Well, it didn’t take long. Just days after Zoë Federoff shocked fans by leaving CRADLE OF FILTH mid-tour, her husband, guitarist Marek “Ashok” Šmerda, has officially announced that he’s clocking out too. Posting to Facebook, Ashok confirmed what everyone suspected: that he’ll be finishing the band’s current Latin American run and then walking away for good.
And his reasons? Let’s just say they’re about as “unfilthy” as they come: low pay, high stress, and years of “unprofessional behavior” from above. Translation: being in CRADLE OF FILTH is not so much a gothic fantasy as it is a stressful day job with corpse paint and questionable HR policies.
Ashok didn’t mince words either. He admitted that he and Zoë had made this decision long before this week’s drama, stating flatly that Cradle “hinders their future.” To twist the dagger further, he requested that all his compositions be pulled from upcoming releases, including that infamous Ed Sheeran collaboration. In his words, the whole thing has gone from “charity single for kids” to “foolish clown antics.” (Somewhere out there, Ed Sheeran just dropped his pumpkin spice latte in shock.)
Leave Zoë Alone (Or Else 🫵)
Ashok also addressed the Internet’s favorite pastime—wild speculation about his marriage—by telling fans to knock it off. His words: “Leave my wife alone. NEVER insult her or her choices in my presence… or else 🫵.” Considering Ashok’s day job for the last decade was playing speed riffs for a gothic extreme metal band, that finger emoji somehow lands as more terrifying than a full demonic curse.
Another Ghost in the Graveyard
Ashok has been with CRADLE OF FILTH since 2014—a whopping 11 years of service, which in Filth-time makes him practically a founding member. But now, he too joins the infamous Cradle of Ex-Members Club, which is currently 27 strong and counting. Dani Filth remains the eternal constant, a sort of black-metal Dorian Gray, watching everyone else age out and vanish while he continues onward in eyeliner.
So, the story continues: Zoë gone, Ashok leaving, Dani unbothered, and Kelsey Peters now thrown into the fire as the band’s latest recruit. The only real question is—who’s next? Because in CRADLE OF FILTH, stability is just another corpse-painted illusion.
Long live the revolving door of Filth.
