strength of the song "Grimly Fiendish",^[2] issued as a single the following March. They recorded the album in Eel Pie Studios from March to June 1985. It reached No. 11 in the charts, and was the band's highest-charting album ever, until the release of Evil Spirits in 2018, which cracked the top-ten at No. 7. The non-album single "Eloise," (a Barry Ryan cover), released six months later, became a huge UK hit, reaching No. 3.

The Damned centred the entire album around David Vanian's deep voice, giving much of the album a gothic feeling.^[3] The album was remastered and reissued by Geffen Records in Japan in 2007, featuring replicas of the LP's outer and inner sleeves and a CD label resembling the white vinyl edition. In 2009, an expanded edition was issued by Universal Music Group in Europe