CRADLE OF FILTH Lovecraft & Witch Hearts 2CD (2002)

Before the algorithms told you what to listen to, there were compilations like this one, doing the actual work of mapping a band's universe for anyone paying attention.

Lovecraft and Witch Hearts is the double CD that laid out Cradle of Filth's first decade in one place, pulling from the Vempire EP, Dusk and Her Embrace, Cruelty and the Beast, and Midian. It's the gothic metal gateway document, the one that proved these Suffolk vampires were doing something genuinely singular inside the black metal and symphonic metal world, all operatic excess, horror literature obsession, and Dani Filth's throat doing things no reasonable person should attempt. The 2006 reissue is the one to have. If your collection has a Dimmu Borgir or Theatres des Vampires gap, this fills it and then some.

2CD limited edition reissue, UK, 2002, reissued 2006. Symphonic black metal, gothic metal.

Fans of: Dimmu Borgir, Theatres des Vampires, Graveworm, Moonspell