lukretion All good things must come to an end and Forever Is the World marks the end of one of the most iconic and revered gothic metal bands of our times: Theatre of Tragedy. One of the things that I appreciate the most about this band is their constant willingness to push boundaries and experiment with new genres that they showed throughout their career, to the point that it is hard to find two albums in the band’s discography that sound exactly the same (something I cannot say about most bands I listen to). With their first two albums (their 1995’s self-titled debut and 1996’s Velvet Darkness They Fear), Theatre of Tragedy kickstarted the whole “beauty and the beast” gothic/doom metal scene, which then became dominant in the second half of the 1990s, especially in Europe. However, by their third album Aégis, the band had already started to leave that scene behind, veering towards leaner gothic rock/metal aesthetics with clean vocals and catchier melodies. In 2000 the band changed even more dramatically, embracing strong electronic and industrial influences and releasing two albums, Musique and Assembly, that had almost nothing in common with the band’s early records. After splitting with their lead singer Liv Kristine Espenæs in 2003, the band changed once more their sonic direction and their 2006’s album Storm marked a return to the gothic metal of Aégis, while at the same time retaining the energy and poppy vibes of Musique and Assembly.

Released in 2009, Forever Is the World opens yet another chapter in Theatre of Tragedy’s multifaceted musical palette. If Storm saw the band retracing the footsteps of their sound somewhere between Aégis and Musique, Forever Is the World goes even further back in time, rediscovering some of the doom/death influences that had marked the band’s sound in their first two albums. At the same time, the album retains the strong taste for catchy melodies, cinematic atmospheres and gothic impetus of later albums as well as even some electronic / industrial influences in a few tracks. Like its cover art, which incorporates elements from the covers of all the band’s previous studio albums, Forever Is the World is a sort of musical compendium that has the ambition to amalgamate all the styles the band had experimented with throughout their discography.

Does it work? Almost. The contrast between the obsessively slow riffs and death growls on the verse of “Hide and Seek” and its bright and catchy goth rock chorus is nothing short of exhilarating. This track is such a strong opener that I would rank it among the best gothic/doom songs Theatre of Tragedy have ever written. The same formula is used again on “Hollow” and “Frozen”, although with somewhat less spectacular results. “Hollow” starts as an atmospheric, piano-based ballad driven by big melodies sung by Nell Sigland. Raymond’s growls at around the 3:20 mark come a bit as a surprise but they work well, nudging the track into Velvet Darkness They Fear territory. “Frozen” follows a similar pattern, albeit with stronger doom undertones, especially in the guitar work. Meanwhile, the title-track “Forever Is the World” is a modern-day take on the piano-ballad “… A Distance There Is …” from the debut album. Elsewhere the gothic/doom influences are less prominent, making room for the more straightforward atmospheric gothic rock/metal of Aégis and Storm (“Revolution”, “Transition”, “Deadland”). “Astray” and the finale of “Illusion” instead hark back to the electro-gothic of Musique and Assembly, with Raymond’s robotic, half-spoken vocals getting closer to rap than singing.

Although some of these songs (“Deadland”, the title-track) are truly excellent if taken on their own, they are a bit too diverse to work well in the context of the same album. “Astray” is not a bad song at all (much better than half of the material that appeared on Musique), but it sticks out like a sore thumb between the gothic/doom metal of “Hollow” and “Frozen”, making for the most incongruous episode of the album. Sappy goth rock moments like those found on “A Nine Days Wonder” and “Illusions” also do not sit well next to the growls and slow riffs of “Hide and Seek” and “Frozen”. This excessive diversity in its ten tracks gives the album a disjointed, almost schizophrenic feel that detracts from the overall listening experience.

Another limit of the album is that not all its songs feel equally inspired, an issue that had already surfaced on the previous record Storm. “Hide and Seek”, “Revolution”, “Frozen”, “Deadland” and the title-track are all very strong numbers. In fact, these songs are probably even stronger than the material that had appeared on Storm, as they are less patently ear-pleasing and seek instead more sophisticated and subdued melodies that may perhaps be less immediate, but have more mileage and repeated listening value. However, the album also contains a series of run-of-the-mill tracks like “A Nine Days Wonder”, “Illusions” and (for those who have the limited edition of the album) “Empty”, which are all bogged down by formulaic songwriting and uninspired performances.

Sound production is also not a strength here. For this album, Theatre of Tragedy enrolled the services of Alex Møklebust, singer of Norwegian goth rock bands Zeromancer and Seigmen. Although at the time he had already a fair amount of experience in producing and mixing the albums of his former bands, Møklebust’s work here leaves much to be desired. There is thick layer of string arrangements plastered all over the ten songs of the album. At times these arrangements work well to give depth and atmosphere to the music (the title-track), but elsewhere they are often just overbearing and out of place. Moreover, there is something wrong with the way the vocals are produced. They sound muffled and slightly distorted (especially Nell’s) and sit far too back in the mix.

Despite these limitations, Forever Is the World stands as a fitting testament to one of the greatest gothic metal bands of our times. Although the album only sporadically succeeds in recreating the glory days of the band’s past work, it does contain a handful of tracks that can stand proud and tall in Theatre of Tragedy’s discography. Ultimately, Forever Is the World bears the signs of a band that has reached the end of its tether and that, perhaps, had not much left to say after fifteen years spent at the forefront of the gothic metal scene. Nevertheless, Theatre of Tragedy deserve credit for calling it quits while they were (just) still at the top of their game, eschewing the temptation to prolong their lifespan in order to sell a few more albums. This stands as witness to the band’s integrity and their resolve to put artistic value before commercial interest, which has always been a leitmotif of their career. Chapeau and fare thee well, dear Theatre of Tragedy!