By Carl Begai
It was announced back in February 2012 that Norway’s Theatre Of Tragedy, who spawned the career of Leaves’ Eyes vocalist Liv Kristine and officially called it quits in October 2010, were working on remastered re-issues of their first three albums: the self-titled debut, Velvet Darkness They Fear, and Aegis. Initially meant to be released in late 2012, Massacre Records have confirmed July 5th as the official release date for all three albums in digipack CD and double vinyl LP formats.
The re-releases will feature rare bonus material, and will also include a band interview conducted by me split into three parts, one for each album. It was an honour to be asked by the Theatre Of Tragedy family to contribute to the re-issues, and I consider it to be a personal career highlight.
Following is an brief excerpt from the interview conducted for Velvet Darkness They Fear, which will appear in full in the re-issue liner notes. Call it an attempt to help promote the releases coupled with my pride getting away from me just this once.
Enjoy….
Velvet Darkness They Fear
Released in August 1996, Velvet Darkness They Fear is regarded as Theatre of Tragedy’s breakthrough album due to the popularity of the single ‘Der Tanz der Schatten’. It was unthinkable that a proclaimed doom-goth metal band could achieve commercial success on any level, yet they did just that. The Theatre’s German fans in particular embraced the song, leading to rumblings in the background that ‘Der Tanz der Schatten’ was a calculated attempt to cash in on a fanbase that had made itself known when the band’s debut hit the shelves the year before. This wasn’t the case according to drummer Hein Frode Hansen:
“Me and Raymond (Rohonyi/growls) were really into a lot of German darkwave bands like Das Ich, Lacrimosa, Goethes Erben and such at the time, and Raymond really wanted to do a song in German. A few of the other members were really against the idea and thought it would do more harm than good, and that nothing good would come out of it. Little did they know. The single hit both the metal crowd as well as the ‘grufties’ (goths) and became a huge club hit. What’s even stranger is when Brazilian bands cover a Norwegian band that sings in German (laughs).”
Vocalist Liv Kristine elaborates: “Both Raymond and myself chose German to be our third language at Gymnasium and we were hooked on the language. That was two years before we went on tour, but we wanted to write a song in German so we asked Tilo Wolf from Lacrimosa to help us with the lyrics. The version Raymond and I came up with wasn’t nearly as good as what Tilo wrote, but it was a good try and the song turned out really well. And one month after we’d recorded ‘Der Tanz der Schatten’, Ray and me both started studying German in university at home in Stavanger.” Continue reading THEATRE OF TRAGEDY – Exclusive Velvet Darkness They Fear Re-Issue Liner Notes Preview Available