This album came out two decades ago. Here’s what I had to say about it back then (with some minor editing):
For shock-rock bands, sometimes the notes they can generate aren’t as important as the notoriety they can generate.
Like predecessors from Alice Cooper to Marilyn Manson, British black-metal cult Cradle of Filth have become big, bad bogeymen to tight-assed conservatives, video-channel censors and religious rightists who line up to picket their gothic, theatrical performances. And as usual, it’s all a predictable, well-orchestrated tempest in a T-shirt to create free publicity and forbidden-fruit appeal to rebellious teens. Midian, the band’s sixth collection of overblown Halloween goth-metal, is about as scary as Clive Barker’s Nightbreed — which its title was lifted from. In fact, the most shocking thing here is how utterly predictable Midian is, from the eerie Hell-carnival keyboards to the guttural demon-invocation vocals and amphetamine-polka drumbeats.All they need are some stobe lights, dry ice fog, an upside-down cross — and, if they’re lucky, a conservative boycott — to complete the picture.
