Dani Filth Posts Photo With Ed Sheeran

We might be one step closer to the long-awaited (and in the eyes of some fans, the long-feared) collaboration between Cradle of Filth’s Dani Filth and pop powerhouse Ed Sheeran now that the black metal icon has shared a photo from their lunch together after “having just done something fun.”

“Fun” could be used to describe Sheeran’s half-empty (half-full if you’re of the more optimistic mindset) pint glass and what could be presumed to be a fresh foam-topped round for Filth. But factoring in producer Scott Atkins, who is seated in the middle of the photo seen below, it seems more likely that the Cradle of Filth frontman and Sheeran wrapped up a studio session before grabbing a bite at The Four Horseshoes pub in Thornam Magna, a village in Suffolk, England.

Atkins, meanwhile, runs Grindstone Studios and has engineered, produced, mixed and mastered Cradle of Filth recordings and has also been at the helm of albums by Gama Bomb, Venom Prison, Sylosis, Vader and many more.

And guess where Grindstone Studios is located? That’s right — Suffolk.

“A little over a week ago I was having lunch with unlikely lads, having just done something fun,” writes Filth, followed be five metal horns hand gesture emojis.

Can this be the makings of the death metal album Sheeran expressed interest in making in the summer of 2021?

Weeks later during that summer, Filth confirmed he and Sheeran had been in contact and that a collaboration had real potential to develop. He mentioned that if any music did materialize, he’d like to release it for a charitable cause “because at least it would bring a bit of credibility to it.”

One of the latest updates came just months ago in August where the Cradle of Filth vocalist said that they had yet to finish the song, citing Sheeran’s preoccupation with the birth of a new child and his busy career as one of the biggest acts in music today.