Lacrimosa
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Lacrimosa is a section of the Requiem mass. The music of the Lacrimosa were the last notes Mozart ever set to paper.
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Lacrimosa is a Swiss Gothic rock band led by Tilo Wolff, the main composer, and Anne Nurmi. Their musical style mixes heavy metal sounds 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 their more recent albums feature one or two English and Finnish songs as well. Their lyrics are mainly about loneliness, sadness, darkness, despair and love.
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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.
- 1994: 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 gothic metal of bands like Therion and Within Temptation. 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.
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.
Discography
- Angst (Fear) - 1991
- Einsamkeit (Loneliness)- 1992
- Alles Lüge EP (All Lies)- 1993
- Satura - 1993
- Schakal EP (Jackal) - 1994
- Inferno (Inferno) - 1995
- Stolzes Herz EP (Proud Heart)- 1996
- Stille (Silence) - 1997
- Live - 1998
- Alleine zu zweit EP (Alone, in pairs)- 1999
- Elodia - 1999
- Der Morgen danach EP (The Morning Thereafter) - 2001
- Fassade (Facade) - 2001
- Vintage Classix LPs - 2002
- Durch Nacht und Flut EP (Through Night and Flood) - 2002
- Echos (Echoes) - 2003
- Lichtgestalt (Luminous Figure)(2005)
All albums were published by Tilo Wolff's own label, Hall of Sermon.
External links
- Official web page (http://www.lacrimosa.com)de:Lacrimosa