| Only Theatre of Pain | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Christian Death |
| Cover: | Christian_Death_-_Only_Theatre_Of_Pain.jpg |
| Alt: | The background of the album cover is black, with a yellow Christian Death logo emboldened at the top of the artwork and "Only Theatre of Pain" at the bottom, both in scratchy yellow print. In between the two texts is a drawing of a distorted, ghoulish figure that resembles Jesus Christ in a crucifix pose. The artwork has yellow-line borders, resembling that of the Bible; furthering its religious affectations. |
| Released: | March 24, 1982 |
| Length: | 32:20 |
| Label: | Frontier |
| Next Title: | Deathwish |
| Next Year: | 1984 |
Only Theatre of Pain is the debut studio album by the American rock band Christian Death, released on March 24, 1982, by the Frontier record label.
It is considered by most critics to be the harbinger of the deathrock style of music, as well as being highly influential on the American gothic music scene.[1]
Describing the album's themes, The A.V. Club said the record is "relentless in its morbid embrace of Christian eschatology. Williams was raised in a Southern Baptist family, which makes his adversarial appropriation of Catholic imagery more nuanced than simple blasphemy; he’s approaching the cross from the perspective of both Protestantism and what one can only assume to be either atheism or Satanism".[2]