This is the most atmospheric, aura filled with sheer evil, and in my opinion the best Cradle of Filth album to date.  What we have here is Dani Filth screaming in his highest pitched vocals ever for a Cradle of Filth release and he mixes it up with low end talking, spewing forth dark words/lyrics, but mostly high end shrieks that can never again be replicated.  Actually, he has 3 tones that he sings in plus guest female vocalists that accompany the compositions.  They fill the album with more darkness and total gothic outputs.

The guitars are quite noteworthy, sometimes there is quite fast guitar work, but mostly a combination of melodic and ultimately intriguing riffs that really stick in your head.  I'd say this is their most melodic release to date as well.  The music, the vocals, the drums, the backup vocalists all put forth together as a unit in making this release their most notorious one.  It really is a total atmospheric/dark setting for each song.  There isn't a track on here that is boring or lacking creativity.  Every single song is totally outstanding.

Opening of the album and some songs filled with those synthesizers and keyboards that feed into the melodic feel of the release making songs more intriguing and uncompromising in darkness.  It's a total goth metal album, so many tempo changes it becomes difficult to hear music that is so translucent and ingenious.  The melodic guitars alongside the keyboards augment the sound of the songs.  Tempos yes are quite ever changing and Dani's shrieking vocals make it pretty impossible to understand what he's saying.

The lyrical content for this album range from talks about erotica, evil, Mythology and horror tales.  A quite well thought out album lyrically, each song embraces the sense of these words with music complimenting the singing and the backgrounds seem only able to produce more evil because the synthesizers go hand in hand with the guitars and make it so dark, Dani literally goes insane on here.  There are some blast beating going on depending on what track that you want to key into.  My favorite track is "Heaven Torn Asunder."

Production quality was quite good here for a 1996 release and nothing really is on here that is not mixed in well with each song.  You get everything a gothic metal release has to offer.  Intensity, erotica, guitar lines filled with chords and fast tremolo picking in some cases, but for the most part, all of the guitar riffs are very very melodic.  They have a slight reverb to each track and totally either bombard you with that fast riffing that fluctuates constantly.  Nothing on here is without innovative ideas, the songwriting is amazing.

This is one album you can never get sick of because of it's sheer evil and soul dampening.  There are balls to this release, a sheer triumph in metal music as we know it.  A couple of instrumentals on here which are epic.  This clocks almost at 60 minutes in length for just 9 songs.  Every track is filled with an utmost melodic and utter abundance of originality.  There aren't that many guitar leads on here, but the ones that do take place on here are executed with absolute precision.

Cradle of Filth's brilliance on Dusk...and Her Embrace is so admirable, it lacks in almost in no way any criticism whatsoever.  I'd have to say one caveat though is that the snare drum wasn't the greatest.  It wasn't enough to make it any lesser of a release however.  From start to finish, there is no track on here that is boring, unimaginative, dull or unoriginal.  It really hits home here and listeners of the band will be astonished if they've not heard it!  YouTube some tracks on here, especially my favorite and you'll be blown away!

Rate: 100%.

Reviewed By Death8699 (secret_face_metal@yahoo.com).

There are so many guest musicians on this album which makes it more atmospheric and domineering. 3 main members and the rest are the guests. I'd have to say that I like this one better than their past few full-length albums. This is not only because of variety, the guitar riffs are better. The chord progressions, tremolo picking, varying tempos, originality in the riffs themselves and they aren't drowned out by the keyboards, vocals, guest vocals, or drums.

Everything was mixed pretty well here though Dani Filth's voice are not high pitched as like they were on "Dusk...and Her Embrace". There are some high end screams, but mostly just a lower end voice which does fit the music. I'd have to say that "Dusk...and Her Embrace" is still my all-time favorite album from them. However, this release has a lot to offer in 51+ minutes of purely good gothic metal. All of the instruments are mixed well together and nothing is exempt in that respect.

I can't see why people gave this album a pretty low rating. Cradle of Filth has evolved since their first full-length. Totally mellowed out but I'd say they're still kicking butt. I wouldn't conclude that the band just went to hell. I think that they really had a good vibe here even though the songs are less intense than their predecessors. Maybe it's the change since their formation that turned people off on this one. However, I esteem it pretty highly more so than "Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa" and "Godspeed On the Devil's Thunder". 

The reason why I think that this album deserves praise is because of it's variety, still emphasis on atmosphere which with every Cradle release strives to achieve, but making it really work on an album is the question. I think that they really achieved it all here. No song to me was boring or lacked any sort of innovation. I think it blended well together, especially with all of the guest vocalists. It takes an open mind to conclude this, but not so open to where they went overboard on something, anything. I would definitely say "no".

Production quality is still top notch, all of the instruments and vocalists blended well together. I especially liked the guitar riffs. They were quite original sounding and had a good distorted tone to them. One thing that they were lacking though was in the lead department, but it didn't take away from the magic of the album. Everything to me seemed to fit well, nothing fell short on anything. It was a good solid release by the band and they still I would say have it.

If you're into the gothic metal type of scene, I would say that this one isn't one to pass up on. I say that modestly, but it really should be bluntly. Less dark yes, but still that atmosphere of evil is portrayed here. The songs were original sounding, memorable, everything that entails a good, solid release. It seems to me that the bulk of the critics judged it unfairly with their scores. But I would say that I think it's my favorite one since they came out with "Midian". Don't leave this one out of your metal collection!

Another solid release via Galder changing things up a little bit vocal-wise, but still writing killer guitar riffs! Not only is he on rhythm/lead guitar/vocals, he's also on keyboards, enhancing the axe-work with occasional background keys to create a darker sense of reality that he's interjecting on this one and a helluv an amazing melodic black metal release. Totally original (as always) musically/vocal wise, Galder puts together creations divine and ultimately serving towards the darkest pits of hell. Definitely he's met with the gargoyles of doom in inflicting the metal community with sheer blasphemy.

At first hearing of this album, I wasn't as impressed with it as much as I would say "Revelation 666 - The Curse of Damnation". That one is still my favorite, but putting headphones on and listening to this one only lagged in the snare drum department. What to expect to hear when you listen to this one is eternal darkness triumphant and it prevails on every track. The guitars/vocals are the highlights, not the disappointment of the "popping" snare drum. But forget about that disappointment and revel in this one as you may have done on previous Old Man's Child releases. A band should ideally progress as this one has, not regress like so many bands have over the years just to sell records compromising their style and creativity or even disbanding their roots sending them into oblivion forever (e.g. In Flames, Children of Bodom, Metallica, et al).

The music as I described is totally original featuring riffs that are tremolo picked like hell featuring a lot of intensity! It mixes quite superbly with the vocals not to mention the bar chords working with the choruses and main singing. Galder's also improved in his lead guitar playing on this one. Compare that to the ultimate release "The Pagan Prosperity" where the riffs were original like this one, but the guitar executions were far more primitive and lead work that I'm sorry to say, "sucked". This guy has improved so much musically and lyrically it's amazing. He just continues to progress. Good to know that the band is still active but it's strange that his efforts for some reason on Dimmu Borgir's latest were just the pits!

Again, what you will find here (defining my past guitar playing which I am no longer pursuing) is that Galder's creations of music riff-wise is ultimately advanced because what is heard in the guitars are straightforward bar chords with some backups of tremolo picked riffs alongside the chords in sequential order lasting only briefly combined with keys so you have a whole amazing aura of music that's so amazingly constructed it just baffles me. This certainly is beyond my comprehension where a guy can make this genre work not just with mindless total blast beating (referring much to Naglfar's "Pariah" release), the tempos vary featuring slow guitar mixed up with faster guitar work, but it's all molded out with each track featuring a variety to the music.

The production is superb and was recorded at Studio Fredman in Gothenburg, Sweden, where countless amazing bands like this one record their music. Everything is well heard and amazing that there are only a few members on this album, but it just works. Galder is one great musician and even though in his personal life like many musicians drown themselves in alcohol. Not a surprise that a lot of metal greats die so young. But just as long as what we're keeping relevant here without getting to far into metal history, "Slaves of the World" is just such an outstanding and amazingly wonderful melodic black metal album. You get everything on this one: guitars, vocals, keyboards and drums that simply dominate (except for that snare drum as I already pointed out).

If you read the lyrics you'll see that they aren't just rancid concoctions of no brain type of mentality, they're evil, but it fits with the album, images featured on the cover of the album and on the insert. I don't think that metal people put enough time into writing comprehensive and intelligent lyrics that is with exceptions. But I do say that Galder wrote some fine lines on this one incorporating music as I described and being divine and well thought out riff-wise and lyrically combined. The only thing about the release that really annoyed me was the sound of the snare drum (rehash me saying the "disappointment") of the album. That sound is "popping", but the rest of the kit fits alongside well with the music.

If you like melodic stuff that's dark, depressing, evil, sorrow-ridden, blasphemous, ill inspired, deep hated view of existence that "Slaves of the World" encompasses, this release contains all of these traits. Of course I will again point out how originally sounding this epic saga reigns, I cannot stress that enough. Nothing dull here, no tracks that are boring. Every damn song reigns and the atmosphere such an amazingly created sound that stifles the mind and doesn't lose the listener's attention or direction. A pure domination of metal that's going to stand out in your collection if it hasn't already. If you own it and disagree with my words here regarding this album, then create your own hypocrisy if you're into melodic black metal. I won't do it because to me, everyone that's a fan of this genre should own this!

What an atmosphere, deranged lunacy to the morbid settings that come arie when listening to this release. You'll get a bulk of an hour's worth of darkness seemingly to be visible. As a usual mild tempo of even slower guitars, musically that peaks as its' aura is deeply tranquil, yet quite alluding to death's door. A mixture not only of just heavy duty chunks of guitar work, it's filled with other braziningly moderate musical concoctions of piano work alongside spoken word overtures that don't stagnate, they keep the vibe at their unique genre. A very well produced release where everything just is in the right place, the way a "gothic doom" sound that blissfully is great to "chill" to.

The female vocals add a little variety to just heavy throat, plus the lyrics fit deeply well into this sorrowful chain of music that needs more followers. Not enough people know about this band and their blitz with frayed ends of insanity regarding the tonality of their releases. You get it all here, except the fact that their focus is not aggression, it's an open door to the gates of eternity. Such a well played release with unique sounds coming from all over the recording. The guitars focus mainly on such moderate blends of chords and melodies which are wholly original, never copping out always seeming to be so "them."

A sure band that invests in sounds that are so mild, it makes the mind seem at ease where the darkness is vivid with lost sanity in the lyrical compositions. Not only do they invest in just a moderate form of doom, but also take pride and write about such morbidity with creativity mixed with the music that devours the souls that are lifted into eternity. I only have this one and their 2011 release, but both are exceptionally well composed with death as their venture into existence gets spewed out of your speakers hearing only that utter words of blatant intensity. There is so much to this piece of work that holds true to their own sound, missing nothing, hearing everything that is death-like.

An album that requires no expectations of anything but just their own unique metaphysics in regarding to their artistic sense of demonic love of true doom and a presence of otherworldly encounters of such divine intervention. You get it all here, the spoken words, the occur of hoarse vocal outputs, female voice present in moderation, tempos that are so desolate they seem to touch the soul with tranquillity and music that is baffling to the listener because of it's sole presence of just emotion, driven to the essence of doom with destruction rampant. The release definitely posed capitalizing on originality in songwriting occurs.

If you're into some really mellow metal thats' premonition is that of darkness when listening to, Arcane Rain Fell holds the vivid truth in their essence living up to the stock of sheer morbidity with music that's spellbinding in metal that is great to listen to when you want a break from something that is truly an epic hour of 8 tracks flowing through the forests and drastic pillars of death lurking within their own essence of it all on here. I'd say from all I've heard from this band, this one is their best one. But on all to which they've released in album form, they dominate with such an atmospheric deathly doom of dreadery. Own it, you won't regret it at all!

Kind of a "raw" sort of production with the total Swedish death metal vibe. The vocals are just hate-filled and if you read the words it suits the music to perfection. It's not just a total death metal album. There are instances where you hear some melodic guitar riffs, but for the most part this album is just brutal. Its heavy, original, and thought-provoking riffs and stifling leads personify it. At first I thought that the album was kind of a bore, but after hearing it repeated times, it just makes sense in terms of the brutality factor. Definitely one of their best releases that I've heard, but maybe slightly a little less so than, say, "Like An Everflowing Stream" - that album will just blow your hair back.

But all in all, the music features low-tuned guitars to achieve total death metal fury. It's on all tracks, just pure destruction in a musical sense, that is to the eardrums. They really put together some awesome bar chord thickness with a massive amount of tremolo-picked, furious riffs. There are a lot of tempo changes throughout the whole album, not totally drastic as in a progressive sense, but really a lot of variety in the musical department. All of the songs are a pure massacre of pure sickness and is an album that takes time getting used to I'd say if you're a fan of the now-defunct, furious, death bad asses.

There is absolutely no variety in the vocals, which isn't surprising; they're just a hoarse throat that usually is played alongside the fast and furious guitars. I'd say the whole of the album does feature the Swedish melodic sides to it, but for the most part there is utter originality to the music and scorching riffs. 

A definite end of a legacy for the band and it's sad to see them depart from the death metal world. But they left behind a true spirit of ever-flowing death metal. I think that the highlight of the album isn't just the music, but also the intensity that it was played at and by a band that never really abandoned its roots.

"Europa Burns" is definitely a great track to listen to via YouTube, but really, the concept of the album was straightforward death metal with a fluent taste of fury regarding death and utter hatred for mankind, bluntly put. I think that it takes time getting into, but when you hit repeat, it'll make sense in a fashion that is bloody downright gory and strongly fixated on just purely noble justice in a death metal album. The riffs are what are the catchiest on the album and I'd say that they are like no other. This band has pretty much always been a great impact on the death metal world of pure and sinister evil.

Try out maybe a couple of songs on YouTube; they are all filled with fury. I felt that total and utter demolition of fury the whole way through and not just the opening track, but on every track. But if you're an avid death metal listener that has tracked down this band over the years, you'll find that it's total and utter intensity. A great thing has happened here and I think that from a musical standpoint it gets out that pure aggression, then reverts a little to the past in terms of featuring some melodic riffing like I stated previously. Worth checking out? Absolutely. You'll really feel that uncompromising morbidity and gruesomely-filled rampant death metal all the way.