in the long run cardle of filth's latest album 'hammer of the witches' couldn't live up to the former glory of 'godspeed on the devil's thunder'. so that is three ok records in a row now. therefore i was very pleasantly surprised to see that peaceville would be re-releasing an album i really liked from back in the day and for the first time on coloured vinyl. fifteen years after 'bitter suites to succubi' was initially released in 2001. this looked like a win-win-situation to me, apart from the pretty hefty price tag for a single lp. indeed, in the end i bit the bullet because i simply cannot help it. i actually ordered this record with the new whitechapel lp, which is set to be released at the end of june.
so usually added items to a pre-order arrive at release date but not so with emp. they must have some fixed price contract with their delivery company, so they don't care to send out more parcels than the customer actually paid shipping for. anyway, good for me. when the record arrived this monday and i listened to it for the first time on vinyl, it appeared to me that 'bitter suites to succubi' stood the test of time. it is still a damn good record. it's actually an e.p. because out of ten songs there are only four new ones, three re-recorded songs, two small instrumental pieces and one misfits cover song. ultimately all songs are really good. the four new songs see cradle of filth at the peak of their musicianship spanning from 'midian' to 'damnation and a day' and 'bitter suites...' in between.
the re-recorded stuff isn't just re-recorded but altered the way the band played them live at the time, the instrumentals are spine-chillingly good and even the misfits song 'no time to cry' sounds cool in its cof incarnation. peaceville changed the appearance of the record in comparison to the first press. a slip sleeve instead of gatefold and a few changes in artwork. check out the original press here if you're interested in the details. most noteworthy is the change in tracklist of the songs interchanging #five 'no time to cry' with #six 'the principle of evil made flesh'. probably for better sound quality due to duration of both vinyl sides? don't know how many were made. peaceville records. 2016.
