Theatres Des Vampires are a bona fide legendary Italian legend; stalwarts of that country’s Gothic scene since the last days of the twentieth century, the band has morphed through a myriad of styles and moods over the years, but vocalist Sonia Scarlet has remained the dark heart of the project whatever flavour the project’s music represents at any given time.

In 2021, the sound is full-blown Gothic symphonic rock/metal, with all of the kitchen-sink connotations that label might suggest. Industrial glitches scatter the landscape, adding a taught tension to the more florid staples of baroque keyboardery as required, whilst the guitars of Flavio Gianello add just the right amount of stentorian backbone to counterpoint Scarlet’s more delicate vocal stylings.

Endless Darkness is charming in the best tradition of Tim Burton ‘charm’; Whimsical tales of throat-slitting vampyric excess abound, with the band walking the tightrope between horrorful bombast and musical panache with the true feel of the adept. If there was any justice (or, perhaps more pertinently, if we were still living in 1998), Christina would be a massive ‘hit single’, even if the band don’t care for such mainstream adulation. The bottom line is it deserve the biggest audience possible for it’s stomping, black-nailed brilliance.

The title track is a tour de force, too, laying the grandeur on thick n’heavy, like the panstick on the face of a doomed Victorian actress; Fabien Varesi‘s keys lay a suspenseful backdrop as the band ramp up the drama almost imperceptibly before the song explodes into a glorious, choir-assisted chorus. Gabriel Valerio‘s skittering drums add to the appeal, and the whole thing will have you wrapped around it’s little finger if you’ve got even a drop of Gothic blood running through your veins…

In Nomine Sanguinis probably won’t convert too many non-believers to the cause, because it’s too happy to stay within the Gothic lanes without a thought for reaching outside it’s strictly-observed parameters. But for everyone who does consider themselves a creature of the night, tracks like Golden Cage make for a really splendid, riotous listening experience. If you do happen to count yourself amongst that number, enjoy!

In Nomine Sanguinis is out now.