Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by Cradle of Filth | ||||||||||
Released | 1 November 2010 | |||||||||
Recorded | Monkey Puzzle House Studio, Woolpit, Suffolk, England, June 2010 | |||||||||
Genre | Extreme metal | |||||||||
Length | 62:37 | |||||||||
Label |
Peaceville (Europe) Nuclear Blast (US) |
|||||||||
Producer |
|
|||||||||
Cradle of Filth chronology | ||||||||||
|
Professional ratings | |
---|---|
Aggregate scores | |
Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 60/100 |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | |
Alternative Press | 3/10 |
Kerrang! | |
Metal Hammer (GER) | |
Metal Storm | 7.3/10 |
PopMatters | |
Rock Sound | |
Record Collector | |
Sonic Seducer | favourable |
Uncut |
Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa is the ninth studio album by English extreme metal band Cradle of Filth. It was released on 1 November 2010 by record label Peaceville and is a concept album centred on the demon Lilith. It is Cradle of Filth's's only album to feature keyboardist Ashley Ellyllon, and is also the band's final album with Dave Pybus as their bass player.
Prior to its release the album was erroneously referred to as All Hallows Eve, probably because the announced release date was close to Hallowe'en.
Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa is a concept album in the same vein as its predecessor Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder, this time centering on the demon Lilith, the first wife of the biblical Adam.Dani Filth revealed to Metal Hammer in September 2010 that it would be a "feminine" companion piece to Godspeed, "which was a very masculine album, obviously due to its protagonist, Gilles De Rais." Unlike previous historically-based concept albums Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder and Cruelty and the Beast, Darkly, Darkly tells an original story. "It's about the resurgence of Lilith into modern society as a deity", Filth said. "There's a bit of Victoriana in there. Essentially, at heart, it's a nice gothic horror story." Reference to Greek mythology and the Knights Templar is also made, in what was referred to by the label as "a dark tapestry of horror, madness and twisted sex". At an early stage of the album's development in August 2009, Filth hinted that the album's sound was "creepily melodic, like Mercyful Fate or a dark Iron Maiden". The Metal Hammer interview also likened it to King Diamond.