This album defines the term Gothic Metal. Theatre Of Tragedy weren't the first to tread on this path, but with this album they gather and cement all the ingridients that make up this genre. Slow doomy riffs, lighter classical instrumentation, highly poetic lyrics in Old English telling the tale of tragic love, theatrical approach to the "Beast & the Beauty" vocals - it's all there.
This album gives me goosebumps every time I listen to it. The highlight tracks for me are "Fair & 'Guilding Copesmate Death" and "And When He Falleth". The latter contains rather fitting spoken lines from a film called 'The Masque of the Red Death'.
A special mention has to go to the female vocalist on this album, Liv Kristine. She has one of the sweetest and most angelic voices in rock/metal, and her contribution on this album is essential to the atmosphere and the feeling it instills.
