Playlouder - Music is the Network

'Anima' (for those of us not schooled in Jungian philosophy) is a word almost comparable to Freud’s ‘id’ in that it represents the unconscious, “true, inner self” of the individual.

Anyway, it was with some trepidation that I approached this album. Theatres Des Vampires have always been, in my opinion, an entirely unique band: never exactly a favourite, but always one worth listening to, and always with rewarding moments that no other band could quite hope to rival.

The closest thing to a domestic comparison would be Cradle of Filth, whose name, when mentioned at the wrong dinner parties, seems to herald awkward silences these days.

The bands are hardly similar, but certain parallels can be drawn; both began life being (perhaps falsely) identified as black metal bands. Certainly, both began life being labelled as ‘extreme’ but soon were called ‘gothic’, ‘symphonic’, even ‘industrial’.

Both have by now earned a reputation for being unclassifiable, and more easily described in terms of lyrical themes than musical direction.

Cradle of Filth have followed a crooked path to superstardom from their early-nineties genesis: never being predictable, nor pandering to the requirements of their fan base, and yet seemingly always gaining in popularity. Now they are regarded as anything but extreme. Indeed, some condemn them as ‘pop metal’. 

In truth, they've become a slightly more boring version of their patchy past selves.

Italy’s Theatres Des Vampires, meanwhile, began life a little later (in the mid nineties) and have had a similarly convoluted history. While Dani Filth remains the cornerstone of COF through the ages, the personnel of Theatres Des Vampires have shifted like the ranks of a football team.

There isn’t a single member in the group today who was present on the first few releases, and with the departure of founder Lord Vampyr previous to the last album proper, ‘Pleasure and Pain’, it became a concern that the vision would be blurred, and the group would fade into obscurity.

Not so. Incidentally, current lead vocalist Sonya Scarlet is by no means a new recruit, having served the group for almost a decade – as has the rhythm section, and keyboardist Fabian Varesi. For this release only Stephan Benfante, the guitarist, is a new addition, which implies that any vision the band has is more collaborative and more changeable than I had previously thought.

‘Anima Noir’ is perhaps their most coherent album yet, and - at a pretty tight ten tracks in length - there’s not a wasted moment.

‘Kain’, the blistering opener, occupies the barren middle-ground between Paradise Lost and Inkubus Sukkubus. In fact, it’s not a million miles from the genre-crossing success of their countryfolk, Lacuna Coil, but it fortunately eschews both the too-slick production of Lacuna Coil, and their rather dated nu-metal tinge.

The shimmering synths that open ‘Rain’ (a cover of The Cult’s song) and ‘Wherever You Are’ lend a sharp EBM sound to proceedings, as previously explored in their crossover hit ‘La Danse Macabria Du Vampire’.

As indicated but never truly realised on ‘Pleasure and Pain’, Theatres Des Vampires are now capable of producing great gothic pop songs (such as ‘Dust’) that sit well alongside the heavier numbers.

‘From The Deep’ is an eerie ballad with beautiful choral singing, as is ‘Anima Noir’ itself, the epic outro song. Again, these accomplishments have been hinted at in moments of their previous work, but never really executed with such conviction.

‘Blood Addiction’ represents the raw, unsophisticated lyrical approach of, say, ‘Whole Lotta Love’, and while it doesn’t have quite the musical character of Led Zeppelin, the duality of the vocals here works very well, with the male backing being stronger than ever before on a TDV release.

These disparate sounds are melded together with more cohesion than on previous releases, too; where Theatres Des Vampires come good is in never breaking character; while many metal bands pick and choose their thematics like so many kids dipping into a dressing-up box, and thus become disappointing as a consequence, those who have the most powerful effect on their listeners are those whose ethos backs up the music.

One can quite easily imagine Amon Amarth (for example) emerging from the mist on a northern coast and leaping from a ship with crude axes in hand, and similarly, these Italians make pretty convincing vampires.

Where England’s Cradle of Filth seem to have lost sight of what made their earlier material really absorbing, Theatres Des Vampires have, against all odds, taken the rotten core of what made them such a tantalising prospect in the first place, and wrapped it in a fresher, more delectable skin.

Well, you know what they say about the life-giving power of blood…