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
Oath of Supremacy
Theatres Des Vampires Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Under the shadow of the goat I live!
We hate the holy things
We are bloody vampires
In search of victims
We are like God...we are gods!
Oh horned god,infernal horde
Help us in our mission of blood
I'm eternal,king of destruction and misery...and misery!
Blood shaded on your body
You feel a shiver of terror
In your desecrate church
Under the sign of Evil,he comes baptized
I baptize you in the name of Satan!
De causa peccati docent quod tametsi deus creat et conservat naturam.
Tament causa peccati est voluntas malorum,
videlicente diaboli et impiorum.
Quae non adiuvante deo, advertit se a deo,
sicut Christus ait Loh cum loquitur mendacium
ex ipso loquitor!
Impure forward on the world to carry Evil
Spokesman of Evil!
An unholy glorification!
Oath of Supremacy!
"In happy copulation,
Drawn the pleasures of this born joy.
The moment of desire!The moment of desire!The virgin
That pines for man shall awaken her womb to enormous joy!"
On his stormy bed
Lay the faint maid, and soon her woes appall'd his thunders hoarse."
"I want unholy passion, an enchantment of blood!"
The lyrics of Theatres Des Vampires's song Oath of Supremacy celebrates the demonic power and the inherent evil that vampires represent. The song draws inspiration from William Blake's "Visions of the daughter of Albion." The lyrics "Under the shadow of the goat I live!" paint a clear picture of the song's inspiration from the Satanic imagery. The song is about vampires who hate everything holy and search for victims. They consider themselves as gods who have the power of destroying and inflicting misery. The horns represent the infernal horde who are called upon to help them in their mission of bloodshed.
The song also refers to the act of baptism, an important ritual in a Christian church, but it is presented in a blasphemous manner. The lyrics "Under the sign of Evil, he comes baptized; I baptize you in the name of Satan!" signify the act of contempt towards Christianity. The song also talks about the demonic will to carry Evil, an unholy glorification, and an oath of supremacy. The lyrics "I want unholy passion, an enchantment of blood!" furthers their celebration of evil and their predatory nature.
Line by Line Meaning
Under the shadow of the goat I live!
I dwell in the darkness under the satanic symbol of the goat.
We hate the holy things
We loathe sacred objects and symbols.
We are bloody vampires
We are creatures that suck blood from humans.
In search of victims
We roam around looking for people to prey on.
We are like God...we are gods!
We consider ourselves powerful and god-like.
Oh horned god,infernal horde
We worship Satan in his horned form and call upon his minions.
Help us in our mission of blood
A plea to Satan for assistance in our vampiric quest.
I'm eternal,king of destruction and misery...and misery!
I am immortal and rule over chaos and despair.
Blood shaded on your body
Your body is stained with the blood that we have taken from you.
You feel a shiver of terror
You tremble in fear at the thought of our unholy acts.
In your desecrate church
We violate your holy place with our presence.
Under the sign of Evil,he comes baptized
We come into your holy place baptized by Satan.
I baptize you in the name of Satan!
I consecrate you with Satan's name, claiming you as a victim of our ways.
De causa peccati docent quod tametsi deus creat et conservat naturam.
The reason for human sin is that although God created and sustains nature,
Tament causa peccati est voluntas malorum,vel dicente diaboli et impiorum.
human sin is also caused by the will of the wicked, that is, the Devil and the impious.
Quae non adiuvante deo, advertit se a deo,sicut Christus ait Loh cum loquitur mendacium ex ipso loquitor!
If God does not aid, one will turn away from God as Jesus said, 'When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources.'
Impure forward on the world to carry Evil
We go into the world to spread impurity and evil.
Spokesman of Evil!
We speak on behalf of the Devil and his wickedness.
An unholy glorification!
We honor and praise Satan in an unholy way.
Oath of Supremacy!
We vow to continue our vampiric reign of terror.
"In happy copulation,Drawn the pleasures of this born joy.The moment of desire!The moment of desire!The virginThat pines for man shall awaken her womb to enormous joy!"
A celebration of sexual pleasure and a prophecy that a virgin will experience immense joy from sexual intimacy.
On his stormy bedLay the faint maid, and soon her woes appall'd his thunders hoarse."
A depiction of sexual violence and the physical torment that follows.
"I want unholy passion, an enchantment of blood!"
A declaration of the desire for dark and sinful passion fueled by blood.
Contributed by Jason W. Suggest a correction in the comments below.