Lacrimosa (band)
Lacrimosa are a gothic duo led by German Tilo Wolff, the main composer, and Finn Anne Nurmi. They are currently based in Switzerland, but originally from Germany. Originally counted among the bands of the Neue Deutsche Todeskunst genre, Lacrimosa have developed their style more towards powerful metal, but gothic elements still remain.[1]
Lacrimosa | |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Frankfurt am Main, Germany |
| Genres | Gothic rock (early) Darkwave (early) Neue Deutsche Todeskunst (early) Gothic metal (later) Symphonic metal (later) |
| Years active | 1990–present |
| Labels | Hall of Sermon |
| Associated acts | Snakeskin |
| Website | www.lacrimosa.com |
| Members | Tilo Wolff Anne Nurmi |
Their current musical style mixes gothic rock and heavy metal, along with violin, trumpet, and more classical instruments, although their musical development throughout the years has also led to changes in instrumentation. Lacrimosa's lyrics are written almost exclusively in German, although since the 1995 album Inferno every album has featured one or two songs in English, generally written by Anne Nurmi. Finnish has also appeared in the spoken intro to two songs ("Schakal" on Inferno and "The Turning Point" on Elodia) and on a bonus track in a limited edition release of Fassade called Vankina. Their lyrics are mainly about loneliness, sadness, darkness, despair, and love.
The band has sold more than 20,000 copies of each album in Germany, but has also gained a large fanbase in Russia, Mexico, and China.[1]
Brief timeline
- 1990: Tilo Wolff releases a tape called Clamor using the band name of Lacrimosa.
- 1991: Tilo Wolff founds a new record company called Hall of Sermon, as an independent label to publish Lacrimosa's records.
- 1993: Anne Nurmi joins the solo project to play keyboard, becoming a permanent member soon after.
Musical and thematic development
Lacrimosa's first album, Angst, is a very gloomy piece of slow, rather minimal music, dominated by keyboards and a depressed, sometimes frantic and insane, voice. In this early period, the themes explored through lyrics and music are of a very bleak nature, such as fear; helplessness; loneliness; the non-existence, unattainability or illusionary nature of love; and death. The same thematic preoccupations can be found on the next three albums, Einsamkeit, Satura and Inferno, but now and then a more positive note begins to sound in the dismal tapestry. Musically, this period is characterised by the introduction of electric guitars and basses, with more and more rock elements being added to the slow, keyboard-based music of the earliest album.
With Stille, Lacrimosa releases an album that might easily be classified as 'metal', a style which they'll keep using for their own purposes from then on. Heavy guitars supplemented by more bombastic arrangements for classical instruments have come to dominate the music, showing a close affinity to symphonic metal. Thematically, the emphasis on the darker side of human emotions is lowered if not abandoned, with Stille featuring several uplifting songs. "Stolzes Herz" ("Proud heart") and "Die Strasse der Zeit" ("The Lane of Time") especially sing the praise of individual and cultural strength respectively. "Die Strasse der Zeit" describes a journey backwards through a history ravaged by war, greed and stupidity, until the protagonist finds solace in the youthful hope and strength of ancient Greek culture - an image which reminds one more of Nietzsche than of the depressed songs on Angst.
The next album, Elodia, reduces the role of metal-style guitars and increases that of symphonic, classical arrangements, this time recorded in part by the London Symphony Orchestra. Presented as a play in three parts, Elodia revolves around the theme of love.[2] The gothic element is still present, though, and the themes of loss and death feature prominently in the latter half of the 'play', which nevertheless ends with an affirmation of hope.
The musical style of Elodia is still evident on the 2001 album Fassade, which features a wide variety of musical visions, from the harsh metal sound of "Liebesspiel" ("Love Game") to gently flowing keyboards of "Senses", to the symphonic interplay between guitars and orchestra on the title song "Fassade". This latter composition, a piece in three movements which are arranged on the album as tracks 1, 5 and 8, also constitutes a new thematic excursion of Lacrimosa as they move from the personal emotions they normally explore to a critique of modern society.[3][4] It ends, however, with the affirmation of individuality and the protagonist's retreat from society.
Echos bears witness to a further musical development, as guitars and other rock elements take centre stage less and less often, whereas classical instruments feature more prominently. The orchestral arrangements move away from the standard symphonic arrangements which are often found in contemporary metal music, as is clearly shown by the album's first track, the long orchestral "Kyrie - Overture". The music on Echos also shows an influence from electronic and industrial music, as is especially obvious in the song "Ein Hauch von Menschlichkeit" ("A Touch of Humanity"). Overall, this album is more personal, more 'classical' and more quiet than those that came before it. Thematically, there is less change as Lacrimosa continues to explore love and its associated emotions with gothic twists.[5]
Lacrimosa's ninth album, Lichtgestalt, largely retains the classical orientation of Echos, but rock elements begin to resurface.[6] In particular the first track, Sapphire, begins as a slow, mostly classical song but around halfway through moves into a far more metal-sounding section; the pace of the song increases, a heavy guitar backing takes over and Wolff switches from singing into a rasping, high-pitched death grunt for a few minutes. The segment is a significant change of direction for Lacrimosa; this vocal style had not been seen in Lacrimosa songs since Copycat on the 1995 album Inferno, recorded ten years before. The remaining songs display a similar mix of styles to previous albums, with some upbeat songs, a song written and sung in English mainly by Anne Nurmi (though Wolff duets with her on this track) and some slower-paced, more depressing pieces.
In 2005, a new EP, "Lichtgestalten" is released, that brings a new electronic version of the song "Lichtgestalt", produced by Tilo in the scope of his solo project, Snakeskin.
In 2006, a DVD Musikkurzfilme is released, which contains all the video clips that Lacrimosa shot throughout its career including the video for the "Lichtgestalt" song.
Sehnsucht, the latest album is released in 2009. Singer and producer Tilo Wolff wanted to create an album that was less conceptual and more spontaneous than the previous releases by Lacrimosa and so Sehnsucht features a great variability of musical expressions like a sarcastic track "Feuer" and a smooth song "Call Me With The Voice Of Love".[7]
The main musical development of Lacrimosa might be summarised as follows: starting from the minimal, slow, keyboard driven style of Angst, guitars and other metal influences came to play a more and more prominent role, until they reached a peak on Stille. From then on, the emphasis has shifted from guitars and metal to symphonic and classical writing, which is clearly shown in Fassade. Finally, Echos takes a turn towards the personal and away from the symphonic and heavy aspects of the previous albums, achieving a quite unique mixture of musical elements which is hard to classify. The pace of Lacrimosa's development is slow enough that each album is recognisably linked to its predecessor and successor, yet fast enough that for instance Angst, Stille and Echoes might well have been written by completely different bands.
In 2008 the Lacrimosa-run Hall of Sermon label reclaimed the rights on all the band's Nuclear Blast releases.[8] Unavailable for quite some time, two albums and two singles will be re-released. In March 2008 Lacrimosa started working on their next studio album entitled "Sehnsucht", which was released on 8 May 2009.
An eleventh studio album was released in September 2012,[9] and it was called Revolution.[10] The first song of this release was written in 2009 while touring in China. Upon returning to his studio, Tilo Wolff began recording, exemplifying his process of recording music in the moment in which it is written.[11]
Discography
All albums and DVDs were published by Tilo Wolff's own label, Hall of Sermon.
Albums
| Year | Title | Peak positions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GER [12] |
AUT [13] |
MEX | POL | SWI [14] | ||
| 1991 | Angst | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1992 | Einsamkeit | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1993 | Satura | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1995 | Inferno | 81 | – | – | – | – |
| 1997 | Stille | 64 | – | – | – | – |
| 1999 | Elodia | 12 | – | – | – | – |
| 2001 | Fassade | 20 | – | – | 31[15] | – |
| 2003 | Echos | 13 | – | – | – | – |
| 2005 | Lichtgestalt | 30 | – | – | 21[16] | – |
| 2009 | Sehnsucht | 35 | 68 | 49[17] | – | 82 |
| 2012 | Revolution | 35 | – | – | – | – |
| 2015 | Hoffnung | 28 | – | – | – | – |
| 2017 | Testimonium[18] | 32 | – | – | – | – |
Live albums
| Year | Title | Peak positions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| GER[12] | MEX | ||
| 1998 | Live (2 CD) | – | – |
| 2007 | Lichtjahre (2 CD) | 70 | 64[19] |
| 2014 | Live In Mexico City (2 CD) | 58 | – |
Compilation albums
| Year | Title | Peak positions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| GER[12] | MEX | ||
| 2002 | Vintage Classix (7 LPs) | – | |
| 2010 | Schattenspiel | 51 | 51[20] |
| 2019 | Zeitreise | ||
Singles
| Year | Title | Album | Peak positions |
|---|---|---|---|
| GER[21] | |||
| 1994 | "Schakal" (Jackal) | Inferno | – |
| 1996 | "Stolzes Herz" (Proud Heart) | Stille | - |
| 1999 | "Alleine zu zweit" (Together Alone) | Elodia | 52 |
| 2001 | "Der Morgen danach" (The Morning After) | Fassade | 50 |
| 2002 | "Durch Nacht und Flut" (Through Night and Flood) | Echos | 52 |
| 2002 | "Durch Nacht und Flut" (Special Edition) (Through Night and Flood) | Echos | 52 |
| 2005 | "The Party is Over" | Lichtgestalt | – |
| 2009 | "I Lost my Star" | Sehnsucht | – |
| 2009 | "Feuer" (Fire) | Sehnsucht | – |
| 2009 | "Mandira Nabula" | Sehnsucht | – |
Demos and extended plays
| Year | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | "Clamor" | 2-track demo tape |
| 1993 | Alles Lüge ("All Lies") | EP |
| 2005 | Lichtgestalten ("Luminous Beings") | EP |
| 2010 | "Sellador" | Club promo |
| 2010 | "Untitled" | Club promo |
| 2013 | Morning Glory | EP |
| 2013 | Heute Nacht ("Tonight") | EP |
Videography
VHS
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 1995 | The Clips 1993-1995 |
| 1997 | The Silent Clips |
DVD
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 2000 | The Live History |
| 2005 | Musikkurzfilme (Short Music Films) |
| 2007 | Lichtjahre (Lightyears) |
| 2015 | Live in Mexico City |
References
- Hartmann, Andreas (10 August 2007). "Ach, diese Tieftraurigkeit". Die Tageszeitung (in German).
- Grundei, Daniela (11 October 2005). "Lacrimosa – Elodia". Terrorverlag (in German). Terrorverlag GbR Musik Magazin. Retrieved 21 November 2011.
- Wolanski, Coreen (2002). "Lacrimosa Fassade". Exclaim!. No. 2. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
- Abresche, Thomas (2001). "Lacrimosa – Fassade". Sonic Seducer (in German). No. 10. Archived from the original on 5 April 2012.
- Abresche, Thomas (2003). "Lacrimosa – Echos". Sonic Seducer (in German). No. 2. Archived from the original on 5 April 2012.
- Lattekamp, Hendrik (2005). "Lacrimosa – Lichtgestalt". Sonic Seducer (in German). No. 5. Archived from the original on October 4, 2013.
- Schwarz, Jan (2009). "Lacrimosa – Sehnsucht". Sonic Seducer (in German). No. 5. Archived from the original on 12 January 2014.
- "Lacrimosa albums re-released". Side-Line. 1 February 2008.
- Heymann, Peter (2012). "Lacrimosa: Flexibilität" [Lacrimosa: Flexibility]. Sonic Seducer. Vol. 19 no. 7/8. Thomas Vogel Media. pp. 14–15.
- "Lacrimosa - The official website: "Revolution" - the new artwork". Retrieved 22 August 2011.
- Spiegel, Jase (15 December 2012). "Interview: Lacrimosa". RockRevolt Magazine™.
- "Lacrimosa – Longplay-Chartverfolgung". Musicline.de (in German). Phononet. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
- "Lacrimosa in der österreichischen Hitparade". austriancharts.at (in German). Hung Medien. Archived from the original on 19 June 2014. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
- "Lacrimosa in Swiss Charts". hitparade.ch. Hung Medien. Archived from the original on 28 October 2014. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
- "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży - Official Retail Sales Chart". OLiS (in Polish). 22 October 2001. Retrieved 21 November 2011.
- "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży - Official Retail Sales Chart". OLiS (in Polish). 23 May 2005. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
- "Lacrimosa - Sehnsucht". aCharts.us. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
- The new Album: TESTIMONIUM
- "Lacrimosa - Lichtjahre". aCharts.us. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
- "Lacrimosa - Schattenspiel". aCharts.us. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
- "Lacrimosa – Single-Chartverfolgung". Musicline.de (in German). Phononet. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lacrimosa. |
- Lacrimosa
- Snakeskin, a side project of Tilo Wolff
- Interview with Tilo Wolff "Emotional Concept" June 4, 2010
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