Cradle of Filth's Dani Filth on Church Burnings in Black Metal

Let's get one thing straight — though there have been ties between church burnings and black metal icons from Norway in the past, that does not mean the entire genre should be associated with the act. Dani Filth of extreme metal outfit Cradle of Filth, for one, was never involved in church burnings. In an interview with Louder's Metal Hammer, Filth discusses his connection with black metal.

“What I like about that time is the passion about it, I thought it was quite exciting," Filth says of the Norwegian black metal scene during the 1990s. Acknowledging the church burnings that became a recurring theme within that realm, the frontman calls them "ridiculous."

"I have been friends with every single person from that scene since, and I can’t remember anyone that’s said ‘Yeah that was really great.' Everyone said ‘We were idiots, we were kids,'" he recalls. "I’m so happy that I didn’t get caught up in that whole thing because I could have done, but imagine waking up thinking ‘Oh god, I’ve just burned down a church, I’m going to prison for 25 years, I’m an idiot.’"

Cradle of Filth are also infamous for a certain T-shirt they printed up, which had "Jesus is a c-nt" written on it. The shirt started a lot of controversy, leading to the arrest of fans who wore it. According to Filth, the shirt was just an "anarchic statement" which the band found humorous.

"We never thought we were Satanic, we thought it was funny. We were crying when we thought of it and when the guy printed it up we cried even more. My wife used to work at a T-shirt printers in my hometown, they printed the original one up, and she got fired for it,” Filth says of the shirts.

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