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
Exorcism
Theatres Des Vampires Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Holy Mary, Holy Mary of God!
Because he has departed on the road, along the path, on the big road;where the powerful
person met the vampire
don't tear his heart,leave it chaste and pure,like a pure egg as him like God has done it.
You'll run away big Evil,you'll run away small Evil,you'll run away from the nine
sorceries,because if you don't want to run away from your wish,you will run away for strength!
I will pierce you with the knife,I will pierce you with the iron,I will throw you in the fire,and there you will die,like dew to the sun, like a worm under your feet!
Go in the desert mountain where the rooster doesn't sing
You'll disappear there and then you'll die again
The lyrics to Theatres Des Vampires's song Exorcism are a plea for divine intervention against an evil presence. The opening lines of the song, "Oh Lord help us!" show the desperation of the singer, who seeks help from God. The next line, "Holy Mary, Holy Mary of God!" invokes the divine feminine, specifically the Virgin Mary, who is often seen as a protector against evil in Catholicism.
The following lines tell the story of a powerful person who has encountered a vampire on their journey. The singer implores the mother of God to appear on the road and prevent the powerful person from drinking the vampire's blood or taking their strength. The imagery of leaving the vampire's heart chaste and pure like a pure egg shows a desire to avoid corruption and preserve innocence.
The latter half of the song describes the singer's intention to drive the evil presence away with force. They threaten to pierce the entity with a knife or iron, and throw them into the fire to perish. The final lines suggest that the evil presence should go into a desert mountain where there is no sign of life, and stay there until it dies again. Overall, the lyrics express a desire to banish evil and preserve purity.
Line by Line Meaning
Oh Lord help us!
An appeal for divine assistance
Holy Mary, Holy Mary of God!
An invocation of The Virgin Mary as an intercessor between man and God
Because he has departed on the road, along the path, on the big road;where the powerful person met the vampire
Referring to a victim who has encountered a powerful vampire and has been bitten
The mother of God appeared on the road.Stop!Don't drink his blood, don't take his strength, don't tear his heart,leave it chaste and pure,like a pure egg as him like God has done it.
An appeal to the power of The Virgin Mary to prevent the vampire from draining the victim's blood and taking their vitality
You'll run away big Evil,you'll run away small Evil,you'll run away from the nine sorceries,because if you don't want to run away from your wish,you will run away for strength!
A warning to the vampire to flee from the power of the exorcism ritual being undertaken
I will pierce you with the knife,I will pierce you with the iron,I will throw you in the fire,and there you will die,like dew to the sun, like a worm under your feet!
A statement of the actions that will be taken in this exorcism to destroy the vampire
Go in the desert mountain where the rooster doesn't sing
A command to the vampire to go to a remote, lonely location
You'll disappear there and then you'll die again
A final warning to the vampire that they will be destroyed in this location
Contributed by Connor V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.