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Ed Sheeran's unexpected collaboration with heavy metal band Cradle of Filth will be released this year

Updated

The song has been in the works since 2021

Dani Filth, lead singer of Cradle of Filth, performs in 2017.
Dani Filth, lead singer of Cradle of Filth, performs in 2017.SHUTTERSTOCK

Ed Sheeran's Cradle of Filth collaboration will finally be released this year.

The symphonic metal band's frontman Dani Filth, 50, revealed in 2021 that he and the Castle on the Hill hitmaker, 32, had exchanged emails about a surprising duet, and it's officially set to be included in their follow-up to Existence Is Futile.

Speaking to Pelna Kulturka, Dani teased: "Well, one of the surprises, obviously, but it's not so much a surprise is that we've got a song that we have Ed Sheeran guesting on.

"People have heard it and loved it. But it is what you imagine — it's Cradle Of Filth and it's Ed Sheeran. It sounds like Ed Sheeran, it sounds like Cradle Of Filth. There's a blast beat in it."

The Nymphetamine hitmaker insists the album is not an attempt to have "commercial" success.

He continued: "I think it's gonna surprise a lot of people, the album. But it doesn't necessarily mean the album is commercial. It's a very heavy record. We just upped the game as a band. We moved one step further toward the future from our previous record."

Dani previously revealed he would like to do the song with the Grammy winner for charity.

He told Kerrang!: "I've actually been e-mailing with [Ed]... He actually touched base with me. I've been invited up to his place. Well, he said he could come down to mine, but I pointed out to him that I don't own my own bar or village, and it'd be better if I went there.

"He said he'd do anything. Quite literally. He said he's a massive fan. He seems like a genuinely very nice guy actually...

"I think the Ed Sheeran collaboration would be great fun. I think it'd be great if we did it for charity, because at least it would bring a bit of credibility to it. Because obviously to his public, it'd be, like, Oh my god, he's got this weird comical guy,' and to my public it'd be, like, 'Oh my god, this is a bit weird, isn't it? But I think that sort of thing nowadays works."

Ed surprised his fans in 2022 when he teamed up with heavy rockers Bring Me The Horizon on a heavy version of his pop hit Bad Habits.