Ed Sheeran is Collaborating with This Extreme Metal Band

2024-03-16

Ed Sheeran posing in a meadow

Ed Sheeran is collaborating with a metal band – Author Charles Ken, Photo via Annie Leibovitz

It’s always an interesting thing when two artists from totally different musical genres collaborate. It’s even crazier when those two artists come from not just different, but polar opposite, areas. That’s the case with one extreme metal band that’s actually collaborating with pop star Ed Sheeran.

Extreme Metal Joins Ed Sheeran

I’m surprised that pop guy Ed Sheeran is an extreme metal fan, but that’s apparently the case. I guess it makes sense. I’m in a metal band, but I also make pop music. In any case, Sheeran told The Sun back in 2021 that he really liked “death metal,” including British extreme metal band Cradle of Filth and American metal band Slipknot. Well, Slipknot is not death metal, but that’s beside the point.

Now, vocalist Dani Filth of Cradle of Filth has been working on a collaboration with the pop singer-songwriter. As it turns out, the song has been ready to go for a few years, so they’re just waiting on timing issues.

In a new interview with Czech Republic’s Metalshop about the status of the song with Sheeran, Dani said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth.net), “The thing is [Ed] is obviously one of the biggest artists in the world. [But he is] very humble. When he came to the studio, it was just him — no security; just him with his guitar, [wearing a] CRADLE OF FILTH hoodie. Then we took him to a pub for some lunch, ’cause he was hungry. We had a good day.”

He also said that the song has been finished “for about a year and two months. It was done just before Christmas 2022. And the reason for the delay is because we had plans for it, and then his management said, ‘Well, he’s releasing a record. Can’t do it now.’ ‘He’s doing this. Can’t do it now.’ So we’ve got a plan for it. It’s gonna actually go on our new record, which is due out the end of this year.”

It makes sense that Sheeran is a busy guy with a busy release schedule, so things would have to wait for the perfect moment. Still, it’s a bit of a bummer that this song is being shelved. It’s possible Sheeran’s management won’t ever want to release it, for image reasons or something else, but hopefully it won’t come to that. They do appear to be dragging their feet.

In other news, Cradle of Filth are currently working on their new studio album. The upcoming release will mark their first on Napalm Records. Previously, Dani told Poland’s Pe?na Kulturka that the album is “very heavy” and that they “upped the game as a band.” He added, “We moved one step further toward the future from our previous record. We see everything as an evolution, everything as an evolutionary step, everything as a necessary link in the chain. And this album’s gonna be an important record for us — our first for Napalm Records, if you discount, obviously, the live record… But expect the first single probably about September, October time.”

Charles Ken
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Posted by Charles Ken | Metal, Music, Rock News