In March 2010, Norwegian doom goth metallers Theatre Of Tragedy issued a statement that they would be splitting up on October 2nd, 2010 citing desires to spend time with family and not being able to keep up with the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle. Their farewell DVD, Last Curtain Call, was released to commemorate their very last show in their hometown Stavanger.

Five years later, rumours that the band plan to reunite are building. BraveWords scribe Carl Begai spoke with Theatre Of Tragedy members Loretz Aspen (keyboards) and Hein Frode Hansen (drums), who made it clear a reunion is not in the works.

Lorentz: "Well, there's a very big chance that there will NOT be a reunion, but the Liv and Raymond show might be something coming to any town near you in the future. Any talks have been over a larger quantity of brewski, and how that caught fire I'm not sure."

Hein: "Sadly, a reunion is as likely as a Doors reunion with the original lineup.  No one has been approached or not approached."

Check out the Last Curtain Call DVD below:

Original Theatre Of Tragedy vocalist Liv Kristine (Leaves' Eyes) recently checkd in with the following update:

"Good news - here's my setlist for my upcoming solo shows. Raymond from Theatre of Tragedy will be my special guest for the original Theatre of Tragedy duets. Get ready for a unique live experience! This is the first time we will share stage since 2002. Here are the already confirmed dates for my special shows in December. Stay tuned for further dates!"

Confirmed dates featuring Liv Kristine and Raymond are as follows:

December
10 - Yaroslavl, Russia - Gorka Club
11 - St. Petersburg, Russia - Phoenix club
12 - Moscow, Russia - Volta Club
13 - Samara, Russia - Zvezda
18 - Nagold, Germany - Alte Seminarturnhalle

More dates will be announced soon.

The confirmed setlist for the above shows is as follows:

"Commute"
"Image" 
"Siren" 
"Venus" 
"Vervain" 
"My Wilderness" 
"Panic" 
"A Hamlet For a Slothful Vassal" 
"Der Tanz der Schatten" 
"Black As The Devil Painteth"
"On Whom The Moon Doth Shine"
"Machine"
"Silence" 
"Oblivious" 
"Stronghold of Angels"

July 4th, 2015 marked the 20th Anniversary of Theatre Of Tragedy's self-titled debut, released through Massacre Records. The band - repsonsible for launching the career of Leaves' Eyes vocalist Liv Kristine - has been credited with pioneering the "beauty and the beast" sound that so many acts have adopted over the past two decades. Theatre Of Tragedy officially called it quits in October 2010.

It was announced in February 2012 that Theatre Of Tragedy 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, July 5th was the official release date for all three albums in digipack CD and double vinyl LP formats.

The re-releases feature rare bonus material, new liner notes penned by BraveWords scribe Carl Begai including comments from the band members.An excerpt from the liner notes for the re-issued debut is available below:

The journey started with a simple demo tape, which received favourable reactions first in Theatre of Tragedy’s hometown of Stavanger, Norway and then from the international metal press. From there everything snowballed, and the rest is history.

“Most of us were so young and inexperienced at the time, so we didn’t really have the fear of being ridiculed, nor the ambitions to make it big,” says drummer Hein Frode Hansen. “We were just a bunch of kids wanting to make a hybrid of our different musical influences at the time. Individually, we were mediocre musicians at best, but together we were something fresh and new.”

“We all came from different backgrounds and that what made it so special,” continues guitarist Tommy Lindal. “We simply put some elements of all the members together and it sounded really cool; metal with piano and soprano vocals. My impression at the time was that we didn’t worry too much about if the people liked it or not, as long we enjoyed it ourselves.”

The debut album seemed to be a risky affair on many levels. The Theatre was more than a bit daring when one considers there was nothing heavy or metal about ‘…a Distance there is…’ , a track featuring piano, cello, Liv’s vocals, and the sound of falling rain. The song has since become the cornerstone of the debut for many diehard Theatre of Tragedy fans. Tommy remembers working on the track:

“…’a Distance there is…’ is a song that I think everybody in the band has a different relationship to. We were in Sweden at Dan Swanö´s studio, spending our Christmas alone in Sweden recording the debut. Lorentz and Liv had some ideas and ended up recording the song. The cello was Dan Swanö’s brilliant idea; he called a friend to drop by the studio and record some cello parts. It took some hours and the result was amazing. We were all was excited about it and decided to put it on the record.”

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