Theatre of Tragedy
Theatre of Tragedy (CD) 1995 Massacre
Although being highly impressed when I first heard Theatre of Tragedy's work, I must admit the more I listend to their albums, the more boring it got. Musically weak; based around simple melodies that quickly start to repeat and having one of the weakest female vocalists around, Liv Kristine. The music needs the piano to keep it interesting and without this, it quickly falls apart. Shamefully however the piano parts are not the best around either. As such my intentions to review this album might be questionable. However, not only considering the huge fan base this band has (and as such they must do something right), I can not blindly bash this album. Being one of the first bands doing the so called "beauty and the beast" style (a female angel vs. male grunts), they have done ground breaking work for the later gothic-metal genre. Also as long as the piano accompanies the songs and both Raymond and Liv are engaged in vocal battle, the album remains interesting. In respect to what I just said, it might sound strange that for me the highlight of the CD is the tearjerker '.. A Distance there is.'. Featuring just a piano, Cello and Liv, who for once does not sound like she's singing through her nose, this track will always appeal to me. All in all, Theatre of Tragedy are not as bad as I'd like to make them out to be, but they are also not as good as many of their fans think they are. This band and this album is a good example of the start of a genre that later spew forth a lot of better bands like Trail of Tears, Within Temptation and After Forever. All bands that perfected the ideas Theatre of Tragedy never could make work just right.	1. A Hamlet for a Slothful Vassal 2. Cheerful Dirge 3. To these Words I beheld no Tongue 4. Hollow-Heartèd, Heart-Departèd 5. ... a Distance there is ... 6. Sweet art Thou 7. Mïre 8. Dying - I only feel Apathy 9. Monotonë Approx. 44 minutes
Reviewed by: Aldo Quispel
Velvet Darkness They Fear (CD) 1996 Massacre
After the release of their debut album, Theatre of Tragedy tried to find the perfect kind of music that was suited for the band, combining faery female vocals with a deep male grunt or parlando voice. This blended into this album, called 'Velvet Darkness They Fear' being a milestone in the metal genre, as it has lead to the appearance of that specific genre labelled "Beauty and the Beast metal". After this album, a lot of other bands emerged, trying to imitate the perfect vocalist duo of Theatre of Tragedy, with slow, dirging guitar melodies, a heavy layer of keyboards and a huge amount of atmosphere. Some bands reached the same level, but many didn't. 'Velvet Darkness They Fear' does not really have better or worse songs. The album floats gently on on the same high level. Climaxes maybe being the single 'Der Tanz der Schatten' and 'And When He Falleth', with a (very long) sample in the middle of it, coming from the movie "The Masque of the Red Death", based on a novel by E.A.Poe. The band has very well looked at song structures and melodies, to match with the great pieces of word art (lyrics would be doing short to Raymond's efforts) written by their vocalist. Poems, little stories and even little plays are worked out between the two opposing voices. The artwork of the booklet has become a stereotype for the genre too: purple velvet, an almost naked woman and the crossed roses that are the sign of Theatre of Tragedy. With releasing this album, Theatre of Tragedy set high standards for all bands in the genre, including themselves. Just too bad they couldn't live up to those standards with later releases...	1. Velvet Darkness They Fear 2. Fair and 'Guiling Copesmate Death 3. Bring Forth ye Shadow 4. Seraphic Deviltry 5. And when He Falleth 6. Der Tanz der Schatten 7. Black as the Devil Painteth 8. On whom the Moon doth Shine 9. The Masquerader and Phoenix Approx. 50 minutes
Reviewed by: Heiko Isselee
A Rose for the Dead (Mcd) 1997 Massacre
One year after the successful release of 'Velvet Darkness They Fear', Theatre of Tragedy put a little extra on the market. The time was too short for a new album, but they didn't want to disappear into oblivion by waiting too long. So, 'A Rose For the Dead' was released. It contains a new song in the typical style of the previous album, another song in German (which also would have fitted on that album), the English translation of 'Der Tanz der Schatten' (in a slightly different musical way), two remixes of songs from the previous album and a cover song of Joy Division's 'Decades'. I won't spend too many words on the first three songs, as they are exactly as can be expected: standard, high quality Theatre of Tragedy songs. About the two remixes then. The great song 'And When He Falleth' has been completely ruined and raped by B. Kramm of Das Ich. The beauty of the song is lost in uninspired electronic drivel, and while listening to the remix, one can feel that the remixer didn't really know what to make out of it. The second remix, of 'Black as the Devil Painteth' is much better done. The remix has turned the song into an appreciable, danceable gothic song: interesting rythm changes and changing of the samples to different places of the song. The cover song is meant as a way to pay tribute to Joy Divison, one of the bands that had a major influence on Raymond and other band members. The difference with the original version is not very big, but significant enough to validate the cover version (what's the use of doing a cover when you just copy the song?). The Mcd comes into a nice digipak with excellent artwork and some nice band pictures. Truely something for the fans of the 'Velvet Darkness They Fear' album.	1. A Rose for the Dead 2. Der Spiegel 3. As the Shadows dance 4. And When He Falleth (remix) 5. Black as the Devil Painteth (remix) 6. Decades Approx. 30 minutes
Reviewed by: Heiko Isselee
Aégis (CD) 1998 Massacre
This album is the real follow up to 'Velvet Darkness They Fear'. It includes a change of style of the band. Apparently they didn't want to end up as a stereotyped band, that always gets labelled "Beauty and the Beast". The evolution of their sound is one that turned some of the older fans off. The difference with their self-titled debut album is very big indeed. On this album, Theatre of Tragedy chose a more electronic, softer direction. The guitar distortion is left away, Raymond doesn't growl anymore and a mere minimalistic and mellow atmosphere come to the front. The songs are backed up by programmed drum loops now and then. But the same down atmosphere of the previous releases is still there, that kind of feeling you also have when listening to the Sisters of Mercy and similar bands. Again this album has no real ups and downs. But this time, also the similarities between the songs are bigger. Whereas on 'Velvet Darkness They Fear', every song had an outspoken identity and was different from the other ones, the songs on 'Aegis' form a closer story. A main disappointment in this album might be the disappearance of the dynamic dialogues between Raymond's and Liv's vocals. The lyrics still contain a few parts of interaction, but mostly both vocalists sing their own part, at times in support of or together with the other part. Needless to say that, with the lack of grunts, the singing flattened out a bit too. Positive points are the well written songs and the great guitar melodies. Both guitar players are new members in comparison to 'Velvet Darkness They Fear', but they seem to know their instruments very well. After this album came a big tour through most of Europe, including the big D.O.A. festival. After that, the band left Massacre Records to join the Nuclear Blast label, on which they explored totally different paths, into the electro/gothic genre.	1. Cassandra 2. Lorelei 3. Angélique 4. Aœde 5. Siren 6. Samantha 7. Venus 8. Poppæa 9. Bacchante Approx. 50 minutes
Reviewed by: Heiko Isselee
Musique (CD) 2000 Nuclear Blast
Belonging to those people that utterly hated and despised Theatre of Tragedy, I must admit that I rolled around the floor laughing when I originally heard this album. Only to fall of my chair again hearing the horrified reactions of dedicated Theatre of Tragedy fans. But the giant smile on my face  faded as soon as I realised that I actually.. love this album!! So why my initial laughter? Well it's probably no secret anymore that Theatre of Tragedy have made a volte face with this album, outperforming any changes they have done on 'Aegis'. Incorporating a heavy dose of electro into their music, this album has little to no ties anymore to the Theatre of Tragedy we knew from the first two releases. Catchy gothy dance music served with a slight sauce of rock. And in all honesty, also pulled off rather weakly to moderately. The goth rock and Electro genre is filled with bands who can pull this style off much better (L'Âme Immortelle comes to mind). Other Metal/Goth/Electro hybrids like for example Sundown also do a much better job. Everything on this album sounds artificially constructed and more based around catchy melody lines then emotions. Lyrically this release is truly to weep, whether it is to pink a tear away because of the poor quality of the songs or be it to pink a tear of laughter away at the hilarious nature of them. My first thought was that this was a parody of some sort, but apparently the band means it quite seriously: "I synthesise and press a lighted key. Turn it on, compose a melody. Redo from start, I need more rhythm. 1 and 4 was for the Commodore. A catchy beat, I put it on repeat". Oh yeah you go DJ Raymond! Shake that booty Liv! Still I highly enjoy this album. While it has nothing to do with the old Theatre of Tragedy and it is weak within the new genre they have put themselves, I can not help it, but I am fascinated by the catchy melodies. The music is extremely easy to digest and pleasing to the ear. All the various elements seem to fit perfectly and Liv has finally found her place in the band. Her weak voice fits much better with this type of music than anything they did before. I always found Theatre of Tragedy to sound fake, constructed and "plastic". Now they have played into this perfectly and you can hear that it fits them much better. The band seems more at ease with this musical style and they finally seem to be in their element. Theatre of Tragedy fans will probably want to stay away from this release. People with a strong love for gothic dance music will know better acts to spend their money on; and the few nutcases like me? They will simply play this album again and again. "I'm gonna get you up. I'm gonna get on top. The call is mine" lalalaaaaaaa..	1. Machine 2. City of Light 3. Fragment 4. Musique 5. Commute 6. Radio 7. Image 8. Crash/Concrete 9. Retrospect 10. Reverie 11. Space Age 12. The new man (bonus track) Approx. 48 minutes
Reviewed by: Aldo Quispel
Assembly (CD) 2002 Nuclear Blast
Oh gosh, Theatre of Tragedy re-released 'Musique' with a different album cover and even sillier lyrics! Shamefully that one sentence is basically all I can tell you about this album, because there really is nothing more to say that I haven't already said about 'Musique'. It is just more of the same, 0.0 progression.	1. Automatic Lover 2. Universal Race 3. Episode 4. Play 5. Superdrive 6. Let you down 7. Starlit 8. Envision 9. Flickerlight 10. Liquid man 11. Motion Approx. 42 minutes
Reviewed by: Aldo Quispel