have to consider the fact that you’re having to live and you’ve got to make money off it. It’s always the lowest common denominator, don’t you think? But having all these things in place and being a band that’s had huge success over the years and done a really good record now, it’s taken away a little bit of those concerns.We obviously do think about what we’re doing, but not to the sort of level of planning and being too articulate with expectation. We just do our thing and we’ve been left alone, fortunately enough to create this masterpiece, hopefully, and that’s all we can ask for.And obviously just looking forward to going out on the road. I think Covid, that whole plague that beset everybody, I think that either set bands to ruin because people went, you know what, yeah, I don’t want to be in a band anymore because it’s just too much and I’ve got a better job now and I can work from home. Or it’s been a total reset where people are going, you know what? I was getting a bit bored of this, but I absolutely love it now because at one point we didn’t even know if this was going to happen anymore. And fortunately, we belong to that latter camp,Thanks to Cradle of Filth’s Dani Filth for the interview. The Screaming of the Valkyries is available now. You can keep up with the band through their website, Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube accounts. Find out where you can hear Full Metal Jackie’s weekend radio show here.The 67 Best Rock + Metal Songs of 2024Recapping the best rock and metal songs of 2024 so far.Contributions by Jordan Blum, Chad Childers, Joe DiVita and Lauryn Schaffner.Gallery Credit: Loudwire Staff