First & Last & Always (Elektra 75 Edition) vinyl

When this album arrived in 1985, it wasn't just the debut album from a band, it was the defining blueprint for what goth rock would come to represent. Cloaked in shadow, melancholy and muscular drum programming, the record fused post-punk disaffection with a dramatic romanticism that felt cinematic and confrontational. Nearly four decades on, its sound remains remarkably vital making this reissue very desirable. Andrew Eldritch's unmistakable baritone anchors the album, his presence looming over the entire record. But it's the interplay with the original lineup - that includes future members of The Mission - that gives the songs their haunting depth and tension. Tracks like 'Marian' and 'Some Kind of Stranger' are goth classics with their synth-laced atmosphere while 'Black Planet' and 'Walk Away' throb with a dark, driving energy that defines industrial sound. The production gives each element room to breathe in the final mix, while the drum machine feels human in its relentlessness, as guitars shimmer and slash and Eldritch stands at the center like a prophet in a leather trenchcoat. An album of mood and menace, elegance and dread, time has not dulled its impact.