Musique

Isn't it particularly interesting that music that's obviously cheesy can still be very good music at the same time ? This stuff practically begs the listener to consider it crap; many of which would be demanding metalheads, mind you, hopeful that this might be closer to the band's original sound. How this is purposely incendiary, at very least subconsciously from the band, and still efficient is strangely remarkable. It's got all the makings of a trash record by a has-been washed up band looking to milk the old reputation and squeeze out a few green bills to pay for the monthly white ones. And yet, as promoted by its very title, it's highly musical, so much so it might hook a listener seeking catchy material that's genuinely inventive and well put together instead of the actual crap playing on the radio.

In hindsight, this is what real pop should be, and in that sense replaces what's been masquerading as mainstream song; voluntarily idiotic jingles to numb the mind and fill it with imagery just as degrading. 'Musique' here may not be quite what one imagines while thinking of art that elevates the soul, but it does actually do well in the field of elevating the spirit, so to speak. It's pleasant, inspired and fresh, and despite its rosy bubblegum exterior and overall frivolous demeanor, it certainly delivers genuine moments of unique melody. The previous (outstanding) offering 'Aegis' with its sublime magnificence replaced by heavy indus pop rock beats and guitars with digital chords, but still with Miss Kristine's angelic presence endowing the sections with that feminine ideal of soft, ethereal lightness and grace.

Bouncy synths, a faux-futuristic cartoonish setup nearly in the vein of a 'Barbie girl', overdone male vocals somewhere between 80's gothic and a vocoder, some lyrics as shitty and trite as you're imagining right now, in the ball park of "I'm a robot with wires I'm from the future"... oh it's all there. It's a bit embarrassing, until the chorus comes on and it's Liv Kristine along with that rush of beauty and sorrow ushered in by excellent chord progressions and arrangements, and faithful to its predecessor this album offers consistent quality with every track. One might want to skip past the verses if they're that unbearable, but as soon as it's time for the chorus, those sections do quite a job most of the time. They're ripe sequences with a variety of colors and textures, different energies, and they're enhanced with carefully introduced arrangements. It's not just the choruses: quality interludes or intros are to be found on this too. It's a treat to listen in anticipation over what the band will have in store on the next song coming up.

Of course this does also contain a track like 'Musique', where even the chorus seems to be more on-par with what might be expected on this, flinging the closer emotional aspect out the window and switching the "Ah-ah, ah-ah, ah" plastic rock n roll vibe on. But I dare any fan of music, extreme metal junkies even or any other, to give the first three songs a go, repeated for a few days, and honestly come up with the conclusion there's nothing appealing from a purely musical point of view about the choruses. Also the one on 'Radio', for that same ToT trademark melancholy seamlessly slipped into this new cyber-rock outfit for the band. Finally, the dreamy 'Space Age' is the perfect finale and escape from an album so rich with melodic developments. All in all there's a special quaint quality that comes with this, as it's like a tribute to sci-fi from around the late 60's to 80's period - a la Kraftwerk - that warned of the weird technology-dominated world of the future. It looks ahead, as opposed to the previous 'Aegis' with its nostalgic regression into the distant past, and despite being consecutive releases it's as if centuries set the two apart.

You should know by now that I love Music; and also Muzik; and certainly Muzak… not to mention Музика… but I’ve always had problems accepting Musique in my bloodstream. I find it too poppy (not the drug-inducing flower) and cheesy for my rough unsophisticated taste; too eager to please everything and everyone, thus coming easily accessible, near-instantly memorable but ultimately substance-empty… and not only to those whose knowledge of French is restricted to a mere few sexual innuendos.

And I knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that the Norwegian death/doom/gothic titans under scrutiny here were moving in its direction, slowly but surely, looking at it from all sides carefully, trying to locate its least resistant point of entry. And I also knew, beyond the bigger shadow of a bigger doubt, that they would never be able to rise again to such gargantuan proportions as they did on the preceding “Aegis”… that wasn’t humanly possible. So what was left for me and the other fans to experience was to see how unworthy its sequel would be, and how devoid it would be of the mesmerizing doom/gothic clout that the guys (and a girl) made their own with the 1998 colossal achievement.

For one to fully appreciate the album reviewed here, he/she has to be fond of dancing… literally. I mean dancing in its all possible forms: head-nodding/shaking, neck swinging, torso swaying, hips bouncing, arms/hands projecting, legs pacing/leaping… all those organs moving more or less in unison at the same time as well. If you’re in the mood for a time spent in such motions, then dive headlong into this slab, especially if you’re particularly fond of the catchy industrial tunes of the Germans KMFDM, and the more cerebral less melancholic approach Depeche Mode epitomized for their 1997 exposition “Ultra”. Under the insistent beckoning from the dance floor, obviously remnants from the preceding magnum opus will be sparse at best, but “Retrospect” tries to justify its title with a few darker gothic-soaked winks at it, the highlight here for those who’ve left their hearts with the “Aegis”. For the others this outing would be a perennial dance-fest once again, the band adding a more corrosive industrial tinge to their delivery, sometimes dispersing sheer dance floor sweepers (“Machine”, “Image”) intentionally, sometimes sounding truer to their previous metallic credo (the abrasive quasi-doomster “City of Light”, the rowdier Die Krupps-esque “Crash, Concrete”). There’s also this experimental ambition tussling with the mainstream rhythmic commonality, prevailing on the nice psychedelic operatic ballad “Space Age”, and on the industrialized but stylish and lively nod at The Sisters of Mercy that is the bonus track “The New Man”.

Nope, neither a new man nor a new style would emerge from here; this is music for the masses, like Depeche Mode again propagated a few years back; one that should have filled the band members’ pockets with gold (or thereabouts), but one that did very little to help them advance up the musique proficiency scale. It was a gesture of conformity, a “surrender to the pop” event which perfectly fitted into the wave of softening and de-brutalization within the more extreme metal community (Paradise Lost, Therion, Sentenced, Amorphis, etc.) which started in the mid-90’s, the band even coming on top of it with this outing, not without the help of their major asset. Yes, you guessed right, the word is about Liv, the ubiquitous presence behind the mike, the diva who still pulls it off as, quite honestly, an ephemeral angelic croon like the one she possesses can only be advantageous in the newly-acquired mellow musique environment. It was a decision taken and respectively played upon, and even executed well according to the commercial canons… the merging with the mainstream practitioners accomplished promptly, with just a single album, stripping the band’s repertoire of all gravity and ambition.

No, I don’t catch myself popping and hopping unconsciously on the tunes from here; I’ve long since removed this effort from my collection… I rarely spare a thought or two its way, pondering over a hypothetical, “what would have been if…” situation, wondering whether the guys (and a girl) had missed another go at greatness here… I guess they had. But I’m not sad; and I don’t complain… cause I know that betting on the lighter, radio-friendly side of life can never be such a big tragedy, especially if you’re deliberately set on marching towards it… towards the realm of our sweet favourite Musique.

The late 1990s saw an increasing number of iconic doom/death bands experiment with new sound directions. From Paradise Lost to Anathema, many bands decided to leave behind (at least temporarily) the doom metal of their beginnings and explore new ways of expressing their dark and melancholic feelings. The most shocking change of direction, though, must surely be that taken by Theatre of Tragedy with their fourth full-length Musique. In 1995 the band had kickstarted almost single-handedly the whole “beauty and the beast” doom/gothic metal scene with their self-titled debut album. However, after just one more record in this style (the fantastic Velvet Darkness They Fear), Theatre of Tragedy already started to show a desire to push the boundaries of their sound. Their third album (1998’s Aégis) saw the band almost entirely abandon the doom/death format, ditching the growls and the slow tempos in favor of a more energetic and accessible form of gothic metal. In 2000, with the EP Inperspective, the band showcased their love for electronic music, releasing heavily remixed and almost techno versions of songs from their previous full-lengths. And then came Musique, an album that cancelled almost every single aspect of the band fans once knew.

There is no trace of the band’s doom/death beginnings on this album, nor of the more straightforward but still heavily metallic gothic approach showcased on Aégis. On Musique, Theatre of Tragedy explore a new sound halfway between industrial metal, EBM and electro-goth music. The standard metal instrumentation (guitar, bass, drums) takes mostly a backseat on this album, and so do the piano and the string arrangements that the band had used so frequently on previous records. The music is instead dominated by electronic beats, loops, sound effects and keyboards. The distorted guitars are used sparingly and almost exclusively rhythmically, to add thickness and momentum to the choruses. The songs are much simpler, built around a canonic verse-chorus-verse structure, with plenty of melodic hooks and very few instrumental digressions or structural innovations. It’s a lean and catchy approach that stands in stark contrast with the sprawling compositions of the band’s previous albums, where the track length very often exceeded the 5 minutes. These changes in the instrumentation and musical approach are also accompanied by a mini-revolution in the band’s lineup, with guitarist Tommy Olsson and bassist Eirik Saltrø quitting the band without being replaced.

The vocal styles of the band’s two singers, Raymond Rohonyi and Liv Kristine Espenæs, are also completely different compared to previous albums. Raymond has nearly completely ditched his growling style of the first two albums (except for a brief episode on “Crash/Concrete”) as well as the gothic croon of Aégis. He instead uses a robotic, half-spoken singing style that brings to mind Kraftwerk and the krautrock movement. Liv Kristine abandons the operatic vocal style she had frequently used up to this point and adopts a more modern, poppier approach instead. It’s a completely new take on the “beauty and the beast” aesthetics that Theatre of Tragedy contributed to popularize in the second half of the 1990s.

But Theatre of Tragedy’s metamorphosis goes even further than this. The lyrics on Musique are at the antipodes of those on the previous three albums, where Raymond Rohonyi wrote in Old English and tackled typically romantic topics of lost love, death and tragedy. The lyrical approach on Musique could not be more different. The lyrics are written in modern English and deal with very contemporaneous and even mundane topics, like city life, computers, machines and sex. The band’s image is also completely different. Gone are the laced-up corsets, the elegant Victorian dresses and the long hair, as the band showcases instead a new look made of tight leather jackets and dyed short hair.

While these are big, bold changes that no doubt shocked more than one early-day fan, it should be said that the new musical direction Theatre of Tragedy take on Musique is nothing completely unheard before, even in the metal universe. Bands like Sundown, Samael, Paradise Lost, The Kovenant, Seigmen and Zeromancer had all dabbled with similar sonic experiments around the same time, mixing industrial, electronica, pop and gothic metal. Regardless of the novelty, Theatre of Tragedy do a great job at giving their interpretation of this aesthetic, with some excellent results. The first two tracks of the albums are absolute killers. “Machine” strikes a perfect balance between being catchy and sinister, while “City of Light” is more disturbed with its heavy industrial influences and brings to mind The Prodigy.

The rest of the album follows in a similar vein, mixing eerie electronic atmosphere, sinister robotic voices and catchy melodic hooks. And herein lies the greatest pitfall of the album. From the third track onward, when the surprise effect starts fading out, it is almost impossible not to be pervaded by a strong sense of deja-vu. The lack of variation in the song structure and tempo and in the overall sound direction makes it hard to distinguish one song from another, as the various loops and melodic hooks become almost interchangeable from song to song. There are only few moments between track #3 “Fragment” and track #11 “Space Age” that truly stand out. One is the album’s lead single “Image”. It’s a decidedly poppier piece that only features Liv on vocals, thus breaking the cycle of robotic verses – female choruses that had characterized all previous tracks. The other is the final track “Space Age”, which is my personal favourite song of the album. It’s a more atmospheric and meditative piece that unfurls slowly between computerized vocals and eerie programmed loops. It gives the album a much needed change of tempo, breaking the songwriting formula that had been (ab)used in the course of the previous ten tracks. Although this comes too late in the tracklist, it’s nevertheless a great way to finish the album on a high note.

Despite being too unidimensional and formulaic, Musique is nevertheless a pleasant album that represents a bold change of direction for Theatre of Tragedy. The feeling I get from this record is that the band is not yet fully in control of the new sonic approach. As a consequence, the album lacks subtlety and depth, giving it limited repeated listening value. The band will do much better on their follow-up record, 2002’s Assembly, which will continue with the same sonic approach but in a decidedly more mature and assured manner. If you have not listened to this phase of the band’s discography, I suggest you start with Assembly first, and only get Musique if you like what you hear on that record.

Listening to the entire album for the first time provoked a certain uneasy feeling deep inside, knowing these are the same people who masterfully crafted three beautiful records, beginning with the self –titled, Velvet Darkness They Fear, and Aegis. It seems unfortunate that Stavanger’s Gothic doom household has now turned on its head, becoming a mere parody of itself.

Now, fifteen years after its initial release, Musique is certainly an offering that one has grown to either love or hate. Consensus across the board seems to indicate a uniformed pattern of shock and contempt at the drastic change in style. Ask around any metalhead about this record; it is a safe bet that they will most likely jeer at this album. However, one man’s abomination is another man’s art. It eventually grows on me like some benign tumor that poses no threat due to its miniscule size. At the same time, I am awaken to the reality of trying get rid of it while it is still infancy. While there is not much to be treasured from this release, “Machine” is certainly a memorable opener. In all intent and purposes, this is no longer a Gothic metal album. Liv Kristin shifts from singing like a siren in despair to all-out pop queen. Afraid not, her trademark voice is still here to stay but she has explored a new singing style that is surprisingly pleasant after a decade and a half later. On the other hand, Raymond now sounds ever so monotonous and digitized thanks to the voice synthesizer. He sounds awful, like pretentious almost. Although I can’t exactly blame him for his performance but his breath is funky from the prospect of getting more money. Yes. Liv is the reason this album being a not so disastrous in my long list of bands whose change in style gone completely wrong.

Personally, this record holds a certain level of aesthetics that is so foreign even to the band members but it is not without redeeming qualities. Picture the song “Crash / Concrete” being used in scenes where Wesley Snipes is slicing his way through a crowd of vampires in the next installment of Blade film series. “Image” is however nothing short of sexually flirtatious and it will not work with the previously mentioned scenario. On its own, the song is one of my immediate favorite and it is a perfect choice for a single. There is nothing particularly fantastic about this track other than its clever use of synthesizer, upbeat tempo akin to classic rock fused with danceable electronic tunes. Have you watched the music video? The monochromatic texture befits the song very well and it is by no means surprising to see just how alluring Liv is. The rest of the guys look rather hilarious though what with the emo-esque eyeliner.

Another highlight of the album is “Retrospect” which is surprisingly pleasant to say the least. Its slow, trance-inducing verse section is notable for bringing back the listeners to the band’s Gothic heyday. It is a moving experience that somehow sums up the band’s metamorphosis, yet the process retains the basic DNA that makes Theatre of Tragedy who they are. This is also the track where the guitars are more upfront with computerized sound effects toned down to minimum. Consider this song as a self-conscious farewell note to their old style that Raymond deemed to have grown sick and tired of repeating. Next, we have the near-instrumental “Retrospect” followed by “Space Age”. The latter track finalizes the electronic transition on most somber notes, neglecting what the band has stood for in the past while their hearts are somehow itching to relive the good old days. To some, Theatre of Tragedy seemed to have made the bed that they now sleep in but pre-departure albums disproved otherwise; both “Storm” and “Forever is the World” recapture the emotional high commonly associated with their Gothic doom sensibility during the early years.

“That’s it, Theatre of Tragedy commits suicide” is exactly what I thought when Musique first came out fifteen years ago. Yes. Back then, I didn’t even bother listening to this album after one session. I was deeply disappointed. Today, I am now able to appreciate what they do and I respect their decision after purchasing their last two records. Once thought to be dead, the band is alive and kicking, only to depart once again but this time, they are totally gone, never to return. “Musique” is for the most open-minded metalheads. Majority of the tracks are quite boring. Only a handful of songs are listenable and they are surprisingly good which makes this album a skip-worthy record, suitable only for the die-hards and collectors alike.

The letters W, T and F are thrown around all too much these days, but seriously- WTF? The masters of gothic metal made this? No, no it's just so wrong. It's electropop. Even the infallable Wikipedia knows it. This is electropop and with a couple tracks exceptions, it's bad electropop. Commute and Machine are rather neat in a catchy sort of way but the title track is hokey beyond hokey. "I need more rhythm"? Clicks and beeps? This is the kind of lyric and sound that KMFDM would throw away, let alone what a band who previously wrote wholly in old english and sang like opera.

I gave Assembly 75%, and did so because techno though it is, it is good, catchy fun techno. Musique is not. Musique is hokey lame crappy club techno that could only be appreciated on a whole lot of drugs surrounded by glow sticks and 16 year olds on E. And I don't mean the note. Speaking of notes, there are two on this album: high and higher. The light featherweight tones and repetative yet unmemorable songs are too long 3 minutes. And after Aegis! Aegis was slow, dark, sad, somber, beautifull, memorable, elegent, smart, everything that the word gothic means. And then this had to happen. It's like watching a marathon runner trip on a banana peel, and sounds much the same. If you want good electrpop wait for their next album. If you want gothic metal stick to their first three. If and only if you want their complete works for the sake of obsessive complusive disorder, buy Musique, but if you do for the love of god don't listen to it. Life is just too short for that.

Who would have thought Theatre of Tragedy would create an industrial metal album with touches of electro clash and EBM? Well, they did, and it’s pretty a good album, too, despite some of the angry fans have to say about it. “Musique” was the second ToT album I purchased. A friend played “Assembly” for me and I wasn’t too impressed with it overall, although I did enjoy the sound. I wasn’t sure what to expect from “Musique” since I had also been exposed to the band’s earlier offerings. But I was surprised and pleased when I sat down to listen to it. Having been a fan of both industrial metal and EBM for some time, I was instantly at home with it.

This CD is primarily hard riffs, the band’s signature contrast of Ray and Liv’s vocals, heavy synth work, and many electronic trimmings. The keyboards definitely play a central role in deciding the direction of the tracks. This is a big contrast from the near doom like quality of ToT's first two releases. The pace of the songs is very upbeat and relentless. The songs are also shorter and much easier to get into. Almost every single one of these songs is a winner for me. Fragment, Crash / Concrete, Machine, Reverie, Cummute, and Image are where the album shines in my mind.

Theatre of Tragedy have always been a band that is hard for me to figure out. I found the lyrics in their previous albums so corny I almost couldn't take it. I couldn’t tell if they were admitting to gothic metal’s cheesy over use of “thee,” “thou,” and “hast” or if they were serious about it. And with “Musique,” I find myself in the same dilemma. Image is such a sultry song, and when Liv keeps going and going with the dirty talk it’s really too much. Lyrics in some of the other songs seem to border on the satirical. At times, the robotic tones of voice really get on your nerve, and at other times they fit perfectly with the music. The lyrics have a transhumanist / cyberpunk feel throughout and this is only supported by the excessive electro pop touches.

I don’t know what it is about metal, but every time a band undergoes a dramatic genre shift as with the case of ToT, there is always a group of fans that throws a fit and writes said group off as betraying the cause or whatever. “Musique” is a CD you have to approach and listen to with an open mind. Anything less will prevent you from enjoying the good album that it is. For me, this was easy since electronic music is another big part of what I listen to. For others who are more diehard when it comes to metal, I imagine it will be hard if not impossible to overcome their prejudice. This album is worth the buy if you’re into industrial metal and don’t mind excessive dependence on electronic elements.

I must admit that I never expected such a change from Theatre of Tragedy. They went from gothic/doom metal to industrial metal. This change, however, isn't bad. If you don't compare this to "Velvet Darkness they Fear" or the debut, this will sound like a very well done experimental album.

"Musique" has a techno-like sound mixed with industrial metal. It's quite mellow, despite the fact that it's labeled as techno. It has a very futuristic sound that goes perfect with the lyrics that talk about future and technology. However, the flaw that I find in the lyrics is that they're talking against techno music, and at the same time, they're playing it. One line I can think of is in the title track; "Electric music resounding all around". It is clearly said in a sarcastic way, yet "Musique" is electric music which is doing what the lyrics are talking against. However, given that I never really understood the lyrics to their previous albums and I still love them, it won't be fair if I considered any of the lyrics here.

However, not everything changed. The vocals are still the same (to a certain extent). Liv Kristine is still in the band. Even though her voice doesn't sound like it did on their previous 3 albums (or the next album, for that matter), it still contains the same power and serenity. In "Reverie" her voice is amazing during the chorus. Raymond Rohonyi is also a vocalist (like he was in every album). His voice is very techno-like and sounds like a speak-and-spell (which is the same kind of voice they make fun of in "Machine"). However, he sounds much better than on "Assembly" and "Storm".

"Musique" is also very varied. Every song is different than the other and no track is below average (excluding the bonus track, which I will get to later). If I had to pick an absolute favorite track, it's without doubt "Reverie". There's something about that song that makes me want to keep on pressing the previous button (you will too). Although "City of Light" and "Crash Concrete" are also clear highlights.

My only complaint is the ending. Whether you have 11 tracks or 12 tracks on your version, the two songs aren't fitting for the end. "Space Age" is a very good song (weird, but great), yet it lacks Liv, which doesn't make it a good summary for the album. "The New Man" is also a very bad ending, seeing how it should be among the pop crap on "Assembly". It's a song that reduces Liv’s voice to ashes and makes the whole album sound like a complete joke. "Reverie", on the other hand, would've made an excellent closing song, seeing as it doesn't stop instantly (it has a long outro), and it combines every element of the album. However, "Space Age" isn't a bonus track and it's found in every version. Just stay away from the version with "The New Man" unless you enjoyed "Assembly".

So, overall, "Musique" is a great album. You just need to view it as an album from an entirely different band because you won't be able to enjoy it if you compare with their earlier doom metal releases. In fact it's probably my second favorite Theatre of Tragedy album (after "Velvet Darkness they Fear"). I know it sounds crazy to hear a gothic metal fan liking techno, but it's just too addictive. However, don't expect to like "Assembly" if you liked this because they're very different (this is obviously much superior).

One last note; if you like "Musique", make sure to buy the two singles ("Machine" and "Image") because they both contain amazing remixes of the tracks here. It's a bit more techno and a barely metal, but you'll love them if you enjoyed this.