lista zespołów Gothic Metal Theatre Of Tragedy Theatre of Tragedy

Gothic Metal band founded in 1992 in Stavanger, Norway, by the singer (singing clear and grunt) Raymond Rohonyi and the guitarist Bjåstad Pål. The combo released their first demo in 1994. This allows them to join the German label Massacre Records and released their first album, one we'll mention here, a year later. The band released seven albums, but constantly looking for new musical horizons, it changes the style several times thereafter, which will ultimately lead to its decline.

Lasting nearly 45 minutes and contains seven tracks plus two unpublished songs from the demo, "A Hamlet for a Slothful Vassal" that serves as an introduction to the album, and Dying, I Only Feel Apathy, which, however have undergone changes (positive in my opinion, a better sound in particular).

The themes of this album are love, separation, melancholy, death ... and they are highlighted by heavy instruments (guitars, bass, drums ...) typical of Doom-Death. The sweet piano and violin, which offer a moderately Gothic character on output. Added to sound effects (the beating of the rain in particular). But unlike other bands such as Tristania, ToT uses very little classical and symphonic arrangements (for example, there is no choir) and focuses on instrumentation typical of metal, for enhancing further the origins of Doom at the expense Gothic roots.

The songs are of very variable length, 3 minute outro on "Monotonë" (which the passage is a beautiful instrumental pieces) and up to almost 9 minutes on "A Distance There Is", which is one of best pieces of the gothic metal genre. But all is fairly homogeneous and all the pieces are equal.

But the greatest strength of the album comes from the voices: the grunts of Raymond are very powerful. The voice of Liv Kristine is very soft and almost childlike, which peak on Hollow-Hearted, Heart-Departed, among others. All the lyrics are written in English of the Renaissance, giving an original force at work.

In conclusion, the album has almost no defects except a production that's a little dated at the time of release of the album, and thus offers only a correct quality.