For years now, Dani Filth, leader of the long-running British symphonic black metal band Cradle Of Filth, has been hinting at a forthcoming collaboration with Ed Sheeran, who happens to be the subject of today’s Number Ones column. Dani Filth first teased that possible duet in 2011. In 2022, he posted a photo of himself and Sheeran getting a beer in 2022 and insisted that the collab was still in the works. Now, Cradle Of Filth have announced a new album and a new coffee, but Ed Sheeran will apparently not be involved in either.

Cradle Of Filth’s new LP is called The Screaming Of The Valkyries, and it’s coming this spring. The band recorded it with producer Scott Atkins — presumably not the straight-to-DVD martial-arts legend — and first single “Malignant Perfection” is out now. As Blabbermouth points out, Dani Filth addressed the Ed Sheeran situation in a recent Metal Hammer interview, claiming that the collaboration is done but that they “don’t want it to overshadow the record.” He continues:

But we are going to bring it out. Originally, everybody wanted us to bring it out to glorious fanfare, but Ed’s management weren’t keen on that. We’re not absolutely sure how it will emerge, but it’s been done, mixed and it’s sitting on the shelf somewhere… you know, virtually. And it’s fucking fantastic. But only a handful of people have actually heard it. My mum hasn’t even heard it.

Meanwhile, Cradle Of Filth are now selling a new coffee blend called I Am Darkness, created in collaboration with Blackcraft Coffee. On Instagram, the band promises that “each sip transports you to a realm of macabre elegance, where the air is thick with the scent of dark roses and the echo of infernal choirs.” Also:

In the shadowed depths of the night, where whispers of the infernal and the eternal collide, Blackcraft Coffee and the legendary Cradle of Filth summon forth “I Am Darkness”, a brew as dark and beguiling as the gothic realms they inhabit.

This sinister blend is an unholy symphony of bold, rich coffee beans roasted to perfection, evoking the essence of midnight’s embrace.

That’s just good ad copy.

 

The Screaming Of The Valkyries arrives in April via Napalm Records.