Halloween in London spoils you with a choice of parties. Cradle Of Filth contributed to that busy and exciting landscape with their now annual spooky show. This year, O2 Forum Kentish Town hosted Dani Filth and the team for the fourth date of the highly anticipated By Order of Dragon Tour. Joining them were Butcher Babies, High Parasite and Black Satellite.
Cradle Of Filth – Butcher Babies – High Parasite – Black Satellite
O2 Forum Kentish Town – 31 August 2024
Words: Natalia Kasiarz
Photography: Robert Sutton
The By Order of Dragon Tour hits Belfast tomorrow, with Dublin, Glasgow, and Newcastle left before Cradle Of Filth hits mainland Europe. This is a band that does not rest when not on the road. Even with their extensive back catalogue of music, they keep working on new songs, and this tour coincides with the release of their brand-new single, Malignant Perfection.
The band are set to release their 14th studio album in 2025. “The new album is a concept record,” Dani Filth told MetalTalk in a recent interview. “I mean, it’s conceptual, but it doesn’t run concurrently. That’s because we wanted to make very catchy songs that can be fucking super fast, super heavy or an amalgam of both. But they’ve gotta be memorable.”
With three fantastic supporting acts in Butcher Babies, High Parasite and Black Sattelite, sharing the stage with Cradle Of Filth, Kentish Town was set for an epic Halloween evening.
Cradle Of Filth
The interval before the final act from Cradle Of Filth felt ecstatic. All the fans rushed around completing their chores, which mainly revolved around refilling their beer cups. The front of the stage was getting tighter by the minute.
Cradle Of Filth are famous for their theatrical performance while wearing traditional Black Metal attire. Fans matched their style, rocking elaborately painted faces in style with the genre. We were all greeted by the Jester, running around between two tall skeletons, which were part of the stage design.
The band followed soon after to the joy of screaming fans. Each act of the show felt epic, elevated by the light and powerful smoke gun machines. Dani Filth was in great form, delivering his signature screaming howls.
Fans tried to match him but could not hit the right notes. I spoke to a few people just before the show, and for many, it was a significant evening as they grew up with the Cradle’s songs. This love was felt and seen.
A single first note, song after song, set the fans alight, screaming with happiness and joy when the band performed their biggest hits like Nymphetamine (Fix) or Her Ghost In The Fog. The set was delivered with ease and in perfect harmony.
As expected from Dani, we also got to enjoy a few funny moments sprinkled in within the show. I had never seen anyone eat roses on stage before.
An (un)lucky for some 13-song set thrilled. Fans filled their hearts with the intricate guitar solos and blast beats that pounded through our bodies. And what a set it was. Considering the size of the catalogue, we had songs from nine different album all the way back to The Principle of Evil Made Flesh.
Filthlings got exactly what they came for. Magnificent.
Black Sattelite
Opening the night in a bigger venue is tricky. Space tends to fill as you progress through your set, meaning each song is a potential introduction to the new fans. You usually don ot get enough time to make a lasting impression.
Black Sattelite from New York handled this incredibly well. Their fusion of industrial and Metal sounds slow, yet with a punch. They woke up the crowd from their slumber by mixing in fast-paced hits and ballads, effortlessly introducing themselves to the Londoners.
I enjoyed watching the guitarist and bassist – their dynamic and play-through were fun and flowy. Their lead, Larissa Vale, was an absolute vocal powerhouse.
By finishing with their award-winning cover of Sonne by Rammstein, they shook some of the last sleepy Metalheads, bringing that sour-happy expression to people’s faces.
High Parasite
The second act, High Parasite, is fronted by Aaron Stainthrope from the famous Doom Metal band My Dying Bride in his new and exciting project. Their debut album, Forever We Burn, was released back in May.
High Parasite had the most relaxed entrance, and you could tell that this was not their first big stage to play on. Specifically, Aaron, who walked in with a pint of beer and an all-white suit, fully relaxed. There was a moment of silence for the frontman to take a sip from the glass, and then they kicked things off.
We were all served a mix of Death Pop, which is how the band likes to describe their sound, combining elevated Metal and gothic undertones. At this point in the evening, the crowd settled in copying the frontman and holding their pints, headbanging along to their performance.
Butcher Babies
Suddenly, we found ourselves in the penultimate moment of the evening, waiting for the Butcher Babies to take over the space on the stage. They flew from Los Angeles to tour with the Cradle Of Filth.
From the first second of their set, we were blasted, or I would even dare to say we were nuked by their brutal soundscape and light show. Butcher Babies brought high energy, and their interaction with the fans was well crafted.
We got to enjoy a sneak peek of their new upcoming single, Sincerity, which will be released on 8 November. The crowd rewarded Butcher Babies with the first moshpit of the evening.
This was a Halloween show, and you could find quite a few inexperienced revellers who bought tickets, curious about the Heavy Metal scene. At one point, there was a lone cheerleader in the pit, trying to figure out what to do.
