Finally a cover worth mentioning again!

Cradle of Filth have always made a good job of the songs they've covered and they've done quite a few by now.

1998 Hallowed Be Thy Name (Iron Maiden, Cruelty and the Beast, Tombstone special edition)
1998 Black Metal (Venom, Cruelty and the Beast, Tombstone special edition)
1998 Sodomy & Lust (Sodom, Cruelty and the Beast, Tombstone special edition)
1999 Death Comes Ripping (Misfits, From the Cradle to Enslave)
1999 Sleepless (Anathema, From the Cradle to Enslave)
1999 Dawn of Enternity (Massacre, From the Cradle to Enslave US release)
2001 No Time To Cry (Sisters of Mercy, on Bitter Suits To Succubi)
2005 Devil Woman (Cliff Richard, Nymphetamine, 2 CD digipack)
2005 Mr.Crowley (Ozzy Osbourne, Nymphetamine, 2 CD digipack)

And now on their latest album Thornography : Temptation, originally done by Heaven 17. As you can see from the list above, they're gradually moving out of their own metal realm with the covers they record. The band have also recorded the song Stay, originally by Shakespeare's Sister, for a release somewhere along the line.

Temptation is thus the first cover to be released on the "normal" version of a full length album, as From the Cradle to Enslave and Bitter Suits are both regarded as EPs.

With Dirty Harry (no, not Clint Eastwood) taking the female vocal duties on, it's become a very interesting cover indeed. She vaguely reminds me of Wendy O'Williams, but definitely is less of a screamer and actually controls her voice. Add to that Dani's growling vocals as per usual and the 80s new wave classic gets a completely new twist. Musically it's heavy as well and due to the song's repetitive nature gets a bit of an industrial/Marilyn Manson atmosphere. I say repetitive, but in this case that doesn't make it boring. Hell, it's one of the very few songs that I can have on track repeat for an hour. Been driving to work and back with this one song playing for most of the week.

A lot of bands can learn from Cradle's choice of cover and execution. It's just too easy to pick a metal song and stay as close to the original as possible. It's far more interesting to take something unexpected and make it your own. Might I suggest Dimmu Borgir do A-ha's Take On Me? ;)