Es reiten die Toten so schnell

Not to be confused with the Sopor Aeternus demo tape, Es reiten die Toten so schnell...

"Es reiten die Toten so schnell"
Studio album by Sopor Aeternus & the Ensemble of Shadows
Released	2003
Genre	Darkwave, Classical
Length	65:33[1]
Label	Apocalyptic Vision
Producer	Sopor Aeternus, John A. Rivers
Sopor Aeternus & the Ensemble of Shadows chronology
"Songs from the inverted Womb" (2002) "Es reiten die Toten so schnell" (2003) "La Chambre D'Echo" - Where the dead Birds sing (2004)
Alternative covers
Limited edition box cover
Double vinyl cover

"Es reiten die Toten so schnell" (or: the Vampyre sucking at his own Vein) (German: "The Dead ride so fast"; usually referred to as "Es reiten die Toten so schnell") is the seventh album^[2] by darkwave act Sopor Aeternus and the Ensemble of Shadows, and was released in 2003.^[3] A double vinyl edition and an A5-sized boxed set edition was released, in limited quantities of 666 and 1,999 copies, respectively. The double vinyl edition came with a poster, t-shirt, postcards, communion wafers and "authenticated" graveyard soil.

Overview

For "Es reiten die Toten so schnell", Anna-Varney Cantodea went back to her demo tape of the same name and re-recorded all of its songs; the first seven tracks of this album consist of the demo tape in its original sequence. The rest of the album features re-recordings of the bonus tracks that were included on the first Sopor Aeternus album, "...Ich töte mich jedesmal aufs Neue, doch ich bin unsterblich, und ich erstehe wieder auf; in einer Vision des Untergangs...", along with a handful of new songs. "Birth - Fiendish Figuration", Sopor Aeternus' signature song from their first album, appears again in its fourth incarnation on a record. The original version of "Reprise" was a spoken word piece featuring a line from the bridge of "Dead Souls".

John A. Rivers, producer for Swell Maps, Dead Can Dance and Love and Rockets, was brought in to oversee production on "Es reiten...".^[4] The album was recorded in England,^[5] as opposed to Sopor Aeternus' home country of Germany.^[6]

Track listing

All songs written, composed and arranged by Anna-Varney Cantodea.^[7]

1. "Omen Sinistrum" – 2:46
2. "Dead Souls" – 7:04
3. "Stake of my Soul" – 3:01
4. "Beautiful Thorn" – 5:14
5. "Baptisma" – 6:37
6. "The Feast of Blood" – 3:35
7. "Sopor Fratrem Mortis Est" – 5:33
8. "The Dreadful Mirror" – 5:53
9. "Reprise" – 3:41
10. "Birth - Fiendish Figuration" – 2:52
11. "Penance & Pain" – 4:26
12. "Holy Water Moonlight" – 5:11
13. "Infant" – 0:51
14. "Über den Fluss" – 2:04
15. "Dark Delight" – 6:43

Personnel

• Chris Wilson: Violin
• Elizabeth Tollington: Cello
• Marcus Cornall: Double bass, electric bass
• Tonia Price: Clarinet
• Eugene de la Fontaine: Oboe
• Eric Santie-Laa: Cor anglais
• Doreena Gor: Bassoon
• James Cunningham: Trumpet
• Julian Turner: Trombone
• Joan Sweet: Tuba
• Paul Brook: Drums
• Anna-Varney Cantodea: Vocals, all other instruments and programming

References

1. ^ http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=277399870&blogID=406303451
2. ^ http://www.soporaeternus.de/Es_reitenstandard.html
3. ^ http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=277399870&blogID=406303451
4. ^ http://www.soporaeternus.de/Es_reitenstandard.html
5. ^ Liner Notes for Es reiten die Toten so schnell
6. ^ http://www.soporaeternus.de/Es_reitenstandard.html
7. ^ Liner notes for Es reiten die Toten so schnell