SISTERS OF MERCY Vinyl Records and CDs

No other band in the history of rock 'n' roll took itself as seriously as the Sisters of Mercy did. Vocalist Andrew Eldritch played the draconian Goth zombie so well (right down to the faux Prussian accent) that he wound up sounding not just grave, but often comically so. Fortunately, the Sisters' passionately melancholic fans aren't the sort to fault a band for being too melodramatic. The group ably brushed away the cobwebs from the gloomy Gothic fa?ºade and exposed a rock infrastructure hidden below. They reintroduced the mighty electric guitar to give their music a forceful sound of subterranean depth, often eerily contrasting gloom with sultry R&B backing vocals and serpentine dance beats.