I am supposed to be the editor concerning anything gothic and dark. I don't know if this is due to the fact that I love dark music or because everything I own is black, including all my underwear. I am sure that if I had a white homing pigeon, it would be black too. Don't know how, it's just one of the facts that show that I am the guy for dark, gothic and melancholic stuff around here. Did I mention that I am not a fan of electro-industrial gothic by the way? Indeed I am not.
With that said, let's move on to the review, which is obviously the reason that you were originally lured here and learned about my underwear color...
"La Danse Macabre is Aeternitas' second album. Their first album was Requiem and was released in 2000, while this one's recordings started in 2002. To tell you the truth, I haven't listened to the first album and I was a bit sceptic judging from the picture in the promo, with my eye spotting immediately the  two lovely female vocalists, perfect for any S&M fantasy and a clone of the Tekken character Paul.
The music is a mixture of modern gothic with classic and electronic influences. The theatrical element is heavy, with vocalists alternating and each one playing a different part in the story (I guess, since the lyrics are in German and I don't have a clue), composing a dark opera.
The overall feeling is nice, with mood swings ranging from mellow to bombastic. But alas, there are problems to be mentioned... First of all, lack of originality. There is no way in hell that you'll escape the feeling of deja-vu. You've probably heard that before, and lots of times too. Then there's the excessive usage of electronic samples.
I know, we are talking about German gothic metal here, but do we really need all these samples and beats? I tried to imagine how this would sound with minimal electronics or even better with a real -small- orchestra in place of the digital instruments. Since I have a vivid imagination, I can tell you right now; much better.
This is a decent effort to say the least. Perhaps it's me and my intolerance for excessive usage of sequencers. I know that they have the potential to get a much better result next time and I do hope that they'll be more creative and more original in their next release.