V Empire or Dark Faerytales in Phallustein

Recording

V Empire was hastily written and recorded for Cacophonous Records as a contractual obligation before the band jumped ship to Music for Nations. As such, it is the first of two albums released in 1996, the other being Dusk... and Her Embrace. Half of the band was replaced for this recording, with Stuart Anstis replacing guitarists Paul Allender and Paul Ryan and Damien Gregori replacing keyboardist Benjamin Ryan. All the guitars on V Empire were performed by Anstis. The name "Jared Demeter" listed as a second guitarist in the liner notes included in the booklet of the EP is just a made-up name to give the impression that there were two guitarists on the EP. V Empire is the first recording to feature backing vocalist Sarah Jezebel Deva.

Content

V Empire sees a step up in production from the band's debut and introduces the fast, highly technical instrumentation that would be the hallmark of the band's next few releases. It includes a re-recorded version of "The Forest Whispers My Name" from the band's first album, The Principle of Evil Made Flesh.

Title

The Gospel of Filth, a definitive history of the band and its influences, written by Gavin Baddeley and Dani Filth and published in 2010, refers to this record throughout as V Empire. Due to the typographic sizing and spacing of the record's cover art, however, it has been widely read as Vempire in the years since its release. References like AllMusic and Discogs continue to retain the latter spelling, while some recent interviews appear to indicate that the band also pronounce it "Vempire" in conversation.

Release

V Empire or Dark Faerytales in Phallustein was released on 22 January 1996.

It was reissued in 2012 by record label The End.

Track listing

All lyrics written by Dani Filth; all music composed by Cradle of Filth (Filth, Stuart Anstis, Robin Graves, Damien Gregori, Nicholas Barker).

Personnel