Nosferatu

Emerging after goth rock's peak during the early and middle years of the 1980s, certain new acts kept the genre alive, with the British ensemble Nosferatu among them. Guitarist Damien DeVille assembled the group in the late 1980s, and its first appearance on vinyl came in 1990 via a compilation track titled "Bloodlust." The following year the band cut the EP The Hellhound, which featured vocalist Louis De Wray and bassist Vlad Janicek. Late in 1992 Cleopatra dispatched Dave Roberts of Sex Gang Children to persuade the musicians to compile their singles for the label; instead the parties settled on issuing Nosferatu's first full-length album, the 1993 debut Rise. Niall Murphy then supplanted De Wray ahead of that year's Halloween performances. In 1994 the retrospective collection Legend gathered earlier material, while the second studio album The Prophecy appeared as well. Subsequent personnel shifts saw Murphy replaced by Dominic LaVey and Janicek depart in favor of Dante Savarelle. The revised lineup signed with Hades Records and tracked Prince of Darkness in 1996; Lord of the Flies arrived two years later, introducing bassist Doc Milton and the band's first live drummer, guest Rat Scabies, formerly of the Damned. Once that album was out, Stefan Diablo assumed Milton's role, and the group began work on Re Vamped. Issued in 1999, the record consisted chiefly of remixes alongside several new songs. A year afterward came Reflections Through a Darker Glass, Nosferatu's initial live album. After Scabies returned to rework select earlier material on drums, the band delivered The Best Of Nosferatu, Vol. 1, a retrospective that incorporated the newly recorded tracks plus a video for "The Haunting."