CRADLE OF FILTH: 'Thornography' Cover 'Banned' In The U.S.

British extreme metallers CRADLE OF FILTH have posted the following message on their official web site:

"The new CRADLE OF FILTH album cover for their forthcoming album 'Thornography' has been banned in the U.S. The record company [Roadrunner Records] have insisted on new artwork being produced, so the band are currently working on this and the new artwork will be posted on the COF site in the next few days. At this time we are not sure if and how many booklets have been produced with the banned artwork on them."

As previously reported, "Thornography" is scheduled for release on September 19 via Roadrunner Records. Songtitles set to appear on the CD include "Libertina Grim", "Tonight in Flames", "Cemetery and Sundown", "I Am the Thorn", "The Byronic Man" (featuring guest vocals from H.I.M.'s Ville Valo) and "Temptation".

The follow-up to 2004's "Nymphetamine", "Thornography" was recorded at Lincolnshire, England's Chapel studios with producer Rob Caggiano (BLEEDING THROUGH, ANTHRAX).

Regarding the album's title, CRADLE OF FILTH frontman Dani Filth had previously stated, "This title represents mankind's obsession with sin and self. The thorn combines images of that which troubled Christ, the crown of thorns, thus intimating man's seeming desire to hurt God and also, of the protecting thorn and the need to enclose a secret place or the soul from attack. An addiction to self-punishment or something equally poisonous. A mania. Twisted desires. Barbed dreams. A fetish. An obsession with cruelty. Savage nature. Paganism over Christianity. The title can also represent a sexual attraction to religious iconography as in the case of the 'possessed' Lourdon nuns.

"I like the title because to me it invokes images of a darker, sexier pre-Raphaelite scene wherein Sleeping Beauty's castle is won and she is awoken by a poisonous kiss. A darker adult faerytale."

On the subject of the album's musicial direction, Filth recently told Revolver magazine, "I'm not saying it's 'experimental,' but we're definitely testing the limits of what we can do. This is our sixth or seventh record, so we're trying to spice things up to keep the marriage going!

"We were hungry to write again," Filth added. Once we finished all our tours [in 2005], we spent the summer just writing. Nobody really throught about where it was going, which is why I think it's really fresh sounding. A lot of the songs are really rhythmical — thrashy, almost — but they're all also really catchy."