The band's members expressed a fascination with vampires and anything connected to them, earning themselves and their music the title "vampiric metal" from their contemporaries. The band created a coherent image of vampirism in their stage performance and within the lyrical themes and atmospheres of their music, which contributed heavily to the gaining of their fan-base.
During their career, the band was first primarily influenced by symphonic black metal, but later tended to include differing influences, including: classicalmusic, opera, darkwave, deathrock, gothic rock and several electro-industrial sub-genres. Throughout this stylistic deviation, a few characteristics of the band's music have remained consistent; melancholic atmospheres and lyrics, vocal styles of akin to gothic metal, and their vampiric image.
The band has produced ten albums in ten years with the English label Plastic Head, and has gained more recognition within the metal scene in Europe, South America and Russia, partially due to the band's participation in various festivals around the world. These include: Vampyria III in London in 1999, Gods of Metal in Italy in 2000, Wave-Gotik-Treffen in Leipzig in 2003 and in 2006, Gotham in London in 2004, Female Voices Festival in Wieze, Belgium in 2006.
In 2003, the band toured with Christian Death throughout Europe, and recorded an album with Valor of Christian Death and Gian Pyres of Cradle of Filth as special guests.
The band's shows have always seen a reasonable level of attendance, and have become more dramatic over the band's career, incorporating fireworks and "out of line" appearances by Scarlet.
Since 2004, Sonya Scarlet has remained the solo vocalist and front of the band, replacing her previous role as backing vocals.
Scarlet sometimes cuts herself with razors at performances, freely letting fans drink her blood, promising them the gift of immortality. In 2005 several English clubs forbade her performing the display of bloodletting, because it violates English laws against the incitement to commit suicide.
On 28 November 2005, Aural Music released the album Pleasure and Pain. Distributors throughout Europe bought the album and it was published with permission in Europe, South America, the USA, Russia, and Japan.
On 19 March 2007, they released their album Desire of Damnation. Desire of Damnation is a double CD, with live songs from The Addiction tour 2006 and some new studio songs and remixes.
Guitarist Robert "Morgoth" left the band in 2006 and was replaced by Stephan Benfante.
On 2 May 2008, they released their 8th studio album Anima Noir. With this album their sound evolves once again, taking the route of electronic/industrial gothic metal while still retaining vampiric lyrics.
In November, 2008, Theatres des Vampires announced that they would go on a temporary hiatus due to both personal and health related issued of vocalist Sonya Scarlet.
On 14 January 2011 Aural Music released the album Moonlight Waltz, their ninth studio album. A music video for the song "Carmilla" was filmed on August 28 and 29, directed by David Bracci, who worked on most of Dario Argento's films in the past decade, and has also directed the "Lilith Mater Inferorum" music video.
The name "Théâtre des Vampires" was inspired by a fictional location created by Gothic fantasy writer Anne Rice of the same name. Rice's Théâtre des Vampires is a Parisian theater, in which vampires pretend to be mortal actors, their performances consisting of the feeding on mortals disguised as part of a play and staged in front of human audiences. The location is mentioned in several of Rice's books, including Interview With the Vampire and The Vampire Lestat.
Official site: http://www.theatres-des-vampires.net
Ancient Damned
Theatres Des Vampires Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Nocturnal sacrifice of virgins raped from the lord of darkness
Four candles around your bier,hot blood on your mouth:drink with me this blood and you'll
live forever!
From your tower,you see your dominion,your immense forest,your immense power
Where the wolves awaiting for the night
Your servants are ready for your last conquest
All virgins for you
Shadows of the dead,spirits of ancient vapmires
The evil has risen from the eternal tree
The lyrics to Theatres Des Vampires's song "Ancient Damned" depict a scene of horror and destruction wrought by the Prince of Darkness himself. The haunting melody sets the tone for the cold and foreboding atmosphere, with the verses drawing vivid imagery of a castle filled with the sounds of sacrificial rituals and the screams of virgins being taken by dark forces. The use of words like "unholy" and "terror" only further cement the idea of a world that has been corrupted by evil.
The lines "Four candles around your bier, hot blood on your mouth: drink with me this blood and you'll live forever!" is a haunting call to those who seek immortality through darkness. The imagery of blood being the elixir of life is a common trope in vampire folklore, and it is used here to portray a sense of seduction and danger. The song continues with descriptions of the Prince of Darkness, his servants, and his immense power over the forest and its inhabitants, alluding to the sense of terror he inspires.
Line by Line Meaning
Cold wind in the castle, in the unholy walls
The chilly breeze blows through the castle that's surrounded by unholy walls
Nocturnal sacrifice of virgins raped from the lord of darkness
Virgins are offered as a sacrifice to the lord of darkness during the darkness of the night
Four candles around your bier, hot blood on your mouth: drink with me this blood and you'll live forever!
As the four candles burn around you, you drink hot blood from the mouth and it is promised that you will live forever
From your tower, you see your dominion, your immense forest, your immense power
From the top of your tower, you can see your kingdom, your vast forest, as well as your immense power
Where the wolves awaiting for the night Terror of Transylvania, prince of darkness!
The wolves are anxiously waiting for the darkness of the night as the prince of darkness, the terror of Transylvania, lurks around
Your servants are ready for your last conquest All virgins for you
Your faithful servants are prepared to assist you with your latest mission to conquer, and all the virgins are yours for the taking
Shadows of the dead, spirits of ancient vampires The evil has risen from the eternal tree
The spirits of long-dead vampires and their shadows have returned from the eternal tree, signifying the rise of evil
Contributed by Adalyn P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
xLordOfTheWolvesx
Great old TDV song.