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Midian (album)

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Midian
Cover art by JK Potter
Studio album by
Cradle of Filth
Released30 October 2000
Recorded21 June–August 2000[1]
StudioParkgate Studios (Battle, East Sussex, England)
Genre
Length58:52
LabelMusic for Nations (Europe)
Koch (US)
ProducerJohn Fryer
Cradle of Filth chronology
From the Cradle to Enslave
(1999) 		Midian
(2000) 		Bitter Suites to Succubi
(2001)
Singles from Midian
  1. "Her Ghost in the Fog"
    Released: 30 October 2000
Alternate cover
Limited leather "digibook" edition

Midian is the fourth studio album by English extreme metal band Cradle of Filth. It was released on 30 October 2000 through Music for Nations. The album marks the return of guitarist Paul Allender to the band, as well as the introduction of drummer Adrian Erlandsson (At the Gates, The Haunted) and keyboard player Martin Powell (My Dying Bride, Anathema). It also features Doug Bradley (Hellraiser, Hellbound) as the narrator for various songs.

Thematic inspiration

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Midian is inspired by English author Clive Barker's novel Cabal and his subsequent film version Nightbreed. Dani Filth explained to the magazine Empire in September 2012:

We loved Cabal, The Damnation Game and The Books of Blood, and we liked that everything had "Clive Barker presents..." on it before people even knew who he was. That gave it an air of mystery: you should know who this is, but you don't. Midian kind of is and isn't a concept album: as a title, it just made perfect sense. The central song, "Tortured Soul Asylum", is about Midian, and the characters in the rest [of the album] made up a sort of collective from this mythical place where the monsters live.[2]

Doug Bradley, who played the role of Lylesberg in Nightbreed (but is better known as Pinhead from Barker's Hellraiser and its sequels), provides narration on some tracks.

In the Bible, the "Midianites" are an Arab tribe descended from Abraham, and Midian itself is where Moses spent his forty-year exile from Egypt. The biblical Midianites take their name from Midian, a son of Abraham, and one of his concubines. Today, the former territory of Midian is found through small portions of western Saudi Arabia, southern Jordan, southern Israel and the Sinai. The people of Midian are also mentioned extensively in the Qur'an, where the name appears in Arabic as Madyan. The Midian of Cabal and Nightbreed is a hidden city west of Calgary in Alberta, Canada, offering shelter for monsters away from humanity.

The song "Cthulhu Dawn" invokes the character from horror writer H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos.

The opening line of "Lord Abortion" ("Care for a little necrophilia?") is a quote from Terry Gilliam's film Brazil (voiced by Kim Greist in the film, but delivered here by Toni King, frontman Dani Filth's wife).

Release

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Midian was released on 30 October 2000 by record label Music for Nations. It reached number 63 in the UK Albums Chart.[3] The cover was by the artist J.K. Potter. It was subsequently also used as the jacket for Potter's 2002 horror fiction anthology Embrace the Mutation.[4]

"Her Ghost in the Fog" spawned a music video, which received heavy rotation on MTV2 and other rock channels, and was directed by Alex Chandon (who also directed the 2001 horror film Cradle of Fear in which Dani Filth appeared). "Her Ghost in the Fog" appeared on the soundtrack for Ginger Snaps in 2000 and in the video game Brütal Legend in 2009.

The album was reissued in 2012 by The End.[5]

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[6]
Chronicles of Chaos8.5/10[7]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal9/10[8]
Exclaim!favourable[9]
Kerrang![10]
Metal Rules4.5/5[11]
NME7/10[12]
Rock Sound[13]

NME called it "one of the most ludicrous records you'll ever hear", though their review was favourable.[12] In 2020, it was named one of the 20 best metal albums of 2000 by Metal Hammer magazine.[14]

Track listing

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All lyrics are written by Dani Filth; all music is composed by Cradle of Filth, except "For Those Who Died" written by Andy Sneap and Martin Walkyier

No.TitleLength
1."At the Gates of Midian" (Instrumental)2:21
2."Cthulhu Dawn"4:17
3."Saffron's Curse"6:32
4."Death Magick for Adepts"5:53
5."Lord Abortion"6:51
6."Amor e morte"6:44
7."Creatures That Kissed in Cold Mirrors" (Instrumental)3:00
8."Her Ghost in the Fog"6:24
9."Satanic Mantra"0:51
10."Tearing the Veil from Grace"8:13
11."Tortured Soul Asylum"7:46
Limited leather "digibook"/Japanese edition
No.TitleLength
12."For Those Who Died" (Sabbat cover, featuring Martin Walkyier – mis-titled "For Those Who Have Died" on Japanese CD liner)6:16

Personnel

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Cradle of Filth
Guest/session musicians
  • Martin Walkyier – vocals on "For Those Who Died"
  • Mika Lindberg – backing vocals
  • Doug Bradley – narration on "Death Magick for Adepts", "Her Ghost in the Fog" and "Tortured Soul Asylum"
  • Toni King – voice on "Lord Abortion"
  • Andy Nice – cello
Production
  • John Fryer – producer, engineer, mixing
  • Doug Cook – engineer, mixing
  • Jamie Morrison – assistant engineer
  • Ray Staff – mastering

Charts

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Year Chart Position
2000 Finnish Albums Chart 11[15]
Heatseekers Albums (USA) 21[16]
German Albums Chart 30[17]
GfK Dutch Chart 41[18]
Ultratop Belgian Chart (Flanders) 47[19]
French Albums Chart 50[20]
Swedish Albums Chart 57[21]
UK Albums Chart 63[3]

References

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  1. ^ A DOWNLOAD OF FILTH nme.com, retrieved 17 January 2019
  2. ^ Williams, Owen. "The Strange Case of Clive Barker's Nightbreed". Empire.
  3. ^ a b "Artist Chart History – Cradle of Filth". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  4. ^ "Subterranean Press J. K. Potter's Embrace the Mutation: Fiction Inspired by the Art of J. K. Potter".
  5. ^ Woodley, Laura (20 June 2012). "Cradle of Filth to Release Eight Album Reissues – Cradle of Filth". theorderofthedragon.com. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
  6. ^ Bregman, Adam. "Midian – Cradle of Filth : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards : AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  7. ^ McKay, Aaron (20 November 2000). "CoC : Cradle of Filth – Midian : Review". Chronicles of Chaos. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
  8. ^ Popoff, Martin; Perri, David (2011). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 4: The '00s. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. pp. 91–92. ISBN 9781-926592-20-6.
  9. ^ Palmerston, Sean (November 2001). "Cradle of Filth – Midian • Metal Reviews • exclaim.ca". exclaim.ca. Archived from the original on 6 June 2012. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
  10. ^ Lawson, Dom (28 October 2000). "The Filth and the Fury | Albums". Kerrang!. No. 825. EMAP. p. 44.
  11. ^ Waspman (November 2000). "Cradle of Filth – Midian". Metal-Rules.com. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
  12. ^ a b NME: 42. 18 November 2000. {{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  13. ^ Exley, Mike (November 2000). "Reviews: Metal". Rock Sound (18). UK: Freeway Press: 92.
  14. ^ "The Top 20 best metal albums of 2000". Metal Hammer. 29 September 2020. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
  15. ^ "Cradle of Filth – Midian (album)". Finnishcharts.com. Media Control Charts. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  16. ^ "Midian Billboard Albums". AllMusic. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  17. ^ "Album – Cradle of Filth, Midian". Charts.de (in German). Media Control Charts. Retrieved 26 April 2014.[dead link‍]
  18. ^ "Cradle of Filth – Midian (album)". GfK Dutch Charts (in Dutch). Media Control Charts. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  19. ^ "Cradle of Filth – Midian". Ultratop (in Dutch). Media Control Charts. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  20. ^ "Cradle of Filth – Midian (album)". Lescharts.com (in French). Media Control Charts. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  21. ^ "Cradle of Filth – Midian (album)". Swedishcharts.com. Media Control Charts. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
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