This came out in 2001 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Liv Kristine Espenaes has the sort of silken, icy-cool purr that’s perfect for cooing pristine pop or chilly trip-hop. Thing is, she’s in Theatre of Tragedy, a melodramatic goth-metal coven from the frozen shores of Norway.
Liv’s dulcet tones make a strange (and strangely alluring) match with the gritty, snotty aggression of co-vocalist Raymond I. Rohonniy — they’re a classic Beauty & The Beast duo. Fittingly, their music is an equally hybridized affair, merging metallic guitars, electronic squeaks and squiggles and moody Euro-metal pomp and circumstance. If Trent Reznor and Marilyn Manson moved to Berlin and started a hair-metal band, this is kind of what it would sound like. And believe it or not, I mean that as a compliment.
