2002 album for Norwegian goth-metal act. 11 tracks including, 'Automatic Lover', 'Universal Race', 'Episode' & 'Play'.
CD Reviews
Abandoning the past - again!
David Parker | burlington, vermont United States | 04/17/2002
(3 out of 5 stars)
"I guess Theatre of Tragedy decided that they had nothing more to say in the world of gothic hard rock after "Aegis" and did a complete 180 with the last album "Musique", much to the dismay of most of their hard-core fans. Gone were the dark, gothic epics mixing elements of Type O Negative with operatic female vocals, replaced with a sort of Euro-electro-industro sound, completely abandoning the deep, growly male vocals of the earlier albums, and relying more on Liv Kristine's singing (a wise choice there!) - all over a more programmed, keyboard-heavy sound. That continues pretty much unabated on this latest offering, although adding a few Garbage-like textures throughout this time. Unfortunately, what TOT seems to forget is that changing sounds means nothing if the songs are forgettable, and while much of this album and "Musique" is enjoyable, it's also quickly forgotten. Bands like Flowing Tears, Paradise Lost and Tiamat are proving that you can experiment within the "gothic" genre and still remain pretty much true to form. Those bands are constantly shifting their sound, but keep putting out great albums. It's too bad that a leader like TOT couldn't see fit to do the same."
Not like their old stuff, but...
Matt Stoessel | Tolland, CT USA | 01/25/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Has anyone here heard of Rammstein? That's what comes to mind when I listen to this CD. There really is a lot of fun music here. Clearly, Theatre of Tragedy isn't the doom metal band that they once were. The key is that this was recorded at the famed Finnvox Studios (Stratovarius, Children of Bodom, Sonata Arctica, Eternal Tears of Sorrow, Warmen). No matter what the music is, the production must be amazing, right? Well, it is. These are fun songs. For those of you picking this up because you're a doom metal fan or a Theatre of Tragedy fan, either put it back on the shelf or delete it from your shopping cart - this is more industrial than doom! The female vocalist is still here and sings every line of every song, unless there's one or 2 1 verse exceptions. Each song is very melodic. If you're into this kind of music or accept the band's change, then you should love this. Did I say how short the songs are yet? Some don't even hit the 3 minute mark and none get over 5. The last song is a slow, soft balladish song that I fell in love with last night. Expect something with sounds like that of Project Pitchfork when you put this CD in. Quite frankily, I don't think there's any one way to describe this so that you'll be prepared when you put this in your CD player. I'm doing the best I can here. All there really is to say is "buy it!" Just make sure that this is really a CD that you don't mind experimenting with before you do so. When you get the chance, go read some of my other reviews and say if they helped you or not. Till next time!"
Get over it!
Michael | Spring Valley, Ca United States | 02/06/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"There is nothing worse than a band that keeps playing the same old style of music without every changing or trying something new. Worse than that are the fans who complain because they can't handle the change. As a musician let me tell that never trying something different is soooo boring. Kudos to TOT for this album and Musique before it. The music still rocks just in a different style (ala Curve, Garbage) Sorry miopic metal fans. As much as I love earlier TOT, and I do, these albums are still superior to most music out there."
It actually deserves 3.5 stars,
8er Martin | 08/09/2005
(3 out of 5 stars)
"I must confess that I loved first 3 TOT albums and hated with my whole black heart Musique, actually I thought it was the most horrible thing I'd ever heard and when I heard the single "Let You Down" I thought this would be another Musique. I've been listening to this CD all day long, and it's begun to grow on me. Of course it has nothing to do with Aegis, Velvet Darkness or TOT's debut album, those were 3 masterpieces, but Assembly is not as bad as it was Musique, this one sounded better produced, music was far more creative than Musique's, and even though lyrics here are still a bit silly, some of them deserve to be read. There some good moments on this album (Superdrive, which sounds very much like Garbage's Run Baby Run, Starlit and Envision, for example). Automatic Lover has a very good melody, the only thing I found disgusting were the lyrics, too repetitive, and too focused on creating a catchy song that you can sing along with your friends as you drive your car and drink vodka. Let You Down is also good after all, it has something that i can't describe and that simply made me fall in love with the song, despiting the bad impression I had when I first heard it.
Another nice song is Flickerlight, again too Garbage-ish, but still good.
Basically this is not an excellent album, but it still has some good things on it and certainly was very much better than Musique. I'd recommend that you get a few songs (or even the whole album) from internet, and if you like the songs enough, then go to buy it (that's what I did, but I'm not so sure yet about buying it or not).
And, in case you find this really disgusting, you might want to check out Liv Kristine's new band "Leaves' Eyes", whose albums Lovelorn and Vinland Saga are very good (specially Lovelorn, which is already my favorite)."
No Doubt meets Zeromancer?
Sugarplumeferry | Pittsburgh | 05/29/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Being an avid fan of industrial music (including Zeromancer, Apoptygma Berzerk, And One, Wolfsheim, etc.), it is probably a lot easier for me to appreciate such albums as Musique and Assembly as opposed to someone who exclusively prefers the gloomy metallic sound of the debut through Aegis. Although I still prefer their older material, I consider Assembly to be a great (if flawed) album.
I can understand why the band chose to change their music the way they did. It was obvious that they were getting bored with the gothic metal genre and wanted to do something new. I have absolutely no problem with this, as I would much rather hear innovative industrial albums than uninspired gothic ones. However, I am bothered by the fact that they decided not to change their band name. Needless to say, this is not the TOT I fell in love with when I first heard songs like "A Hamlet for a Slothful Vassal" or "Aoede" - the band name does not fit with this new style of music, I'm sorry to say. If Peter Tatgtren decided to make Pain his primary musical outfit under the Hypocrisy label, how many Hypocrisy fans do you think would be pissed? More than you can count on your fingers, that's for sure.
With that frustration out of the way, I shall move on to describe TOT's 5th (and 2nd under the industrial category) album. Just by looking at the album inlay - new logo, new image, new label - you know you're not going to be hearing another Aegis anytime soon. The band make well use of their newfound synthesizers - a new layer to the TOT musical theorem that is actually integrated with skilled execution (Lorentz Aspen has always been a synth & piano genius). Raymond Rohonyi continues his rather odd English-accented verses (which actually developed on the Aegis album, despite what many will tell you) which you'll either grow to love or to hate. As many have mentioned before, the guitars are used sparingly, mainly during intros and choruses - and if you've ever listened to the German band Zeromancer, then you should have a distinct idea as to what I'm talking about. Liv, as always, is what ties the band together - no matter how the music has changed, and it's a shame that she was silently booted from TOT (although her new band Leaves' Eyes is excellent if I must say). She looks very young in the album pics, with extra makeup and leather jackets - hard to believe she's the same gal as the pale, fragile looking siren from those old black-and-white TOT photos. Her voice is much "poppier" here - singing rhythmically on opener "Automatic Lover", and eerily resembling the pop singer Kylie Minogue on "Envision". This is funny that I say this, considering I compared her voice to that of Enya's in my review of the self-titled LP. It's still the same Liv though, no matter how you look at it.
I would say the songs that stick out for me most are the driving opener "Automatic Lover", written about a man who treats women like whores; the stunning "Envision" (Liv's voice is great on this track, by the way); the cutesy-pop of "Flickerlight"; and also the subtle "Liquid Man", whose chorus is probably the closest thing you'll find to TOT's older work on Assembly.
Once again, I find that both Musique and Assembly will appeal to fans of industrial/synth-pop more than fans of the first three albums. Those that fall in the latter category would do well to stick with Tristania, After Forever and Within Temptation.
Track Listings (14) - Disc #1