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
In the Wood
Theatres Des Vampires Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
He comes from the deeper
I can give blood for your life
I'll search to bring it for you
Lord of the wolves, you are risen
Reborn in the wood
The dawn has destroyed your life
Stay with me forever, my dark lady
You will live forever with me
I will be your best pleasure
And your eternal love
Kiss my bleeding mouth
Hot blood fall on my body... your desire!
I'm the angel of the black abyss
Lord of dark creatures of the twilight
Moon child... Betrayer of the Good!
I'm your servant and I will kill for you!
The lyrics to Theatres Des Vampires's song "In the Wood" revolves around the concept of a resurrection of a dark lord, who emerges from the depths of the past. The singer offers to give up their blood to bring the creature back to life. The resurrected creature is referred to as the "Lord of the wolves" and is reborn in the woods. The dawn, which is often associated with new beginnings or hope, is instead portrayed as something that destroyed the creature's life. The night becomes the creature's new source of shelter and power.
The singer addresses an unnamed dark lady, offering to stay with her forever, and be her "best pleasure" and "eternal love". The imagery becomes more intense as the singer asks the dark lady to kiss their bleeding mouth and for hot blood to fall on their body, fulfilling what seems to be a highly sensual desire. The last verse reveals the singer as a "Moon child" or "Betrayer of the Good", who is willing to be the creature's servant and kill for them.
Overall, the song portrays a highly erotic and violent relationship between the singer and the resurrected creature. The resurrection of the creature and the worship that the singer pays to them shows a disregard for the safety and well-being of humanity, representing a darker and more taboo aspect of human desire.
Line by Line Meaning
Buried by time, from the dark past
The character comes from a long-lost time, and they are steeped in the shadows of history
He comes from the deeper
The character has risen up from the depths of the earth, and is a powerful force to be reckoned with
I can give blood for your life
The singer is willing to sacrifice their own life essence to save someone else
I'll search to bring it for you
The artist is committed to finding the necessary ingredients to save the other person's life
Lord of the wolves, you are risen
The character is a ruler of wild animals, and has emerged from hiding to take their place on the throne
Reborn in the wood
The character has been reborn in the natural world, and is now a creature of the wilderness
The dawn has destroyed your life
The character's old life is gone, and they are adapting to new circumstances under cover of darkness
The night is your shelter and power
The character is strongest at night, and feels most comfortable under the cover of darkness
Stay with me forever, my dark lady
The artist is pleading for the other person to stay with them forever, even if it means a life in the shadowy underworld
You will live forever with me
The artist is offering eternal life in the darkness to the other person
I will be your best pleasure
The singer is offering their services as a companion, ready to do whatever it takes to keep the other person happy
And your eternal love
The artist is offering their unconditional love to the other person for eternity
Kiss my bleeding mouth
The singer is offering themselves as a sacrifice to the other person, willing to bleed for their sake
Hot blood fall on my body... your desire!
The singer is hinting at sexual desire, willing to let the other person's blood flow onto them in a suggestive way
I'm the angel of the black abyss
The singer is proclaiming themselves as a divine entity of the underworld, with the power to bring good or evil
Lord of dark creatures of the twilight
The character has command over the creatures of the night, and is a ruler of darkness
Moon child... Betrayer of the Good!
The artist is invoking a higher power, and making accusations of betrayal against those who choose the light
I'm your servant and I will kill for you!
The singer is bending to the will of the other person, and offering to kill for them if necessary
Contributed by Kayla E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
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