"Dusk and Her Embrace" is a good album. Cradle of Filth turned down the "Metal" and turned up the "music". However, it wasn't popular enough, so in subsequent releases they appear to have, annoyingly, changed direction significantly - fully reversed, in fact.
I own all of their albums and DVDs, through my own purchase (the earlier albums) or as gifts from well meaning family and friends (the later garbage), and of all of the music they have ever created, they were never so good as when they were not trying to play Metal, and were simply creating music (read: "Vempire" and "Dusk...").
I agree with Mr. Woods, in that the "elaborate victorian and romantic æsthetic" was, by far, the most interesting and captivating aspect of their music. "Dusk", especially, has an undefinable feeling to it, especially when considering the entire package - the music, cover, and booklet, and the images used in the last two, create a definably "English" atmosphere, which is not present in any other British Black Metal. On the back of the booklet, to be precise, there is a picture of a Graveyard, which is so picturesque, especially after its photo manipulation, as to seem to be the inspiration for every good bit of music in the entire album.
But that's enough about Cradle of Filth. There was a trend, recently, for despising them purely because of their recent music - the trend, now, is to like them for their early output. Being not a follower of trends, I can merely assert that I have always liked their early work, and will always like it, even when it becomes unfashinable.
Praeteritio over. Hipsters can suck a cock.