Lacrimosa

Lacrimosa is a duo led by German Tilo Wolff, the

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 the 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 most popular theme in musical history, love. 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. 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.

Lacrimosa's ninth album, Lichtgestalt, largely retains the classical orientation of Echos, but rock elements begin to resurface. 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 depressive 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 "Lichtgestalt" song.

The
In 2008 the Lacrimosa-run Hall of Sermon label reclaimed the rights on all the band's Nuclear Blast releases. 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 May 8, 2009.

Discography

All albums and DVDs were published by Tilo Wolff's own label, Hall of Sermon.

Albums

Angst - 1991
Einsamkeit - 1992
Satura - 1993
Inferno - 1995
Stille - 1997
Elodia - 1999
Fassade - 2001
Echos - 2003
Lichtgestalt - 2005
Sehnsucht - 2009

Live albums

Live (2 CD) - 1998
Lichtjahre (2 CD) - 2007

Compilation albums

Vintage Classix (7 LPs) - 2002

Demo

Clamor (two track demo tape; Different version "Seele In Not" from Angst Album (1990) & "Requiem" unreleased track) - 1990

Singles

Alles Lüge CDS (All Lies) - 1993
Schakal CDS (Jackal) - 1994
Stolzes Herz CDS (Proud Heart) - 1996
Alleine zu zweit CDS (Together Alone) - 1999
Der Morgen danach CDS (The Morning After) - 2001
Durch Nacht und Flut CDS (Through Night and Flood) - 2002
Lichtgestalten EP (Luminous beings) - 2005
Feuer (Fire) - 2009
I Lost My Star CDS - 2009

Featurings

Compilation; Album: Aural Conception - 1993

Gimme Something to Believe in

Artist: Christian Dörge; Album: Lycia - 1993

Mystische Rosenmadonna
Der Satyr
Weltschmerz
Kriegsvögel

Band: Illuminate (band); Album: Verfall - 1995

Love Never Dies

Band: Theatre of Tragedy; Album: Velvet Darkness They Fear - 1996

Der Tanz der Schatten (Tilo Wolff was one of the correctors of the translation from the original English version of the song "As the Shadows Dance" released previously by Theatre of Tragedy)

Band: Atrocity; Album: Non Plus Ultra - 1999

Siehst du Mich im Licht?

Band: Kreator; Album: Endorama - 1999

Endorama

Band: Dreams of Sanity; Album: Masquerade - 1999

The Phantom of the Opera (Tilo Wolff as 'The Phantom')

Compilation; Album: 10 Years of Zillo (1989 - 1999 Jubiläums Compilation) - 1999

Alleine zu zweit (Sollemnis Mix)

Band: Joachim Witt; Album: Bayreuth 3 - 2006

Videography

VHS

The Clips 1993-1995 - 1995
Silent Clips - 1997

DVD

The Live History - 2000
Musikkurzfilme (Short Music Films) - 2005
Lichtjahre - 2007

Signed Music Artists

Brief timeline

Musical and thematic development