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
Pleasure and Pain
Theatres Des Vampires Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And cut my flesh
Take me and feel
My pain and scream
Fuck me
And tie me up
Your hands on me
I see your wrath
Pleasure and pain blood and sin
Lust and hate sex and death
Kiss and scars death and screams
Tears of blood for my lust
Your pain is my addiction
Your blood is in my veins
Your pain is my obsession
Your blood is in my veins
Hate me cut me
Prey me fuck me
Harm me and lock me up
On your mouth my blood
Lick it up rape me
And taste my lust
Your hands on me
I see your wrath
Pleasure and pain
Blood and sin
Lust and hate
Sex and death
Your pain is my addiction
Your blood is in my veins
Your pain is my obsession
Your blood is in my veins
Slave of my pain
Master of my flesh
The lyrics to Theatres Des Vampires's song "Pleasure and Pain" depict a dark, twisted relationship between two individuals. The singer desires to be hated, cut, and harmed by their partner, as it gives them pleasure to experience pain. The lines "Your pain is my addiction / Your blood is in my veins" suggest that the singer is obsessed with their partner's pain and feels a deep connection to it. The mention of "tears of blood" and "death and screams" adds to the violent and macabre nature of their desires.
The chorus of the song emphasizes the various opposites that are present in this relationship - pleasure and pain, lust and hate, sex and death. The singer recognizes that their attraction to their partner is dangerous and potentially fatal, but they cannot resist the allure of the physical and emotional sensations that come with it. The lines "Slave of my pain / Master of my flesh" suggest that the dynamic between the two individuals is one of control and submission, with the singer willingly surrendering themselves to their partner's cruel whims.
The lyrics to "Pleasure and Pain" are highly suggestive and may be disturbing for some listeners. However, they also speak to the complex and often conflicting nature of human desire, and the allure of power and control in intimate relationships.
Line by Line Meaning
Hate me
The singer to be hated by the listener
And cut my flesh
The singer wants the listener to physically harm them
Take me and feel
The singer wants the listener to take control of the situation
My pain and scream
The artist wants the listener to experience their pain and scream in response
Fuck me
The artist wants to engage in sexual activity with the listener
And tie me up
The singer wants to be restrained or bound during the sexual activity
Your hands on me
The singer is aware of the listener's physical touch
I see your wrath
The artist recognizes the listener's anger and aggression
Pleasure and pain blood and sin
The intense dichotomy of pleasure and pain, with sin and blood representing the darker aspects of the relationship
Lust and hate sex and death
The twisted mix of lust, hate, sex and death that characterizes the relationship between the artist and the listener
Kiss and scars death and screams
The violence and trauma that is intertwined with moments of intimacy and passion
Tears of blood for my lust
The blood tears represent the bodily sacrifice that is made for the fulfillment of the artist's desires
Your pain is my addiction
The singer is obsessed with causing and experiencing the listener's pain
Your blood is in my veins
The singer feels intimately connected to the listener through the exchange of bodily fluids and violence
Your pain is my obsession
The singer's fixation on the listener's pain dominates their thoughts and desires
Slave of my pain
The artist is trapped in their own cycle of pain and desire, with no escape
Master of my flesh
The listener has complete control over the artist's physical body, and the artist is unable to resist
Contributed by Jordyn V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.