Could the long-rumored collaborative track between Cradle of Filth and Ed Sheeran finally be coming our way this year? While there’s still no firm confirmation on when exactly we’ll hear the mind-bendingly bizarre crossover cut made by the UK pop star and the legendary black-metal outfit, Cradle frontman Dani Filth has at least shared a few more details about that recording on The Downbeat podcast with Craig Reynolds.
A new episode of the podcast found Filth joining Reynolds to talk up all things Cradle, and that naturally led to a chat about how his band ended up connecting with Sheeran in the studio back in 2021. The singer admitted that the song is “done and dusted,” and he almost let the song title slip. He pulled back on that particular reveal, though, which made Reynolds groan a bit.
Filth then went on to explain how Sheeran, who went on-record in an old interview about being a metal fan, connected with Cradle. He apparently came to the band’s studio by himself while wearing a Cradle of Filth hoodie, and that’s when they got to work on a piece that mixed both of their styles seamlessly. Then they went for pints at a local pub.
“It’s a brand new Cradle of Filth song featuring Ed Sheeran, and a lot of it sounds like Ed Sheeran – he’s playing acoustic guitar, he’s singing Ed Sheeran,” Filth explained, though he quickly added of the studio culture jam, “A lot of it sounds like us – it’s blast beats, screams.”
“We didn’t want to release it back then because we were busy with other things then,” Filth added of why they didn’t rush-release the single.
While Cradle of Filth have yet to formally announce a release date for their long-in-the-works 14th album, the band did deliver their “Malignant Perfection” single last fall. The follow-up to 2021’s Existence Is Futile is one of Revolver’s most-anticipated releases of 2025.
Cradle of Filth likewise have a run of Chaos & Carnage tour dates coming up alongside Dying Fetus. You’ll find the tour route here.