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
Il vampiro
Theatres Des Vampires Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
lascia (adescare la vittima) adescare la vittima (che placherà) che
placherà (la sua sete di sangue) la sua sete di sangue, di sangue
Sento il calore del suo respiro, sento i suoi denti affondare nella
mia carne, (fra dolore) fra dolore e orgasmo (mi ritrovo preda)
preda del vampiro
(fall asleep)
I never sleep my hunter
(and never in between us)
and never in between me and you
(I'm waiting to die)
I'm waiting to die
(from miles from the sleep)
miles from the sleep to the breath and
(open still wrists)
open these eyes
run as deep
(blood)
Mantel
(into black)
Into black
Into black mantel
(Mantel, mantel)
Into black mantel
The lyrics in Theatres Des Vampires's song "Il vampiro" paint a picture of a vampire, who emerges from the cold and is proudly and majestically looking for his victim to quench his thirst for blood. The song describes the mingling sensations of pleasure and pain that the victim experiences as the vampire bites into their flesh, causing them to become prey of the vampire. The lines "Sento il calore del suo respiro, sento i suoi denti affondare nella mia carne, (fra dolore) fra dolore e orgasmo (mi ritrovo preda) preda del vampiro" roughly translate to "I feel the warmth of his breath, I feel his teeth sinking into my flesh, (between pain and orgasm) between pain and orgasm (I find myself prey) prey of the vampire."
The song also mentions blood and tears, possibly indicating the emotional and psychological impact of being a victim of a vampire. The lines "I never sleep my hunter (and never in between us) and never in between me and you (I'm waiting to die) I'm waiting to die" seem to imply that the victim is never at peace and is always anticipating their eventual death.
Overall, the song seems to portray the seductive and dangerous nature of vampires, with the alluring promises of pleasure and the inevitable destruction that follows.
Line by Line Meaning
Maestoso e fiero, il vampiro, esce dal freddo sa anche la salma che lascia (adescare la vittima) adescare la vittima (che placherà) che placherà (la sua sete di sangue) la sua sete di sangue, di sangue
Majestic and proud, the vampire emerges from the cold, knowing the corpse it leaves behind will lure in the victim who will satisfy its thirst for blood.
Sento il calore del suo respiro, sento i suoi denti affondare nella mia carne, (fra dolore) fra dolore e orgasmo (mi ritrovo preda) preda del vampiro
I feel the warmth of its breath as its teeth sink into my flesh. Amidst the pain and pleasure, I find myself ensnared by the vampire.
(Blood and tears) Lacrime e sangue (x3)
Blood and tears, blood and tears, blood and tears.
(fall asleep) I never sleep my hunter (and never in between us) and never in between me and you (I'm waiting to die) I'm waiting to die (from miles from the sleep) miles from the sleep to the breath and (open still wrists) open these eyes run as deep (blood)
I never rest, my hunter, and nothing will come between us. I wait for death, coming from far away, while opening my eyes wide to let the blood run deep.
Mantel (into black) Into black Into black mantel (Mantel, mantel) Into black mantel
Cloak - into black, into black. Into black cloak, cloak, cloak - into black cloak.
Contributed by Juliana R. Suggest a correction in the comments below.