Track Listing

1. Hamlet for a Slothful Vassal
2. Cheerful Dirge
3. To These Words I Behold No Tongue
4. Hollow-Hearted, Heart-Departéd
5. ...A Distance There Is...
6. Sweet Art Thou
7. Mire
8. Dying -- I Only Feel Apath
9. Monotone

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18121 in Music
• Released on: 1998-11-03
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

Customer Reviews

Unique mix of death metal and female soprano
First off, this is a great CD. I stumbled across it by mistake looking at the Nightwish similar bands page of cdnow.com. I'm very glad I did, because so far, this CD has not left my CD player. It's really that good. I myself go for the more unique sounding bands (meaning I go for stuff made outside the USA), and this has uniqueness in droves. There happens to be two vocalists in this band, each on separate sides ofthe spectrum. One is a female soprano that sounds very angelic, which is very ironic in light of the second vocalist. He just happens to be one of those people who can growl and sing at the same time, and because of these death metal inspired vocals, he starts sounding fairly demonic (not to say that this is a bad thing). Most would think that this would be the equivalent of mixing an acid and a base, but it sounds amazing to hear both of them going off on each other at the same time, both of which ryhming. And just for fun, they use arcaic english that actually seems to make sense, and comes off as if it were written by the great Shakespear himself. One of the most powerful tracks, however, does not feature the demonic vocals or guitar chords, it only features the soothing voice of Liv and an amazing piano player. However, this CD is not for every taste, unfortunatly. Some of my friends refuse to listen to it. But, if you're looking for something unique, pick up this album.

Theatre of Tragedy
The only problem I have with this album is that the production is terrible! Listen to the excellent sound quality of Aegis and then put this one in! It's truly depressing! Problems I've found with the production of this CD are: the bass is very flat, Liv Kristine's voice is turned down too low, and the piano isn't as full as it could be (it sounds like someone held a microphone over it instead of actually plugging it into the mixing board). It'd be cool if they re-released this album with better production. It's a tragedy to have amazing songs such as A Hamlet for a Slothful Vassal and To these words I beheld no Tongue and have them produced badly! Please, don't get me wrong! This CD is worth every penny! It's a must if you're a fan of atmospheric, doomy, and intelligently written music! It'd just be nice to have it produced better, you know?

Heaven and Hell, Light and Darkness, Raymond and Liv
Doom metal fans love these words: melancholy, sorrow, sadness, despair... I really can't see any good in feeling that way! The word that comes to my mind when I listen or think of ToT is BEAUTY, and that's a lot different from "sorrow" and so on... ToT's debut features one interesting contrast: piano and soprano X heavy guitar riffs and gutural vocals. There is no bad song here. Another aspect to be considered, these lyrics are definitely worth reading! The archaic English helps creating a pleasant background image to the music: medieval times, lords, vassals(hehehe), virgin ladies... Very very beautiful. Also check out ToT's second masterpiece: Velvet Darkness They Fear. Thanx!