Menacing Shock Rockers CRADLE OF FILTH Confirm Headline Dates Alongside OzzFest Chilling New Video for "Mannequin" To Be Directed By Thomas Mignone

Shock Rock is being brought to a new extreme, as British sonic revolutionaries CRADLE OF FILTH prepare to headline Ozzfest's second stage this year, thus igniting North America with their singular brand of dramatic intense heavy music. In addition to Ozzfest, the band has booked a headlining tour (sponsored by Guitar World Magazine), which will run alongside the roaming festival and infect the rest of the continent like a rampaging epidemic. Having achieved much critical acclaim for the recent release of the Red Ink/Epic debut 'Damnation and a Day', the band obtained the notoriety for being the first 'black metal' band to debut in the Billboard Top 200 charts, and the album has remained in the Top 20 of Metal Radio charts for 10 weeks running (most band's bow out in 6!).

Musically, the band destroys boundaries and smashes the mold of what defines extreme. CRADLE OF FILTH is indeed a unique entity, implementing the edgiest musicianship and blackened elegance possible, while intertwining a flowing score-like backdrop by employing a 40-piece orchestra & 32-piece choir found in Budapest, Hungary. Entertainment Weekly said of the album, "It's over-the-top and surprisingly catchy; these guys could be the talk of this year's Ozzfest."

However, the band's morbid visions & musical apocalyptic revelations is only part of the band's notorious visage, as CRADLE OF FILTH's name slithered to infamous proportions over the years due to their impious eccentricities.
The band has a veritable rap-sheet of indiscrepancies that grows as they progress.

         *They were arrested and held at gunpoint at the Vatican for impersonating a priest     and wearing an 'I Love Satan' t-shirt.
         *They nearly caused the cancellation of the Milwaukee Metalfest, because the     governor of Wisconsin tried to ban them from "bringing the Devil's music to the state".
         *They have been banned by numerous US radio stations for their 'obscene lyrical     content'.
         *New Jersey was actually concerned about bringing Ozzfest to the state based on     CRADLE OF FILTH's 'suitability issues' alone!
         *Their video for "Babalon AD (So Glad For The Madness)" from Damnation and a Day     was quickly banned by MTV for its 'suggestive themes'. The video can be sampled     here: http://www.cradleoffilth.com/video.php
         *The band is most infamous for their 'unique' & 'colorful' t-shirt slogans, like "Dead    Girls Don't Say No", "Desire Me Like Satan", and the most outlandish of them all,    "Jesus Is A C***". It was this last shirt that caused the arrest of 3 people (including the    band's own drummer), the Provost of Glasgow instigated a police raid to have the    shirts removed from Tower Records stores, and the Catholic League of America has    even contacted the band's management demanding the shirts be taken out of    production. Needless to say, the band will be bringing the shirts on the road with    them, as well as a couple new designs.

On the flipside of controversy, the band has reaped remarkable success, as they were the first 'black metal' band to sign with a major label (Sony Music worldwide), and they were the first 'black metal' band to have a full-length video land in the Billboard video charts (debuting at #12, and remaining for 7 weeks). CRADLE OF FILTH's well-versed and highly articulated lyrics were featured in the London Dome as part of a British language special, the band had a BBC Television program made about them, and they have sold over a million albums worldwide. More recently, CRADLE OF FILTH won Best Video award at the Metal Hammer Awards, beating out Audioslave, System Of A Down, Disturbed, Queens Of The Stone Age for their MTV-banned "Babalon A.D." video.
   
Red Ink/Epic, realizing the band's shocking visual potential (FILTH's unique stage show frequently includes stilt-walkers & fire-breathers), commissioned a new conceptual video for 'Damnation and a Day', this time for the sinister, romantic track "Mannequin", which will be helmed by celebrated video director Thomas Mignone (Mudvayne, Slipknot, Type O Negative, Sepultura, Kittie, etc.) begins shooting on June 11th. Combining 'live' performance footage with macabre Tim Burton-esque, stop-motion puppeteer work courtesy of George Higham (www.poepuppet.com), "Mannequin" will display the grandiose imagery singular to CRADLE OF FILTH's style.

In a world where corporate pressures have caused the taming of onetime controversial madmen like Ozzy Osbourne and Marilyn Manson, CRADLE OF FILTH exists to ensure that humanity does not remain protected in music entertainment complacency.

Headline performances include:

Monday, June 23rd       New Orleans, LA   House Of Blues
Tuesday, June 24th       Houston, TX      Engine Room
Wednesday, June 25th    McAllen, TX      Villa Real
Tuesday, July 1st       El Paso, TX              Club 101 Outdoors
Sunday, July 6th       Las Vegas, NV      Huntridge Theater
Thursday, July 10th    Portland, OR      Roseland Theater
Friday, July 11th       Vancouver, BC, Can. Commodore Ballroom
Monday, July 14th       Denver, CO               Ogden Theater
Friday, July 18th       Kansas City, MO    The Beaumont Club
Wednesday, July 23rd     Cincinnati, OH         Bogart's
Sunday, July 27th             Tulsa, OK                The Other Side
Tuesday, July 29th            Grand Rapids, MI     The Intersection
Monday, August 4th        Guelph, ON, Can.     Club Denim
Friday, August 8th            Plainview, NY         The Vanderbilt
Tuesday, August 12th       Toronto, ON, Can.     The Guvernment
Saturday, August 16th    Montreal, QC, Can.     Metropolis
Wednesday, August 20th        Norfolk, VA            NorVa
Saturday, August 23rd     Wilmington, NC         Marzz
Wednesday, August 27th        Tampa, FL             Masquerade

OZZFEST Dates:
Saturday, June 28th        San Antonio, TX    Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
Sunday, June 29th       Dallas, TX               Smirnoff Music Center
Wednesday, July 2nd    Phoenix, AZ       Cricket Pavilion
Thursday, July 3rd       Chula Vista, CA    Coors Amphitheatre
Saturday, July 5th       Devore, CA                Blockbuster Pavilion
Tuesday, July 8th       San Francisco, CA    Shoreline Amphitheatre
Wednesday, July 9th    Sacramento, CA    Sleep Train Amphitheatre
Saturday, July 12th       Seattle, WA               White River Amphitheatre
Tuesday, July 15th       Albuquerque, NM     Journal Pavilion
Thursday, July 17th    St. Louis, MO       UMB Bank Pavilion
Saturday, July 19th       Minneapolis, MN    Float-Rite Park
Sunday, July 20th       Chicago, IL               Tweeter Center
Tuesday, July 22nd        Cleveland, OH       Blossom Music Centre
Thursday, July 24th    Detroit, MI               DTE Energy Music Theatre
Friday, July 25th       Detroit, MI               DTE Energy Music Theatre
Wednesday, July 30th    Pittsburgh, PA       Post-Gazette Pavilion
Thursday, July 31st        Indianapolis, IN    Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
Saturday, August 2nd    Milwaukee, WI       Alpine Valley
Sunday, August 3rd    Columbus, OH       Germain Amphitheatre
Tuesday, August 5th    Scranton, PA       Montage Mountain
Thursday, August 7th    Philadelphia, PA    Tweeter Center
Saturday, August 9th    Hartford, CT       ctnow.com Meadows Music Theatre
Monday, August 11th    Buffalo, NY       Darien Lakes PAC
Thursday, August 14th    Boston, MA       Tweeter Center
Friday, August 15th      Boston, MA       Tweeter Center
Monday, August 18th    Holmdel, NJ       PNC Bank Arts Center
Tuesday, August 19th    Holmdel, NJ       PNC Bank Arts Center
Friday, August 22nd   Bristow, VA       Nissan Pavilion
Sunday, August 24th    Charlotte, NC       Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
Tuesday, August 26th    Atlanta, GA       Hi-Fi Buys Amphitheatre
Thursday, August 28th    W. Palm Beach, FL    Coral Sky Amphitheatre