BW&BK; scribe Carl Begai recently caught up with THEATRE OF TRAGEDY drummer Hein Frode Hansen. The band is celebrating their 15th anniversary and are currently working on a new album, their second with vocalist Nell Sigland. Following is an excerpt from the story:

A new Theatre Of Tragedy album is in the works and due to be released in early 2009 through AFM Records. Hansen offers a look inside…

“There are some tracks that are left over from Storm, stuff that we couldn’t finish up in time for that album," says Hansen. "So, there will be some of that stuff on the new album, but having said that, it’s not really in the Storm style. All in all I’d say it sounds a lot more diverse. It’s also slower and a more atmospheric in a way. There’s more piano, which is soft and fragile, but there’s some pretty heavy stuff as well, at least as far as Theatre Of Tragedy goes (laughs). There’s not going to be any growling vocals, though; I’m pretty sure about that. I don’t think anybody could drag Raymond into the studio to do growling vocals anymore. It would have to be a million euro contract for him to do that (laughs).”

And yes, there are changes afoot yet again.

“We’ve actually gone back to the way we used to write music which we haven’t done since Velvet Darkness,” Hansen reveals. “We’ve always experimented with ways of writing songs. We’ve been through the whole mp3 thing sending files to each other and piecing songs together on the computer, and that’s always ended with a lot of frustration. So we decided that if we’re going to do a new record, screw it, we get together four or five times over the next year and jam out the songs, sit down and explore the ideas as a unit. That’s what we did this time, writing and arranging in the rehearsal room for the most part. It’s more of a back to basics kind of thing.”

Go to this location for the complete story.

'Storm' (vocals - Nell Sigland)

'Der Tanz Der Schatten' (live) (vocals - Liv Kristine)