Metal Bandmates Reveal Engagement Over the Holidays

Heavy Metal bandmates Marek “Ashok” Šmerda and Zoe Marie Federoff have revealed they got engaged over the holidays. The pair are part of the English metal band Cradle of Filth, with Šmerda playing guitar and Federoff handling keyboards and some vocals. In a New Year’s Eve post on Instagram, Federoff shared a pair of selfies of her and Šmerda, writing in the caption, “Happy New Year from a Šmerda and a future Šmerda.” She added, “2024 will be the last year the name “Zoë Federoff” exists.” The musician then wrote, “Forever isn’t long enough.”

The pair have received a lot of support from fans and followers, with one person writing in the comments, “Omgg congrats, you two make a beautiful couple, big loves.” Someone else offered, “Congrats!! All the best for you two.” Notably, when someone inquired if Federoff was planing to move to Europe with her fiancé or if he would move to the U.S. with her, she explained, “We are planning to split our time between both countries- we both have homes we want to keep in the family and we want our children to be raised bilingual in English and Czech. So for sure Tucson isn’t gonna lose me and Brno isn’t gonna lose him.”

Šmerda has been playing guitar in Cradle of Filth since 2014, performing on the band’s last three studio albums: Hammer of the Witches (2015), Cryptoriana – The Seductiveness of Decay (2017), and Existence Is Futile (2021). Federoff joined the band in 2022 and has been touring with them since. She also played on the band’s 2023 live album Trouble and Their Double Lives.

While many fans have been supporting of the couple’s big news, it seems there have been some who raised concerns, which Federoff quickly put to rest in a follow-up post. “First of all, thank you all so much for your warm wishes and congratulations,” she wrote, then adding, “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.”

Federoff went on to state “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!”