| Velvet Darkness They Fear | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by Theatre of Tragedy | ||||
| Released | August 26, 1996 | |||
| Recorded | Commusication Studio, Germany | |||
| Genre | Gothic metal Death/doom |
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| Length | 52:08 | |||
| Label | Massacre Records Century Media |
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| Producer | Pete "Pee Wee" Coleman | |||
| Theatre of Tragedy chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [1] |
| Metal Storm | [2] |
Velvet Darkness They Fear is the second album of Norwegian metal band Theatre of Tragedy. It was released in 1996 through Massacre Records.
Contents |
Velvet Darkness continued Theatre of Tragedy's particular brand of gothic metal, first featured in their self-titled debut album, defined by alternating and occasionally overlapping male death grunts and sung female vocals; a style which was copied later by many metal bands and known generally as 'Beauty and the Beast'.
Velvet Darkness They Fear also continued the use of Raymond Rohonyi's Early Modern English lyrics. "Der Tanz der Schatten" is the exception, which is written in German. The songs themselves rarely have a clear story, but death, undeath, demons and similar supernatural elements are all prominent. The lyrics to the songs are referred to within the sleeve notes as 'plays', 'poems' and one 'soliloquy', depending on the parts the singers play.
The fifth track, "And When He Falleth," includes a section of Jane Asher and Vincent Price's dialogue from the film The Masque of the Red Death.
The album sold over 125,000 copies.[3]
On September 16th 1996, the band released "Der Tanz Der Schatten" as the only single from the record.