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
Figlio Della Luna
Theatres Des Vampires Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
narra la leggenda
di quella gitana
che pregò la luna
bianca ed alta nel ciel
mentre sorrideva
lei la supplicava
«fa che torni da me»
pelle scura
con il suo perdono
donna impura
però in cambio voglio
che il tuo primo figlio
venga a stare con me»
chi suo figlio immola
per non stare sola
non è degna di un re
Luna adesso sei madre
ma chi fece di te
una donna non c'è
dimmi luna d'argento
come lo cullerai
se le braccia non hai
figlio della luna
Nacque a primavera
un bambino
da quel padre scuro
come il fumo
con la pelle chiara
gli occhi di laguna
come un figlio di luna
«questo è un tradimento
lui non è mio figlio
ed io no, non lo voglio»
Luna adesso sei madre
ma chi fece di te
una donna non c'è
dimmi luna d'argento
come lo cullerai
se le braccia non hai
figlio della luna
II gitano folle
di dolore
colto proprio al centro
dell'onore
l'afferrò gridando
la baciò piangendo
poi la lama affondò
corse sopra al monte
col bambino in braccio
e lì lo abbandonò
Luna adesso sei madre
ma chi fece di te
una donna non c'è
dimmi luna d'argento
come lo cullerai
se le braccia non hai
figlio della luna
Se la luna piena
poi diviene
è perché il bambino
dorme bene
ma se sta piangendo
lei se lo trastulla
cala e poi si fa culla
ma se sta piangendo
lei se lo trastulla
cala e poi si fa culla
The song Figlio Della Luna by Theatres Des Vampires tells the story of a gypsy who prayed to the moon to bring back her lover. The moon agrees but asks for her firstborn child in return. Years later, she gives birth to a boy whose father has dark skin like smoke but whose features resemble the moon. The gypsy woman rejects the child, prompting the father to take the baby up a mountain and leave him there. The moon then becomes the boy's mother, rocking him to sleep and soothing his cries.
The lyrics explore themes of sacrifice, motherhood, and the consequences of making deals with supernatural beings. The gypsy woman's choice to sacrifice her child for the sake of love is deemed unworthy of a king. Meanwhile, the moon becomes a nurturing mother figure to the abandoned child, suggesting that motherhood extends beyond physical birth.
The song is based on the Spanish folktale of La Leyenda del Águila y el Escarabajo, which tells the story of a gypsy who implores the full moon to bring back her husband in exchange for their child. The story has been adapted in various forms of media, including Spanish films and music.
Line by Line Meaning
Per chi non fraintenda
For those who don't misunderstand
narra la leggenda
it tells the legend
di quella gitana
about that gypsy woman
che pregò la luna
who prayed to the moon
bianca ed alta nel ciel
white and high in the sky
mentre sorrideva
while she smiled
lei la supplicava
she begged her
«fa che torni da me»
'make him come back to me'
«tu riavrai quell'uomo
'you will have that man back
pelle scura
with dark skin
con il suo perdono
with his forgiveness
donna impura
impure woman
però in cambio voglio
but in exchange I want
che il tuo primo figlio
that your first son
venga a stare con me»
come to stay with me'
chi suo figlio immola
who sacrifices her son
per non stare sola
to not be alone
non è degna di un re
is not worthy of a king
Luna adesso sei madre
Moon now you're a mother
ma chi fece di te
but who made you
una donna non c'è
there's no woman in you
dimmi luna d'argento
tell me, silver moon
come lo cullerai
how will you cradle him
se le braccia non hai
if you don't have arms
figlio della luna
son of the moon
Nacque a primavera
He was born in the Spring
un bambino
a baby
da quel padre scuro
from that dark-skinned father
come il fumo
like smoke
con la pelle chiara
with fair skin
gli occhi di laguna
eyes like a lagoon
come un figlio di luna
like a son of the moon
«questo è un tradimento
'this is a betrayal
lui non è mio figlio
he's not my son
ed io no, non lo voglio»
and I don't want him'
II gitano folle
The crazy gypsy man
di dolore
with pain
colto proprio al centro
caught right in the center
dell'onore
of the honor
l'afferrò gridando
He grabbed her, yelling
la baciò piangendo
kissed her while crying
poi la lama affondò
then plunged the blade
corse sopra al monte
ran up the mountain
col bambino in braccio
with the baby in his arms
e lì lo abbandonò
and left him there
Se la luna piena
If the full moon
poi diviene
then becomes
è perché il bambino
it's because the baby
dorme bene
is sleeping well
ma se sta piangendo
but if he's crying
lei se lo trastulla
she rocks him
cala e poi si fa culla
calms him and then becomes the cradle
Contributed by Jasmine T. Suggest a correction in the comments below.