CRADLE OF FILTH: CRYPTORIANA WORLD TOUR 2019 with WEDNESDAY 13 and RAVEN BLACK at HOUSE OF BLUES LV

It’s been three years since Cradle of Filth last played in Vegas, and this time it was the opening night of their 2019 Cryptoriana World Tour and they brought with them two amazing bands as support, Wednesday 13 and Raven Black.

Opening the show was RAVEN BLACK, who have been playing Vegas on a regular basis the past few years, mostly in smaller bars, so we were excited to finally catch them on a big stage. Raven Black is a theatrical metal band based out of Los Angeles, and are part metal part performance artists. Lead singer Raven is such a tiny thing off stage, but onstage she is a giant of a singer with her twisted Raggedy Ann, demon possessed doll look, and has a voice that instantly grabs your attention. Along with The Doctor on guitar, Stitches on bass, and Muppet on drums, Raven Black is an amazing treat live. Last year the band released the cd Seven Deadly Sins, and the cd contains songs such as “Twinkle Twinkle Little Scars", "Still Healing" and "13”, and is available on Amazon HERE.

WEDNESDAY 13 was direct support, and I have seen them a few times in the past but never as good as they were for this show. The sound, staging, and theatrics were all amazing. Wednesday is one of the best frontmen you will ever see - he has a command of the stage, and he takes horror theme metal to another level. When they play the song “Last Rites” it invokes visions of Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion, then something going terribly wrong as it descends to hell. Wednesday 13 is Wednesday on vocals, Roman Surman on guitar, Jack Tankersley on guitar, Troy Doebbler on bass, and Kyle Castronovo on drums, and the members all bring monsters antics and horror camp to the show. The band is working on their 8th cd Necrophaze, due for release this spring on Nuclear Blast Records. Check out their website HERE.

CRADLE OF FILTH has a goth / symphonic sound and has been around for nearly 20 years, and is led by lead singer Dani Filth who remains the only constant member throughout the bands career. You can see the Mercyful Fate influence on the bands show, and Dani throughout most of the show punctures your eardrums with his high piercing shrieking vocals. Cradle of FIlth are touring in support of 2017 release and their twelfth studio album, CRYPTORIANA - THE SEDUCTIVENESS OF DECAY, and included several songs from the cd in their set, but also a host of others from their 20 year catalogue. The show opened with "Gilded C*nt" followed by "Nemesis", and Cradle of Filth's set was comprised of 8 songs, and then performed an encore containing 5 more. They closed out the set with “You Will Know the Lion By Its Claw”, and the band exited the stage briefly only to return with "The Promise of Fever" followed by "Saffrons Curse". The finale was on the encore was "Her Ghost In the Fog". My only knock about this show was that they had spotlights and strobes onstage facing the audience, and no matter where you stood the bright lights blinded you and made it difficult to watch, but the sound and performance was an amazing start for their world tour, and was another great night of theatrical metal at the HOB. More of Cradle of Filth HERE.