“You’ve gotta be able to learn the songs by ear – especially with Cradle of Filth. The tabs online are terrible”: Cradle Of Filth’s Donny Burbage and Marek ‘Ashok’ Šmerda on their theatrical metal roles – and what modern players miss about Marshalls

Cradle of Filth’s Marek “Ashok” Šmerda [left], looking a little like Pinhead from Hellraiser, and Donny Burbage, resplendent in corpsepaint.

Extreme metal, as Cradle of Filth is classified, is polarizing. It’s easy for instrumentation, such as Donny Burbage and Marek “Ashok” Šmerda’s ripping dual guitars, to get lost in the spectacle.

Šmerda admits that with that comes pressure – but there’s plenty of room for bits and bobs that fans might not associate with the extreme metal sphere. “You might be surprised,” he tells Guitar World. “We definitely have outside-the-box influences…”