THEATRE OF TRAGEDY — Velvet Darkness They Fear (review)

THEATRE OF TRAGEDY — Velvet Darkness They Fear album cover Album · 1996 · Gothic Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
5/5 ·
Warthur
As one of the originators of the "Beauty and the Beast" aesthetic in goth metal, Theatre of Tragedy make this dramatic niche sound really work on Velvet Darkness They Fear. Drawing a little from death-doom acts without letting the brutal ugliness of that scene overwhelm the more delicate side of their work, the band offer up a series of truly sublime songs, the exquisite climax of the album probably being And When He Falleth (which includes some truly inspired sampling from Roger Corman and Vincent Price's movie adaptation of The Masque of the Red Death). In short, Velvet Darkness They Fear proves that Theatre of Tragedy are the best sort of musical innovators - the type who are not only able to come up with a distinctive new sound, but also hone their craft to the point where they master it. Many subsequent bands would try to equal this album - and some would do so - but I can't think of any Beauty and the Beast acts which exceed it in quality.
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