Theatre of Tragedy
Theatre of Tragedy is a Norwegian metal band originally assembled in 1993 and best known for their earlier albums, which are among the most important albums of the Gothic Metal genre. They also helped pioneer the technique of Soprano and Gravel; they were not the first to use it (Celtic Frost, Paradise Lost and The Gathering did it before them), but they were the ones to popularise it, resulting in the technique being a staple of the genre, possibly to the point of overuse.
Their first three albums featured growled vocals and lyrics written predominantly in Early Modern English. From Musique onwards, the band switched to industrial rock and abandoned Early Modern English writing and death grunts in the process. They returned to Gothic Metal on Storm, though it was Lighter and Softer than their first three albums and still had modern English lyrics.
The band split on October 2nd, 2010, 17 years after forming.
Final lineup:
- Raymond István Rohonyi - Vocals, Programming, lyrics
- Nell Sigland - Vocals
- Frank Claussen - Guitar
- Vegard K. Thorsen - Guitar
- Lorentz Aspen - Keyboards
- Hein Frode Hansen - Drums
Former members:
- Liv Kristine - Vocals
- Tommy Lindal - Guitar
- Tommy Olsson - Guitar
- Pål Bjåstad - Guitar
- Geir Flikkeid - Guitar
- Eirik T. Saltrø - Bass
Studio albums:
- Theatre of Tragedy, 1995
- Velvet Darkness They Fear, 1996
- Aégis, 1998
- Musique, 2000
- Assembly, 2002 (Liv Kristine's last album with the band)
- Storm, 2006 (Nell Sigland's first album with the band)
- Forever is the World, 2009
- The Band Minus the Face - Arguably, after Liv Kristine's departure.
- Crowning Music of Awesome - Few fans of the band will disagree that the first three albums are masterpieces.
- Doom Metal / Death Metal - Their first two albums, at least, are part of the "death/doom" genre (death metal + doom metal). In fact, when Theatre of Tragedy first started (before Liv Kristine was a permanent member), they almost exclusively used death growls.
- Epic Rocking - A fair amount of the songs from their first three albums. From Musique onwards the longer songs would reach a mere five minutes.
- Face of the Band - Liv Kristine.
- Genre Shift - From Gothic Metal to Industrial Metal.
- Gothic Metal - One of the most influential bands of the genre, though they moved away from it on Musique and Assembly.
- Lighter and Softer - Storm and Forever is the World when compared to the much darker first three albums.
- Mohs Scale of Rock and Metal Hardness - Their first two albums range from 4 to 9; Aégis veers between 4 and 6; the latter four albums are all around 6.
- Narm - Some consider the Early Modern English lyrics of the first three albums to be this. Of course, some disagree.
- Replacement Scrappy - To some, Nell Sigland.
- Self-Titled Album - Their debut, as seen above.
- Soprano and Gravel - Their first three albums popularised this technique; their later stuff keeps the style, but does it slightly differently (eg. no growling).
- They Changed It, Now It Sucks - Some people's reactions to Musique, Assembly and Storm.