Fatal Opera was an American jazz-influenced technical thrash metal band (who later became more progressive and rock-directed later in their career) based in Orange City, Florida formed in spring 1990 by former Megadeth drummer Gar Samuelson, his brother Stew Samuelson, and Travis Karcher.

The first Fatal Opera lineup was a 4-piece effort formed in mid-1990. The lineup featured the 3 aforementioned members as well as vocalist Joe Mirua. Joe was released in approximately spring 1991 due to the band's and consumers' dissatisfaction with his voice. Joe is now deceased. The 2nd lineup was the band's first 5-piece lineup. Jeff Bloom was recruited as Stew's 2nd guitarist in early 1991. Jeff Bloom was friends with vocalist Dave Inman and brought him to the band when the band needed a replacement vocalist for Joe. Jeff agreed to play with the band for one year which is what he did. He left sometime in late 1991 or early 1992. In 1991, Fatal Opera played a gig at Full Sail University with this lineup in a show that was made for technicians at the college to test their skills in producing a show with a live band. Ed Walker and Greg Szuba, who would later become Fatal Opera's audio engineers and techs, attended the college and were recruited shortly after. After Jeff Bloom's release, Fatal Opera would play as a 4-piece until Billy Brehme was recruited in 1993. Ed Walker would remain an audio engineer and drum tech for the band until 1993 when he moved out of Florida. Greg Szuba stayed. Due to growing tensions and creative differences in mid-1995, Dave Inman exited the band and was replaced with Andy Freeman soon after via a friend recommending him a seeking vocalist flyer. Andy and Billy lasted until 1999 right before Gar's passing. Gar, Stew, and Travis played a more soft-rock and acoustic based mix before the band's breakup as a result of Gar Samuelson's death.

All Fatal Opera studio/demo recordings were recorded in Gar's home studio called Headstone/Heavy Recorders where Gar (and on one occasion Ed and Greg) would record and mix recordings for other bands such as Naphobia. Fatal Opera never played a gig outside of Florida. However, an opportunity arose to play with King Diamond among other bands in Europe after The Eleventh Hour was released. This never happened due to many reasons. Massacre Records had dropped all their offices in the United States and only had offices left in Europe. Fatal Opera had very limited support in order for this tour to include them. It is also suspected that Gar wanted to write and record his very last material before he died. It seemed like just a dream to the band and not something that could realistically happen.

Fatal Opera's self-titled debut album was recorded and self-released in 1992 exclusively to cassette. In 1994, Fatal Opera was signed to Massacre Records and their debut album was remastered and re-released in 1995. The band continued their writing and released The Eleventh Hour in 1997. Due to unexplained tension in the band and the, at the time unknown, imminence of Gar's death, the band had lost its singer and 2nd guitarist after recording a partially unreleased 3rd album set for release in 1999 or 2000. Travis Karcher notes that the album was almost entirely recorded and mixed. However, after Gar passed, all of the studio equipment and recordings were put into the possession of Gar's partner Gail. Everyone else in the band went their separate ways. Lots of this equipment was sold along with the recordings. In 2017, Fatal Opera struck a deal with Divebomb Records to remix and remaster their 2 albums which included bonus demo and live tracks. The artwork for both releases were handmade. Some of the unreleased 3rd album recordings along with demos were found, salvaged, and compiled into a posthumous release for Gar in 2022 with the release of FATAL OPERA 3. FATAL OPERA 3 was mixed by Andy Freeman. The release was in memory of Gar and there were and are no plans for Fatal Opera to reunite.