I have found something to like on virtually all of their records but some are clearly stronger than others.

I find it fascinating that only one person has mentioned The Principle of Evil Made Flesh. That person is correct, it is probably the most unique record of the catalogue and a.milestone in truly dark death/black metal. It deserves way more praise than it actually gets.

Dusk and Her Embrace is also fantastic in that it is actually a stylistic departure from what they did on Vempire (which would become their blueprint for Cruelty and onward to their most recent albums). Had they stopped after Dusk they would have had 3 releases that sound nothing alike, all original. And this is despite the strength of the material on Cruelty (release #4).

The unravelling started with the From the Cradle to Enslave EP, an incredibly weak offering, especially on Cruelty's footsteps. This is also when there was a noticeable shift away from black metal to "extreme symphonic metal with a goth tinge" that gingerly didn't sit well with fans.

The band realized this and tried to right the ship with Midian by writing balls-out heavy as fuck riffs. It seemed a bit disingenuous because Dani started to name drop bands like Nile and Angelcorpse in interviews, saying Thatcher would prefer to listen to bands like that instead of what passed for "black metal" at the time. I remember thinking that he should shut up and just write good music like they used to do before. That all being said, I liked Midian a lot when it came out but it hasn't aged well for me. Too much "metal" and not enough dark atmosphere. Out of the 1st four, it is the one that I return too the least.

Damnation and a Day had some great songs but was also surrounded by filler. The production was also too in your face and killed the dark atmosphere, although the final cut of the album is a career-crowning achievement in songwriting. They tried, you could tell.

Nymphetamine and Thornography are enjoyable as long as I don't remind myself that this is the same band (in logo) that wrote "A Crescendo of Passuon Bleeding" or "Of Mist and Midnight Skies".

Godspeed and Darkly are good albums but to me are basically Midian 2.0, but weaker. A righting of the ship if you will, but no real timeless staying power.

Everything else after that has for me been excellent as long as I accept that this is what the band is doing now, and their songwriting has improved quite a bit. No longer trying to prove anything or tag onto any trend, they remind me of their earlier material only in that they are comfortable in being in their own skin and the songs show this confidence.

I look forward to seeing where they go next.

I agree, the vocal is what kept me around. I can't exactly think of another vocalist that does what Dani does on a regular basis, every album and for over 30 years.

Thanx for such a detailed reply. I kind of feel like Nymp and Thorn were records they made when they were doing really well and popular. I mentioned at the start of this thread that I only picked up onto them in 2021.....January to be exact.......and started with Dusk and listened to it everyday for about week. All the rest just fell right into place!

This was my exact opinion, I was very disappointed with this EP, especially after Cruelty. They then pretty much dropped all the black metal tinges to their sound for Midian to a more general extreme symphonic metal sound with some commercial leanings like Her Ghost in the Fog. Midian initially was a disappointment for me as well but I think its still a pretty great album nowadays, just not as unique or as special as what came before. It was also a bit silly and over the top, and Cradle have always been those things but this amped it up to 11, starting with the horrible album cover. Loads of cracking songs on there though all the same.

From the Cradle to Enslave is a 6 song EP with 3 drummers. Seems like a period of more lineup instability than usual. Did the record label pressure them to just put something out? Regardless, I like Bitter Suites more. But even that one doesn't make me reconsider my opinion that Vempire is their only truly mandatory EP.

Hmm, glancing at their discography I almost forgot I bought the Lovecraft & Witch Hearts compilation years ago. Listened to that quite a bit. The best stuff is taken from Dusk, Cruelty, Midian though so it kind of became obsolete once I got those full albums.