Midian

Midian
Studio album by Cradle of Filth
Released	October 31, 2000
Recorded	2000
Genre	Extreme metal
Length	58:58
Label	Music For Nations(EU) Koch Records (U.S.)
Producer	John Fryer
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Exclaim! (favorable)[1] NME (7/10)[2]
Cradle of Filth chronology
From the Cradle to Enslave (1999) Midian (2000) Bitter Suites to Succubi (2001)
Alternate cover
Variant leather packaging

Midian is the fourth studio album by Cradle of Filth, released on Halloween 2000. At the time it was considered their most commercial and accessible album to date. It is inspired by Clive Barker's novel Cabal and his subsequent film version Nightbreed, and Doug Bradley - who had a small role in the film but is better known as Pinhead from Barker's Hellraiser and its sequels — provides narration on some tracks. While keyboards remain prominent, Midian is more guitar-oriented than its predecessors. The cover art was created by JK Potter.

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 Midianites take their name, in the Bible, 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 Quran, where the name appears in Arabic as Madyan. The Midian of Cabal and Nightbreed is a hidden city offering shelter for monsters away from humanity.

The song "Cthulhu Dawn" invokes the character from horror writer H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. Many other heavy metal bands — including Morbid Angel, Bal-Sagoth, and especially Metallica - have namechecked Cthulhu.

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

The title of the song "Amor E Morte" is Portuguese for "Love and Death".

"Her Ghost in the Fog" spawned both a video directed by Alex Chandon (which received heavy rotation on MTV2 and other rock channels), and a sequel in Nymphetamine's "Swansong for a Raven".

Track listing

All music by Cradle of Filth. All lyrics by Dani Filth, except for "For Those Who Died".

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
12. "For Those Who Died" (Sabbat cover with guest vocals by Martin Walkyier) (Japanese Bonus Track) – 6:16

References