The Blood Countess (Album)
| The blood countess | ||||
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| Studio album of the undead | ||||
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Publication |
2006 |
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| Label (s) | From Grafenwald, Gothic Empire Records, Soulfood | |||
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Format (s) |
CD |
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Title (number) |
28 |
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running time |
100 min 18 s |
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The blood countess. The life of Elisabeth Báthory (1560-1614) is the tenth album by the band Untoten and was released in 2006 as a double album . It is the band's first concept album and thematically revolves around the Hungarian Countess Erzsébet Báthory , who has become known throughout history as the “Blood Countess” . For the first time, the countess is not only portrayed as a brutal murderer, but also as a human and a traumatized woman.
The text concept, which was completely designed by David A. Line , is structured like a play and divided into two acts and seven images, which are not dealt with chronologically. The booklet contains all the stage directions and location descriptions that are necessary to understand the texts themselves and their relationship to one another. On the cover itself, the album is referred to as “a black romantic singspiel”.
The drawings - with the exception of two historical pictures of the Countess - are all from the hand of Greta Csatlós.
action
The setting for the action is the Countess's castle in today's Hungary , where a group of young people have to spend several nights in a reality show in order to win a prize. Among them are the two young students Henriette and Gregory, the latter being a descendant of the investigator who arrested the Countess at the time, and who is therefore related to the historical Countess. When they arrive at the castle, they feel in the rooms that the countess must still be here. After the ghostly apparitions one night, Henriette wakes up in a crypt and finds herself 400 years back in time when she meets the Countess herself and is more and more drawn into her spell. After meeting Henriette, the countess finally leaves her dungeon again.
Title list and content
First act: the ghosts
- Crime Scene - 1:37
- Just a drop of blood! - 4:20
- The Hunt - 4:36
- Blood red, love - 5:42
- The Countess of Blood - 2:31
- Ghost Girls - 3:39
- Scary - 1:32
- Blood Moon - 5:06
- Mandrake Blood - 1:36
- I would love to be ... - 2:39
- Whore of Darkness - 5:51
- The songbird - 1:29
- Taste the blood! - 5:23
- Blood Wedding - 4:52
- Each to his own - 3:45
First picture
- Scene of the crime
A songless piece that serves as a prelude.
- "Just a drop of blood"
The mature Elisabeth has a girl comb her hair. When the countess is slightly injured in the process, she grabs the girl and finally kills her, splashing the blood on her naked body.
Second picture
- The hunt
The castle is attacked by farmers, and Elisabeth, who is only five years old, has to watch her sisters raped and the staff killed. The next morning she is present in the village when the insurgents are executed in the most gruesome way and put on public display.
Third picture
- Blood red, love
The members of the reality show enter the rooms in which the countess lived and even after 400 years still feel their presence there. They also sense that the countess wants them.
- The Countess of Blood
Gregory leads the people through the countess' apartments.
- Ghost girl
During the night the ghost of a deceased girl appears, but only Henriette notices the apparition, since the others are all asleep. The girl tells how the countess killed hundreds of girls in the most cruel way. Henriette is horrified and says that life cannot be so cruel after all.
- Creepy
Henriette walks through the corridors of the castle at night and looks at a portrait of the countess, which she finds extremely cold. She wonders whether the Countess's eyes were ever full of goodness and whether everything that has been told about her in legends is true.
- Blood moon
A ghost girl appears again and wants Henriette to drink the blood in order to follow her into the spirit realm.
- Mandrake blood
Henriette wakes up in a crypt and hears the voice of a blood bitch speaking to her.
Fourth picture
- "I would like to be ..."
Henriette wakes up and is still in the castle, but she is now wearing strange clothes that were fashionable 400 years ago. She sees the countess sitting at the window, who doesn't seem awake, and looks at the old woman, who in a certain way fascinates her. She wishes to be like her. Then the countess wakes up and speaks to her.
- Whore of darkness
Henriette secretly sneaks up to the walled Countess. She notices that the girl is interested in her and wants to know what Henriette has heard about her. She emphasizes that everything was taken from her at a young age and that she was not born as a beast, but as a human.
Fifth picture
- The songbird
Seven-year-old Elisabeth is playing with a bird on a ledge. When the nurse calls her several times, she becomes angry.
- Taste the blood!
The Countess and Henriette watch the scene in which eleven-year-old Elisabeth and her soon-to-be husband Ferencz Freiherr Nádasdy , the black knight, are at their wedding party. Henriette asks the Countess if she could tell more about her husband, but the Countess says that she has almost forgotten him. She also says that she was still too young at the time and that a lot of things happened against her will.
- Blood wedding
The play depicts the wedding night between Ferencz and Elisabeth, which takes place in a bathroom. Servants present are supposed to seduce the girl, but Elisabeth suffers an epileptic fit.
- To each his own
Elisabeth wakes up in her “garden of death”, where she tortured and killed all of her girls. Her nephew Grigory and a pack of farmers come to the castle to wall the countess alive. At first she begs for mercy, but in the end she accepts it and laughs at everyone because she will rise again from the dead.
Second act: the garden of death
- Lustgarten (prelude) - 2:12
- Ficzko - 4:34
- In the catacombs - 1:21
- The Pit and the Pendulum - 4:19
- Domine - 0:31
- Time stands still - 5:54
- Witch Realm - 3:54
- Lightning and Thunder - 4:08
- Magic mirror - 1:14
- Blood Sacrifice - 4:57
- Now fly away! - 1:57
- The tomb - 4:29
- The seeds of evil - 5:54
Sixth picture
- Lustgarten (prelude)
As at the beginning of the first act, the second begins with a purely musical intro .
- Ficzko
Ficzko, a servant of the countess, is dragging a girl into the cellar. He asks the girl if she is ready to endure her fate and emphasizes once more that the countess is so cold.
- In the catacombs
A girl who bears a striking resemblance to Henriette wakes up in a dungeon in the basement and hears loud screams.
- The pit and the pendulum
The girl is desperate and keeps asking herself why she has to suffer all this. The countess's scratching on the walls is slowly driving her crazy.
- Domine!
The countess has fun in her subterranean pleasure garden.
- Time stands still
The Countess is in her pleasure garden and enjoys it so much that she would even give her life to be here forever.
- Witch kingdom
Ficzo, who has fallen in love with one of the captured girls, manages to escape with him. The countess sends her bloodhounds after the two who are supposed to catch the fleeing people in the forest and kill them.
- lightning and thunder
After a bloodbath, the countess lies in bed in the presence of a half-dead girl. She opens his eyes and sees herself reflected there.
Seventh picture
- The magic mirror
For the upcoming feast, the weak countess is lovingly combed by Henriette, who is now her servant.
- Blood sacrifice
In the presence of all the young people who took part in the reality show, as well as the ghost girls, the Countess enters the hall together with Henriette. With every dance that takes place, it regains its strength. As the last dance partner, she chooses Gregory, who then dies.
- Now fly away
Henriette and the ghost girls mourn the recently deceased Gregory.
- The crypt
The Countess also quenches her thirst in Henriette and says that she actually never wanted to leave her crypt until the moment she met Henriette, who reminded her of her then beloved servant. This realization that she had been missing something for so long made her leave her tomb again. Henriette finally dies in the countess's arms.
- The seeds of death
All the girls whom the countess had killed over the years appear and attack them. The countess, who senses that she is now going to die, and says that she would like to go to hell, because only there will be understanding for her. In the end, she finally begs death.
Musical aspects
Most of the songs are sung by Greta Csatlós, who changes her singing depending on the mood of the character shown. David A. Line can only be heard on tracks that feature a male character in the storyline. In addition to the use of orchestral music, songs like Koste das Blut! , Fiezko , Die Grube und das Pendel as well as The Saat des Evil also have rock elements. Various solo interludes with the piano make some parts of the piece - paired with the text - sometimes appear like children's songs.
Others
The booklet says Koste das Blut! that Elisabeth married at the age of eleven. However, the wedding took place on May 9, 1575 and Elisabeth was already 15 years old at that time.
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.the-pit.de/reviews/u/untoten/cd/die_blutgr%25fin/768/index.html
- ↑ http://www.wave-of-darkness.de/cd/u/untot2.htm ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
