The Vision Bleak is a German

gothic metal Gothic metal (or goth metal) is a fusion genre combining the aggression of heavy metal with the dark atmospheres of gothic rock. The music of gothic metal is diverse with bands known to adopt the gothic approach to different styles of heavy met ...

duo comprising Ulf Theodor Schwadorf (famous for his work with

Empyrium Empyrium is a German symphonic folk/ doom metal and (later) neofolk/ dark folk band. History Empyrium was founded in 1994 by Markus Stock (mostly using the pseudonym Ulf Theodor Schwadorf) and Andreas Bach, but later many other musicians pa ...

and Noekk) and Allen B. Konstanz. The group's lyrics are noted for their horror themes and heavily allude to works of classic writers/filmmakers of the genre, such as H. P. Lovecraft,

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wide ...

George A. Romero George Andrew Romero (; February 4, 1940 – July 16, 2017) was an American-Canadian filmmaker, writer, editor and actor. His ''Night of the Living Dead'' series of films about an imagined zombie apocalypse began with the 1968 film of the ...

and

John Carpenter John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American filmmaker, actor, and composer. Although he worked in various film genres, he is most commonly associated with horror, action, and science fiction films of the 1970s and 1980s. He ...

, among others. They self-describe their musical style, which mixes gothic metal,

doom metal Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other heavy metal genres.K. Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' ...

symphonic metal Symphonic metal is a cross-generic style designation for the symphonic subsets of heavy metal music subgenres. It is used to denote any metal band that makes use of symphonic or orchestral elements. The style features the heavy drums and guitar ...

and

horror punk Horror punk is a music genre that mixes punk rock and 1950s-influenced doo-wop and rockabilly sounds with morbid and violent imagery and lyrics which are often influenced by horror films and science fiction B-movies. The genre was pioneered by ...

aesthetics, as "horror metal".

History

The Vision Bleak was formed in 2000, in the

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

n city of

Mellrichstadt Mellrichstadt is a town in the district Rhön-Grabfeld, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated 17 km southwest of Meiningen, and 13 km northeast of Bad Neustadt Bad Neustadt an der Saale, officially Bad Neustadt a. d. Saale and often simp ...

, by Markus Stock (a.k.a. Ulf Theodor Schwadorf) and Tobias Schönemann (a.k.a. Allen B. Konstanz). Their first release was the independent extended play '' Songs of Good Taste'', which came out in 2001 and contained, among other tracks, a cover of

The Moody Blues The Moody Blues were an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1964, initially consisting of keyboardist Mike Pinder, multi-instrumentalist Ray Thomas, guitarist Denny Laine, drummer Graeme Edge and bassist Clint Warwick. The group came to ...

' "

Nights in White Satin "Nights in White Satin" is a song by the Moody Blues, written and composed by Justin Hayward. It was first featured as the segment "The Night" on the album ''Days of Future Passed''. When first released as a single in 1967, it reached number 19 ...

". The EP caught the attention of

Prophecy Productions Prophecy Productions is an international record label, founded in Germany by Martin Koller in 1996. It proclaims promoting "transcendental ..captivating music".

, who approached them to record their first full-length, ''

The Deathship Has a New Captain ''The Deathship Has a New Captain'' (subtitled ''9 Songs of Death, Doom and Horror'') is the debut studio album by German gothic metal band The Vision Bleak, released on 23 February 2004 through Prophecy Productions. The album counts with a guest a ...

'', on 23 February 2004; counting with a guest appearance by

Dark Sanctuary Dark Sanctuary is a French neoclassical darkwave, gothic metal band that was formed in Paris in 1996. History The band's first official release was a 20-minute single-track music CD, ''Funeral Cry'', released in 1997. At that time, the band con ...

vocalist Dame Pandora, it would be their first of many releases under the Prophecy label. A teaser EP containing two tracks which would eventually appear on the album was released the year prior. In 2005 the band released "Carpathia", a promotional single for their then-upcoming second full-length, '' Carpathia: A Dramatic Poem'', which came out on 29 August 2005. On 31 August 2007, the band released their third studio album, ''

The Wolves Go Hunt Their Prey ''The Wolves Go Hunt Their Prey'' is the third studio album by German gothic metal band The Vision Bleak, released on 31 August 2007 through Prophecy Productions. Track listing Trivia * Tracks 1 to 2 reference the famous case of the Indian fera ...

'' – it is a loose

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

whose first part is based on the story of the Indian feral girls Amala and Kamala, and its second part is mostly composed of the "Black Pharaoh Trilogy", a series of three songs based on H. P. Lovecraft's short story "

The Haunter of the Dark "The Haunter of the Dark" is a horror short story by American author H. P. Lovecraft, written between 5–9 November 1935 and published in the December 1936 edition of ''Weird Tales'' (Vol. 28, No. 5, p. 538–53). It was the last written ...

". A promo EP which served as a teaser for the album, '' Club Single'', was released the month prior. The band's fourth album, ''

Set Sail to Mystery ''Set Sail to Mystery'' is the fourth studio album by German gothic metal band The Vision Bleak, released on 2 April 2010 through Prophecy Productions. A digipak edition containing seven bonus tracks was also released. It counted with a guest app ...

'', came out on 2 April 2010; it would be their first album (and so far only) to not feature a teaser released before it. It is a concept album loosely based on the writings of Romantic poets such as

Heinrich Heine Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was a German poet, writer and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of '' Lied ...

and

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...

(its opening track, "A Curse of the Grandest Kind", takes its lyrics from an excerpt of Byron's 1817 dramatic poem ''

Manfred ''Manfred: A dramatic poem'' is a closet drama written in 1816–1817 by Lord Byron. It contains supernatural elements, in keeping with the popularity of the ghost story in England at the time. It is a typical example of a Gothic fiction. Byr ...

'', while "Descend into Maelstrom" references in its lyrics and title Poe's short story "

A Descent into the Maelström "A Descent into the Maelström" is an 1841 short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. In the tale, a man recounts how he survived a shipwreck and a whirlpool. It has been grouped with Poe's tales of ratiocination and also labeled an early f ...

"), and also of H. P. Lovecraft and

Clark Ashton Smith Clark Ashton Smith (January 13, 1893 – August 14, 1961) was an American writer and artist. He achieved early local recognition, largely through the enthusiasm of George Sterling, for traditional verse in the vein of Algernon Charles Swinburne ...

Niklas Kvarforth Niklas Olsson (born 7 December 1983), better known as Niklas Kvarforth, is a Swedish singer and songwriter. He is the founder, composer, and vocalist of the black metal band Shining. Background As a multi-instrumentalist musician, Kvarforth star ...

of Shining was a guest musician on the album. The band's fifth album, ''

Witching Hour In folklore, the witching hour or devil's hour is a time of night that is associated with supernatural events, whereby witches, demons and ghosts are thought to appear and be at their most powerful. Definitions vary, and include the hour imm ...

'', came out on 27 September 2013. A

stop motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for the track "The Wood Hag", directed and animated by

Fursy Teyssier Fursy Teyssier (born 22 September 1985) is a French songwriter, singer, multi-instrumentalist musician, album cover artist and animated film director. He is most known for being the creator, leader, guitarist, bass guitarist and lead vocalist of sh ...

, was uploaded on Prophecy's official

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

channel as a teaser on 4 September. On 31 October 2015, The Vision Bleak announced that they would begin a tour around Europe, accompanied by

John Haughm John Haughm (born September 14, 1975) is a musician and artist from the United States. He is most known for being the founder, guitarist, and vocalist of the band Agalloch, and later Pillorian. He is also a designer who has created packaging and ...

Agalloch Agalloch () was an American extreme metal band from Portland, Oregon. Formed in 1995 by frontman John Haughm, they released five full-length albums, four EPs, two singles, one split single, two demos, four compilation albums and one live video ...

and

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

death-doom Death-doom is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It combines the slow tempos and pessimistic or depressive mood of doom metal with the deep growling vocals and double kick drumming of death metal. The genre emerged in the late-1980s and gained ...

band Saturnus, to promote their sixth album, '' The Unknown'', which was released on 3 June 2016. The "Into the Unknown Tour" lasted from 25 March to 20 August 2016. A four-track EP that served as a teaser to ''The Unknown'', entitled ''

The Kindred of the Sunset ''The Kindred of the Sunset'' is an EP by German gothic metal band The Vision Bleak, released on 25 March 2016 through Prophecy Productions. It served as a teaser for the band's sixth studio album, '' The Unknown'', which was released on 3 June ...

'', was announced on 21 February 2016 and eventually released on 25 March. As a means to celebrate their 16th anniversary, and to introduce newcomers to their music, the band also released a

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

entitled '' Timeline: An Introduction to The Vision Bleak'' as a companion to ''The Unknown''. On 27 December 2015, the band stated that Fursy Teyssier officially joined them as bassist for future live performances.The Vision Bleak – Facebook (27 December 2015)
/ref> Teyssier stayed with the band until 2017.

Band members

Line-up

* Ulf Theodor Schwadorf (a.k.a. "Markus Stock") – vocals, electric guitars, electric bass guitar, electronic keyboards (2000–present) * Allen B. Konstanz (a.k.a. "Tobias Schönemann") – vocals, drum kit, electronic keyboards (2000–present)

Live musicians

– electric bass guitar (2015–2017)

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Compilations

Singles

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vision Bleak, The German gothic metal musical groups German doom metal musical groups German symphonic metal musical groups Musical groups established in 2000 2000 establishments in Germany Cthulhu Mythos music Horror punk groups German musical duos