When godfathers of goth Bauhaus initially issued this insidious opening shot, it virtually changed the face of the UK independent music scene overnight. Choice elements of punk, glam and metal were stripped to their barest bones and infected with a virulent strain of sonic spite. Statuesque and skeletal lead vocalist Peter Murphy roars with a passionate commitment that's nothing short of blood-freezing as Daniel Ash provides spiky shards of fractious guitar dissonance. "Double Dare" with its ponderous and menacing overdriven bass riff is malicious doom incarnate. The blistering, adrenal rush of the title track further intensifies the melodrama, "The Spy In The Cab" is a brooding slice of claustrophobic art school minimalism and "Stigmata Martyr" a genuinely disturbing, blasphemous plummet into "crucifixation ecstasy". Even today, this cobweb-strewn Dead Sea Scroll of Goth retains its rare, ignominious appeal. --Ian Fortnam