That Cradle Of Filth & Ed Sheeran Collaboration Is Finally Coming Soon

Cradle Of Filth vocalist Dani Filth has shared a new update on the band’s long-awaited, highly-anticipated collaboration with pop superstar Ed Sheeran.

Speculation and reports of the team-up began in 2021 when Filth revealed that Sheeran had invited him “up to his place” in an interview with Kerrang! radio. 

Last year, the pair indicated that the collaboration could be “coming soon”. The track has already been delayed due to opposite touring schedules and Sheeran becoming a father. 

“We still have yet to finish our song with Ed Sheeran. He's done some of it, but then he had a baby, and then he got obviously sidetracked with that and doing whatever Ed does, which is play massive shows around the globe,” Filth shared in an interview at Knotfest Finland last August. 

“He's not at our beck and call. But he is gonna finish it, he assures me. Actually, I spoke to him quite recently. It will be released when it's finished. We don't know when it's coming out."

In December, excitement ramped up again when Filth shared a new picture of himself with Sheeran and mega-producer Scott Atkins.

"A little over a week ago I was having lunch with the unlikely lads, having just done something fun," Dani Filth wrote on Instagram, with five devil horn emojis.

In a new interview with Metal Hammer, Filth assured that the track would see the light of day this summer (Australian winter).

The metal vocalist confirmed that “Ed’s done all his parts,” and added, “It’s just bass and vocals for me to do on my return to England after Easter. The plan is to do it as a charity single. We’re hoping for it to be out by the summer.”

About the song itself, Filth continued, “It’s exactly how you can imagine it’ll sound, if you can imagine Ed Sheeran with Cradle Of Filth. He plays acoustic guitar on it, but it’s heavy: it’s got a blast beat in there.”

Filth described his friendship with Sheeran as “weird”, but that’s not all: “I’ve spoken to him very regularly over the last two years. Like me, he’s a real Suffolk boy. 

"When he came to the studio that day, he didn’t come down with a cavalcade of reporters: he turned up on his own, guitar on his back, Cradle Of Filth hoodie on, and got on with it. It was fucking great.”

Ed Sheeran is a noted fan of the heavier end of the musical spectrum, having let slip a love for both Slipknot and Cradle Of Filth and has half-jokingly expressed an interest in making a death metal record. As you can see below, he turned his un-metal track Bad Habits into a rock song by performing it with Bring Me The Horizon at last year's BRIT Awards.

Cradle Of Filth, meanwhile, will release their second-ever live album, Trouble And Their Double Lives, on Friday, 28 April, via Napalm Records.

The live album was recorded between 2014 and 2019, with most performances taking place in the US, Europe, Australia and beyond during their Cryptoriana World Tour. Pre-order the record here.