By the time
Nosferatu recorded
Prince of Darkness in 1995 and 1996, the British goth rock trio was employing its third lead vocalist. Dominic LaVey had replaced Niall Murphy, who had replaced
Nosferatu's original lead singer Louis DeWray. A band that goes through that many personnel changes can easily become erratic and inconsistent; whenever
Black Sabbath,
Deep Purple, or
the Commodores unveiled a new lineup, you never knew if it came out with a decent album or a weak one. But consistency wasn't a problem for
Nosferatu in the 1990s;
Prince of Darkness is excellent, and the LaVey/Damien DeVille/Dante Savarelle lineup of
Nosferatu is in fine form on moody yet rockin' tracks like "Graveyard Shift," "The Hunger," "Eye of the Watcher," and "The Haunting." With LaVey on lead vocals, DeVille on lead guitar, and Savarelle on bass, the trio never fails to sound focused and inspired. Prince of Darkess, which came out on Cleopatra in the U.S. and on Hades in England, was a welcome addition to
Nosferatu's catalog. ~ Alex Henderson