''Principle'' did share several characteristics with the Scandinavian black metal emerging at the time, above and beyond the kindred fascination with all things dark and devilish. Cradle's debut is their rawest recording, chiming with the crude underproduction now demanded by black metal purists (though how much of that rawness was due to inexperience and budgetary limitations is another matter). It's still the only Cradle of Filth recording accepted as "true" black metal by many in the murkier corners of the underground... () there were as many things separating Cradle of Filth from the emerging black metal pack as they had in common. Just as important to Cradle's developing identity as the metal bands they grew up with in the 1980s and their contemporaries in the '90s was the dark verse and literature of the 1880s and '90s, produced by the artistic deviants of the day, known as the Decadents... Under the icy influence of the Norwegians, black metal had become a nihilistic, savage world of darkness and suffering, with little space for sensuality... Cradle pioneered a slick gothic image, emphasising the seductive aspects of the dark side...

Utilizing flowery classical flourishes, tangible melodies, nimble death/thrash riffing, a coherent—albeit crushing—rhythmic battery and the deranged, multifaceted caterwaul of vocalist Dani Davey, ''The Principle of Evil Made Flesh'' brought a musical sensibility to the black metal table that was absent in early genre releases by Emperor, Enslaved and Mayhem. Boasting a blatant goth influence—i.e., lengthy keyboard intros, intermittent operatic female vocals, Davey's black 'n' blood take on romantic poetry () and slightly tongue-in-cheek vampire and occult imagery—Cradle came across as a lean combination of key influences, including Venom, Iron Maiden, Bathory, Possessed, Celtic Frost and Slayer, all spot-welded to the miscreant clatterings of Norway's finest.〔