Lacrimosa is the first musical project of the Swiss vocalist and composer Tilo Wolff. Officially, the group appeared in 1990 and has existed for over 25 years.
Lacrimosa's music combines several styles: darkwave, alternative and gothic rock, gothic and symphonic-gothic metal.
The emergence of the Lacrimosa group
At the beginning of his career, Tilo Wolff did not dream of popularity and simply wanted to put a couple of his poems to music. So the first works "Seele in Not" and "Requiem" appeared, which were included in the demo album "Clamor", released on cassette.
Recording and distribution were given to the musician with difficulty, no one understood the unusual sound of the compositions, and eminent labels refused to cooperate. To distribute his music, Tilo Wolff creates his own label "Hall of Sermon", sells "Clamor" on his own and continues to record new tracks.
Composition of Lacrimosa
The official line-up of Lacrimosa is founder Tilo Wolff and Finn Anne Nurmi, who joined the group in 1994. The rest of the musicians are session musicians. According to Tilo Wolff, only he and Anna create material for future albums, the musicians can offer their ideas, but the permanent members of the group always have the last word.
In the first full-fledged album "Angst", Judit Grüning was involved in recording female vocals. You can hear her voice only in the composition "Der Ketzer".
In the third album "Satura", the children's voice from the track "Erinnerung" belongs to Natasha Pikel.
From the beginning of the project, Tilo Wolff was the ideological inspirer. He came up with an alter ego, the harlequin, which appears on some of the covers and acts as the official emblem of Lacrimosa. The permanent artist is Wolff's friend Stelio Diamantopoulos. He also dabbled in bass guitar early in the band's journey. All covers are conceptual and made in black and white.
Style and image of Lacrimosa members
Caring for the image has become the task of Anna Nurmi. She herself invents and sews outfits for Tilo and herself. In the early years of Lacrimosa, the gothic style with elements of vampire aesthetics and BDSM was pronounced, but over time the images softened, although the concept remained the same.
Musicians willingly accept hand-made things as a gift and perform in them, delighting their fans.
Personal life of the soloists of the Lacrimosa group
The musicians do not talk about their personal lives, while claiming that some songs appeared on the basis of events that really happened.
In 2013, it became known that Tilo Wolff received the priesthood of the New Apostolic Church, to which he belongs. In his free time from Lacrimosa, he baptizes children, reads sermons and sings in the church choir with Anne Nurmi.
Discography of the band Lacrimosa:
The first albums were in the darkwave style, and the songs were performed only in German. After joining Anna Nurmi, the style changed a little, tracks in English and Finnish were added.
Fear (1991)
The first album with six tracks was released in 1991 on vinyl, later it appeared on CD. All material, including the idea for the cover, was entirely conceived and recorded by Tilo Wolff.
Einsamkeit (1992)
Live instruments appear for the first time on the second album. There are six compositions again, all of them the result of the work of Tilo Wolff. He also came up with the cover concept for the Einsamkeit album.
Satura (1993)
The third full-length album surprised with a new sound. Although the compositions are still recorded in the darkwave style, one can notice the influence of gothic rock.
Before the release of "Satura", the single "Alles Lüge" was released, consisting of four tracks.
The first clip of Lacrimosa was filmed based on the song "Satura" of the same name. Since the shooting was carried out after Anne Nurmi joined the group, she took part in the music video.
Hell (1995)
The fourth album was recorded together with Anne Nurmi. With the advent of a new member, the style underwent changes, compositions appeared in English, and the music moved from darkwave to gothic metal. The album consists of eight tracks, but Anna Nurmi's vocals can only be heard in the song "No Blind Eyes Can See", which she wrote. A video was filmed for Tilo Wolff's first English-language work "Copycat". The second video was released for the song "Schakal".
The album "Inferno" was awarded the "Alternative Rock Music Award".
Stille (1997)
The new album was released two years later and caused conflicting feelings among fans. The sound changed to symphonic, the Barmbeker Symphony Orchestra and the Lünkewitz Women's Choir were involved in the recording. German-language compositions belong to Tilo Wolff, two songs in English - "Not every pain hurts" and "Make it end" - were invented and performed by Anna Nurmi.
Later, clips were released for three tracks at once: “Not every pain hurts”, “Siehst du mich im Licht” and “Stolzes Herz”.
Elodia (1999)
The sixth album continued the idea of the Stille record and was released in a symphonic sound. "Elodia" is a three-act rock opera about a breakup, a concept expressed in both lyrics and music. For the first time, a gothic group invited the London Symphony Orchestra and the West Saxon Symphony Orchestra to record. The work lasted more than a year, 187 musicians took part.
Anne Nurmi wrote only one song for the album, "The Turning Point", performed in English and Finnish. A video was filmed for the song "Alleine zu zweit".
Fassade (2001)
The album was released on two labels at once - Nuclear Blast and Hall of Sermon. The Rosenberg Ensemble took part in the recording of the three parts of the composition "Fassade". Of the eight tracks on the album, Anna Nurmi owns only one - "Senses". In the rest, she sings backing vocals and plays the keyboard.
Before the release of the album, Tilo Wolff released the single "Der Morgen danach", which for the first time featured a song entirely in Finnish - "Vankina". Invented and performed by Anna Nurmi. The video was filmed only for the track "Der Morgen danach" and contains footage of the live video.
Echoes (2003)
The eighth album still retains the orchestral sound. Moreover, there is a fully instrumental composition. In the work of Lacrimosa, Christian motifs are increasingly visible. All songs except "Apart" are written by Tilo Wolff. The English-language track was written and performed by Anne Nurmi.
The chorus of "Durch Nacht und Flut" is sung in Spanish on the Mexican version of the album. There is also a video for the song.
Lichtgestalt (2005)
In May, the ninth full-length album with eight gothic metal tracks is released. Anna Nurmi's works are not presented, but she plays the role of a keyboardist and backing vocalist. The musical work "Hohelied der Liebe" turned out to be unusual - the text was taken from the book of the New Testament and recorded to the music of Tilo Wolff.
The music video for "Lichtgestalt" was the highest-grossing music video in Lacrimosa's history.
Lacrimosa: Sehnsucht (2009)
The tenth album, consisting of ten tracks, was recorded four years later and was released on May 8th. In April, the musicians pleased the fans with the single "I lost my star" with the Russian-language version of the verse of the song "I lost my star in Krasnodar".
Sehnsucht surprised with the dynamic track "Feuer" featuring a children's choir and a composition in German with the untranslatable title "Mandira Nabula". There are three English-language songs at once, but Anne Nurmi only performs "A Prayer for Your Heart" in full.
The album was also released on vinyl. Tilo Wolff soon presented a music video for "Feuer", directed by a Latin American director. The video caused a wave of criticism due to the quality of the material, besides, Lacrimosa did not participate in the filming. Tilo Wolff reacted to the remarks, clarified that the clip is not official, and announced a competition for the best fan video.
Schattenspiel (2010)
The album was released in honor of the band's 20th anniversary on two discs. The material consists of previously unreleased compositions. Only two of the eighteen tracks were written by Tilo for the new record - "Ohne Dich ist alles nichts" and "Sellador".
Fans can learn the history of each track from the booklet attached to the release. Tilo Wolff details how he came up with ideas for songs not previously included on any album.
Revolution (2012)
The album has a harder sound, but still contains elements of orchestral music. The disc consists of ten tracks, which were recorded with musicians from other bands - Kreator, Accept and Evil Masquerade. Tilo Wolff's lyrics are straightforward. Anne Nurmi wrote the lyrics for one track, "If the World Stood Still a Day".
A video was shot for the song "Revolution", and the disc itself was named album of the month in the October issue of Orcus magazine.
Hoffnung (2015)
The album "Hoffnung" continues the tradition of Lacrimosa's orchestral sound. To record a new record, Tilo Wolff invites 60 diverse musicians. The disc was released for the band's anniversary, and then backed up with the "Unterwelt" tour.
"Hoffnung" consists of ten tracks. The first track "Mondfeuer" is considered the longest of all previously released. It lasts 15 minutes 15 seconds.
Testimonium (2017)
In 2017, a unique requiem album was released, in which Tilo Wolff pays tribute to the memory of the departed musicians who influenced his work. The disc is divided into four acts. Tilo did not want to record a cover album and dedicated his own compositions to David Bowie, Leonard Cohen and Prince.
A video was shot for the track "Nach dem Sturm".
Zeitreise (2019)
In the spring of 2019, Lacrimosa released the anniversary album "Zeitreise" on two CDs. The concept of the work is reflected in the choice of songs - these are new versions of old compositions and fresh tracks. Tilo Wolff implemented the idea of time travel to show the entire work of Lacrimosa on one disc.
