Total Fucking Darkness

Infamous English extreme metal act Cradle of Filth follow their 2012 album The Manticore and Other Horrors with this deluxe remastered and expanded version of one of their earliest demos. Featuring tracks that were originally slated to appear on their lost debut album Goetia as well as other rare nuggets from the vault, this is a treat for fans and a glimpse for latecomers into the band's raw and raucous black metal origins. ~ John D. Buchanan|

Total Fucking Darkness was Cradle of Filth's third self-released demo recording. It followed Invoking the Unclean and Orgiastic Pleasures Foul, as well as a split album with Malediction entitled A Pungent and Sexual Miasma. Though the set was recorded in 1992, it wasn't issued until a year later. The Mordgrimm label's reissue features dramatically improved sound. Not only does it include the five track, 24-minute EP, but adds "Spattered in Faeces" as the opener -- the only surviving cut from the Goetia sessions, lost recordings that were to make up the band's debut album which were scrapped due to funding problems. Four tracks from the "Samhain" rehearsals are also here, including the previously unissued "Devil Mayfair (Advocatus Diaboli)." This music, though it evolves and improves considerably upon the previous two demo EPs, is a far cry from what COF would get up to as early as 1994 with the release of their debut full-length The Principle of Evil Made Flesh, where the deep Gothic element that has become their trademark was introduced. Given how poor most upteenth generation boots of this early material sound, this set is a welcome official edition to the catalog and will certainly appeal to longtime fans. ~ Thom Jurek