Moonspell - Hermitage / Never heard of this band that has been in business for 30 years. This album is amazing.
Big fan here! Their first three albums are incredible - and all very different. I would recommend them all. Their full-length debut, "Wolfheart", is a fantastic mixture of black/gothic/ethnic music. One of a kind really. The vocals can be a bit goofy and over-theatrical at times, but that's part of the charm. "Irreligious" is a catchier "gothic"-metal album (although it's more than just that), a true classic of the genre. Their third, "Sin/Pecado" is Moonspell at their most experimental...less heavy, but very, very creative.
What came next never quite reached the heights of these first three, imo. After a brief foray in darker, heavier, almost industrial-sounding music with "The Butterfly Effect" (not a particularly successful experiment, this time), they kind of walked back and had another go at their more "traditional" sound. "Darkness and Hope" has some very good moments, as does "The Antidote"...then there's a string of albums that are pretty good but didn't blow me away. My favorite of the most recent ones is probably "Extinct", catchy and well done. You have to give it to them, though - they did try a bunch of different things throughout the years, including a recent concept album sung in Portuguese about the 1755 earthquake that hit Lisbon.
I enjoyed Hermitage, but I haven't quite determined where it stands in their discography. For sure, once again, it's not just a repeat of their past sound...