The UK's Symphonic/Extreme Metal all-stars CRADLE OF FILTH have a long legacy behind them, dating back to a small town in Suffolk, 1991. Last year, the band resurrected a compilation of their early demo material through a re-release of "Total Fucking Darkness"; rather poignant timing, considering that the band would also come to feature a new line-up, and a subsequent new album, in 2015. Come July 10^th, the release date of "Hammer Of The Witches", the band is joined by two new guitarists in Marek 'Ashok' Šmerda and Richard Shaw and a new keyboardist/vocalist, Lindsay Schoolcraft. A band often famed for having a rather divisive fanbase (and engendering equally divisive opinions in the greater Metal community), CRADLE OF FILTH seem to be unerringly dogged for no longer being something they obviously don't want to be anymore: a 'trve kvlt' Black Metal band. 23 years of existence is plenty of time to evolve, and the band has done so from album to album.

"Hammer Of The Witches" sees the band retaining their symphonic trademark and Dani's instantly-recognisable vocals, but is simple echelons above anything they have released since "Nymphetamine". Having grown out of the 'Symphonic Black Metal' archetype, CRADLE OF FILTH have drawn from the veins of many cloisters of Metal and has breathed new life into what a few people were becoming wary of as a tired affair. May I put it down to the entire melodic department being replaced? Only the band can tell us that for sure, but that is something the album has provided us with: mountains upon mountains of extravagant and bombastic melody. Even considering the music they are famous for, "Hammer Of The Witches" is easily one of their most melodic releases to date, with "Blackest Magick In Practice" and "Onward Christian Soldiers" bleeding black with rich and shining lead guitar lines and fantastic orchestrals. I must profess, however, that CRADLE have by no means turned into a Power Metal band, because the riffs presented on this album present a grim, heavy and rhythmically technical backdrop for this truly epic tapestry. The arrangement of the songs, in fact, is perhaps the prime reason why I hold this album so high over the majority of their previous work; the band appear to have a fresh new ear and mindset for truly masterful arrangement. The opening track, "Yours Immortally", is a perfect amalgamation of genres, and is simply the definition of multi-layered, with smooth transitions between crushing heaviness, uplifting and rich leads, grimdark passages and periods of symphonic bombasticism.

Those looking for a balls-to-the-wall metal experience will find joy in the riff-roaring technical beasts that is "Enshrined in Crematoria", with molecular-edged riffs and blistering guitar solos coming from the most vitriolic of Melodic Death Metal, or the Black-Thrash number that is "The Vampyre At My Side". The latter is a curious piece, not only one of the heaviest on the album but features, contrastingly, rather jarring transition between themes; I feel as if I'm going from Thrash, to Black, to Death, to Punk in a matter of a minute. Multifaceted with genius progression, it might just be my favourite piece on the release, if not close behind "Blackest Magick In Practice".

I can only expect a sizable chunk of the Metal community to disagree with my sentiments, especially for such a large group of people who expect CRADLE OF FILTH to be a band they simply haven't even tried to be in nearly two decades. "Hammer Of The Witches" is CRADLE OF FILTH's grandest offering to Metal in years, and should be appreciated if not with reverence, then at least an open mind.