It was announced back in February 2012 that Norway's THEATRE OF TRAGEDY, who spawned the career of LEAVES' EYES vocalist Liv Kristine and officially called it quits in October 2010, were working on remastered re-issues of their first three albums: the self-titled debut, Velvet Darkness They Fear, and Aegis. Initially meant to be released in late 2012, Massacre Records have announced July 5th as the official release date for all three albums in digipack CD and double vinyl LP formats.

The re-releases are now available for pre-order via the links below (free postage worldwide):

Theatre Of Tragedy

- Digipak CD
- Gatefold LP

Velvet Darkness They Fear

- Digipak CD
- Gatefold LP

Aegis

- Digipak CD
- Gatefold LP

The re-releases feature rare bonus material, new liner notes penned by BW&BK;'s Carl Begai including comments from the band members.

An excerpt from the liner notes for the Velvet Darkness They Fear reissue is available below:

Released in August 1996, Velvet Darkness They Fear is regarded as Theatre of Tragedy’s breakthrough album due to the popularity of the single ‘Der Tanz der Schatten’. It was unthinkable that a proclaimed doom-goth metal band could achieve commercial success on any level, yet they did just that. The Theatre’s German fans in particular embraced the song, leading to rumblings in the background that ‘Der Tanz der Schatten’ was a calculated attempt to cash in on a fanbase that had made itself known when the band’s debut hit the shelves the year before. This wasn’t the case according to drummer Hein Frode Hansen:

“Me and Raymond (Rohonyi/growls) were really into a lot of German darkwave bands like Das Ich, Lacrimosa, Goethes Erben and such at the time, and Raymond really wanted to do a song in German. A few of the other members were really against the idea and thought it would do more harm than good, and that nothing good would come out of it. Little did they know. The single hit both the metal crowd as well as the ‘grufties’ (goths) and became a huge club hit. What’s even stranger is when Brazilian bands cover a Norwegian band that sings in German (laughs).”

Vocalist Liv Kristine elaborates: “Both Raymond and myself chose German to be our third language at Gymnasium and we were hooked on the language. That was two years before we went on tour, but we wanted to write a song in German so we asked Tilo Wolf from Lacrimosa to help us with the lyrics. The version Raymond and I came up with wasn’t nearly as good as what Tilo wrote, but it was a good try and the song turned out really well. And one month after we’d recorded ‘Der Tanz der Schatten’, Ray and me both started studying German in university at home in Stavanger.”

Click here for more.

Theatre Of Tragedy released their Last Curtain Call DVD/CD set and two-CD on May 20th, 2011. It features 18 tracks spanning the band's entire career. Full length clips of the songs 'Image' and 'Machine' are now available for viewing below.

The concert film has a running time of 94 minutes and includes a half hour On The Road movie from the last tour of the band, footage from the last ever rehearsal 01.10.10 (with fans attending) as well as in-depth interviews with all band members shot in January 2011. The concert film features both stereo and 5.1 surround sound. Audio was mixed by Alex Møklebust and mastered by Chris Sansom at Propeller Mastering. In addition there is a live CD included with the band's pick of their live favorites.

The tracklist for the DVD is as follows:

'Hide And Seek'

'Bring Forth ye Shadow'

'Lorelei'

'Frozen'

'Ashes and Dreams'

'A Rose for the Dead'

'Fragment'

'And when He Falleth'

'Venus'

'Hollow'

'Storm'

'Image'

'Cassandra'

'A Hamlet for a Slothful Vassal'

'Fade'

'Machine'

'Der Tanz der Schatten'

'Forever Is The World'

The tracklist for the double-CD is as follows:

CD 1:

'Hide And Seek'

'Bring Forth Ye Shadow'

'Frozen'

'Ashes And Dreams'

'A Rose For The Dead'

'Fragment'

'And When He Falleth And Venus'

CD 2:

'Hollow'

'Storm, Image'

'A Hamlet For A Slothful Vassal'

'Fade'

'Machine'

'Der Tanz Der Schatten And Forever Is The World'

For more info visit Theatreoftragedy.com. A DVD teaser is available below: