CRADLE OF FILTH Guitarist Gets Engaged To Band's Keyboardist

CRADLE OF FILTH guitarist Marek "Ashok" Šmerda will marry the band's female vocalist and keyboardist Zoë M. Federoff.

The 31-year-old Federoff, who joined CRADLE OF FILTH in 2022, announced on her verified Instagram account that she has gotten engaged to the 48-year-old Šmerda.

Zoë wrote: "Happy New Year from a Šmerda and a future Šmerda-2024 will be the last year the name 'Zoë Federoff' exists.

"Forever isn't long enough.

"#HappyNewYear #AreWeThereYet".

Federoff later added in a separate post: "First of all, thank you all so much for your warm wishes and congratulations. Secondly, I truly wish I didn't feel the need to completely clear this up but there's a lot of strange rumors and stories floating around so, take note: I never knew Ashok before I joined COF. He had nothing to do with me coming on board. I have already written some material for the next COF album so clearly our engagement has nothing to do with my continued stay in this band.

"We have no plans to leave COF as we truly enjoy working together, not to mention working with several of our closest friends. Dani has been the greatest and most supportive leader possible when it comes to our engagement.

"We remain happily committed to his team in COF.

"Now please- stop speculating and spreading rumors and let's celebrate all the good things happening this year!"

Federoff is an American vocalist and songwriter from Tucson, Arizona, where she currently resides with her daughter. She began her formal training in classical vocals at the University Of Findlay in Ohio and additionally studied under NIGHTWISH vocalist Floor Jansen. She released her first two albums in 2013 and 2017 with gothic/power metal band INSATIA. Feeling restricted by the scope of the project, in 2017 she cofounded international symphonic metal band CATALYST CRIME with XANDRIA drummer Gerit Lamm, with a lineup including Jonah Weingarten of PYRAMAZE, Canadian guitarist Kaelen Sarakinis, American guitarist Chena Roxx, as well as the unexpected addition of her own father, Matt Federoff, on bass. Zoe credits her love of metal and live performance to her father and sees working with him professionally as one of the greatest achievements of her career.

In addition to her own bands, Zoë has guested as a vocalist for ATROCITY and THE VIVALDI METAL PROJECT. She has also written and edited lyrics for numerous bands, including SERENITY and CONFIDENTIAL. In her spare time, she enjoys being a hiker, book collector and political campaign professional. She is also an active advocate for public education, having been a classroom teacher and student mentor.

Born in Brno, Czech Republic, Šmerda has been the guitarist for CRADLE OF FILTH since early 2014 when he received the invitation to embark on a European tour with the band. Since then, he's become a full-time member, having toured all around the world with the group while simultaneously having put his hand and heart to the plough on the CRADLE OF FILTH releases "Hammer Of The Witches", "Cryptoriana - The Seductiveness Of Decay" and "Existence Is Futile". All these albums were critically acclaimed by critics and fans and quickly became milestones.

For the last 20-plus years, Ashok gained a lot of experience both in studio sessions and live performances with various bands (ROOT, EQUIRHODONT, INNER FEAR, TITANIC, among others) and other musical projects which have allowed him to develop his playing style, tone, and songwriting.