Band:	Theatres Des Vampires
Album:	Moonlight Waltz
Style:	Gothic metal
Release date:	January 14, 2011
Guest review by:	AnGina--

Disc I
01. Keeper Of Secrets
02. Fly Away
03. Moonlight Waltz
04. Carmilla
05. Sangue
06. Figlio Della Luna [Mecano cover]
07. Black Madonna
08. Illusion
09. Le Grand Guignol
10. Obsession
11. The Gates Of Hades
12. Medousa
13. Carmilla [radio edit] [bonus]

Disc II [Bonus DVD]
01. Carmilla
02. The Making Of
03. The Drummer Solo
04. Backstage
05. Photo Gallery

Theatres Des Vampires have always been a band that intrigued me in so many ways, even though they never took my breath away with any of their releases. After parting ways with front man Lord Vampyr the band put their formerly back-up vocalist and later on co-vocalist Sonya Scarlet as the main face of the band and started a new era in their music, ditching the black metal elements they tended to incorporate in their music, ready for a new start.

I'm pretty much confident to say Moonlight Waltz is the best thing Theatres Des Vampires has done ever since Suicide Vampire and since Vampyr left the band. This album is a proof the band has matured musically, as if they have a more focused idea of what their music should sound like, what ambiance to draw with their music, and what story to tell with it. Originality, production or songwriting may have never been the band's best features, but somehow their image and passion to give us this horror themed music full of vampirism and mythological themes surpasses their abilities of composition. The music on Moonlight Waltz is still pretty simplistic and melodic, very saturated with keyboards that definitely give their music that special touch of obscurity, sometimes with the sound of church organs and sometimes as a gentle piano tune. The music is nicely spiced up with Sonya Scarlet's vocals that have improved over the years, but still I wouldn't call her vocals amazing as much as wicked and twisted, which really works great with the music. The choir blends in with the music perfectly and is again a good addition to the mystical and dark ambiance of the music.

''Keeper of Secrets'' is the opening track featuring Snowy Shaw on additional vocals, and it's followed by ''Carmilla'' is the gothic tale of a vampire princess. My personal favourite, ''Medousa'', is the track that impressed me the most because it is so wonderfully dark, wicked and horror-like. After the previous Anima Noir, that was a bit too industrialised and hectic for my taste, Moonlight Waltz represents its very refreshing successor, which is all in all a solid, focused and sharp album.