Assembly

This is a slightly odd one. Usually, style and quality go hand in hand. If an album is shitty music stylistically, it'll be shitty in quality. If it's really well written though, it's most probably got some sort of artistic depth stylistically. Let's use an example: 'Aegis' from this very band was very expertly crafted music, and it followed that it was strong stylistically as well with a very immaculate poetic aesthetic. Again: (song-writing) quality and style often go together.

This album has the first quality, but goodness me, it makes sure it shits all over the second. Quality wise: it's well crafted music with memorable hooks that not just any band could write. They've got personality, they stick. Stylistically though, it's like the band were consciously attempting to make the album the biggest piece of trash they could manage. As a sub-genre, it's some sort of dirty-sounding pop rock with a faux-industrial whim to it. Neither the mainstream people will accept it because it's too obscure yet, and the metal people won't touch it with a ten foot pole because it reeks of perceived commercialism. It's some kind of kitsch-ass Frankenstein monster that wouldn't make the effort to take its very self seriously, which is rare.

Just as the next track feels like it's bottom of the barrel with an absolutely rotten verse that screams cheesy, it musters up the inexplicable fortitude to pitch in yet another genuinely fine chorus, leaving the listener scratching their head. One almost needs - nay - absolutely needs to lower themselves to the (apparently) purposely vulnerable level of this album, make themselves acquainted with the playful setting; the nearly painful daftness of it... and then stay for the chorus. This is really shitty in every way... but the chorus. And the chorus being central to the song in this style, it garners lots of points, and so for this style, this is actually a good album. Amazingly.

Oh yes: the lyrics are absolutely fucking retarded. Here's one chorus:
" I want to go with that French girl, she said -
"Sure, do you want to make friends with me?"
- Tres bien, tres bien
- Hey, I'm not crying anymore"

It's odd because the choruses still retain that characteristic Theatre of Tragedy/Gothic Norwegian melancholy, so they'll sound sorrowful and poetic, until the listener takes a look at the lyrics. It's really like the band said "we're really good musicians and the songs we make are hopelessly catchy, but the lyrics? Fuck em. Oh yeah, absolutely fuck the lyrics". Such great disparity between the quality of the song-writing on one hand, and the stylistic choice and setting on the other, is extremely rare. The closest example that comes to mind, but on a much bigger scale, may be Morbid Angel's 'Illud Divinum' album which was actually tight musically but so bad stylistically it created an uprising in the metal world.

Theatre of Tragedy are one of the most well-known gothic bands of the late 1990s. Their 1995’s self-titled debut album kickstarted the whole “beauty and the beast” doom/death gothic metal scene that dominated in the second half of the 1990s and beyond. By 1998, however, the band had already showed a desire to explore new musical territories, releasing a simpler and more straightforward gothic metal album (Aégis). However, the real shocker came in 2000 when Theatre of Tragedy released Musique, an electro-goth / industrial metal record that really had little in common with the band’s previous three albums. Released in 2002, Assembly continues the musical discourse undertaken on Musique. There are a few differences between the two albums, though, with Assembly sounding more mature and assured than its predecessor.

Musique had one main flaw: it lacked variety. Its eleven songs were far too similar to one another, moulded from the same formula of glitchy electronic loops, sinister robotic vocals and catchy choruses. After two or three tracks, the whole album quickly blurred into an indistinguishable, anonymous blob that made it hard to maintain interest until the last song. Assembly is a huge improvement in this respect. On this album Theatre of Tragedy tweak the formula just enough from song to song to keep things fresh and interesting. The catchy, hook-oriented electro-goth numbers are still there, but they do not dominate the whole album as on Musique. Next to ear candy moments like “Universal Race” and “Envision”, we have heavier and more sinister tracks, like the mean, industrial-heavy opener “Automatic Lover” (one of the best songs of the album), as well as eerie electronic dreamscapes like “Starlit” and “Motion”. Meanwhile, “Liquid Man” embraces more standard gothic metal aesthetics, almost harking back to the sound of Aégis. The alternation between these different moods and styles is crucial for the success of the album, as it injects depth and dynamics into a formula that otherwise would have grown stale very quickly.

Another improvement compared to Musique is that on Assembly both of the band’s singers, Raymond Rohonyi and Liv Kristine Espenæs, feel more at ease with the new sound direction. On Musique, Raymond had adopted a weird robotic, half-spoken signing style which grabbed attention on the first couple of songs, but soon became too monotonous. On Assembly, his approach is more varied. He occasionally uses his robotic vocals, but there are also songs where he adopts a more human and, hence, more melodic singing style. Liv Kristine has also improved relative to Musique. She retains the modern, poppy vocal approach that she had inaugurated on that album, but she is more expressive and nuanced. She seems in much better control of her voice, compared to the cold, deadpan performance she had pulled off on Musique.

Probably as a consequence of the more assured performances of the two singers, it is much easier to connect at an emotional level with this album. There is an aura of melancholy that pervades its eleven songs that is quite irresistible if you are a fan of dark gothic atmospheres. But there is no lack of humorous, happier moments either (the tongue-in-cheek love-story-gone-wrong sung on “Superdrive”), achieving an overall great balance between different moods and emotions. There is also a lot of subtlety in the eleven songs of Assembly, with fewer moments where the emphasis on the melodic hooks is so shamelessly “in your face”, like it was the case on Musique.

Another difference between the two albums lies in the instrumentation that on Assembly is slightly more standard for a metal album. The loops and samples are still there, but they are used more as an embellishment rather than as the main ingredient of the songwriting. The guitars take more centre stage, instead, probably reflecting the presence of a second guitar player in the lineup (Vegard K. Thorsen joined Frank Claussen on this album).

Overall, of all the post doom/gothic metal albums released by the band, Assembly is the record I enjoy the most. It sounds fresh and eager to explore the boundaries of the band’s possibilities, but it also has a maturity and subtlety that elevate the album to a different level compared to its predecessor Musique. The alternation between hook-oriented electro goth/pop pieces and heavier, more intense pieces is one of the main strengths of the album, which remains interesting and enjoyable from start to finish. Featuring a couple of true gems like “Automatic Lover”, “Starlit” and “Motion”, I consider Assembly one of the best albums in the band’s whole discography, second only to masterpieces like Velvet Darkness They Fear and Aégis.

And that's not to say it in a bad way or anything.

The album is a farcry away from the band's gothic/doom metal sound from their first couple of albums but personally, I pop this album out whenever I'd want to listen to something more light or chill on the side.

So, what's the deal with this album? This is when the band decided to go way toooo experimental by going more industrial/electronic sound and you know what, it works. The album doesn't fuck around showing it because the moment you pop the first track "Automatic Lover" you get BOOM!!!! You're introduced to something less extraordinary with its electro-synth beat which is anything but metal.

Anyone, I would have imagined when this album got released, they'd shut it down right away before moving forward but if you're going to give it a chance, you'd might enjoy it if you'd willing to be a bit open-minded. The other band that I could thing of that changed to a more electronic sound is Semargl. Even though Semargl is more in the vain of black metal, they did go to the electronic metal approach down the line but I'd say Theater of Tragedy did it better even though there's a big distance in years. This album came in 2002 whereas Semargl's "Satanic Pop Metal" was released in 2012 but the point remains.

So anywho... as a given, Liv Kristine is awesome, as always. She has those gentle, seductive and pure voices that actually works really well with the music around. She's the best part of this album like anything she's in. The rest is still fun to listen as it is very synth heavy and the guitar riffing isn't very emphasized and they do get back-seated on this album. There are some here and there throughout the album just to give some "oomf" to the sound that's basically it. The bass is audible in tracks like "Motion" which does across as a nice closure.

One thing that you give the band credit with this album is that they don't stick with one sound throughout. You can tell the tracks from apart for instance the opener "Automatic Lover" is more upbeat, fun, and filled with energy and then when you reach "Play" it sounds more mellow and softer and then the next track "Superdrive" is more laid back with a kick (if that makes any sense) which is more of a dance number and the lyrics are actually, while cheesy, cool like the chorus goes:

"I want to go with that French girl
She said, "Sure, do you want to make friends with me?"
Tres bien, tres bien
Hey, I'm not crying anymore"

I mean, that "Tres Bien" part is pretty humorously awesome. Which other metal band puts that without feel shy about it?

Personally, I guess this is where it developed my sense of enjoyability towards industrial/electronic metal down throughout the years. However, he's the division between people can be is whether you could consider it as a "metal" album or just rock with electronic beats that seems it depends on the listener.

I guess, in many ways, this isn't a fan pleasing album if you're going to sulk about the different musical style or think this is garbage because it isn't riff heavy, then this isn't an album for you but if you want to chill and enjoy the album for what it is, you'd might get something from it. If anything, this could be labelled as a guilty pleasure for many but as for myself, I do enjoy it and pop it every once in awhile.

Not bad. That’s exactly the thought that came to my mind when I first listened to Assembly. With drastic change of sound, our beloved Gothic lords have changed direction as a follow up to their shocking transformation on ‘Musique’, my least favorite record in the band’s discography.

I’m not sure if anything that I’m going to say about this album has already been said before, but I give it a try. First off, Assembly is a complete evolution from their somewhat shaky experimentation on Musique. On Assembly, the band sounded far more confident in delivery. They know what they are doing because they got tired of doing the same thing over and over again, which is Gothic. The change is rather surprising at first; I was one of many fans who scratched my head and thought “What the fuck happened to Theatre of Tragedy??” But you know, I being an open minded music lover who listens to all sorts of non-metal stuff such as pop, downtempo and techno, so I give it a try. Surprisingly, it doesn’t take that long to let the whole album sink in and guess what; I’m loving it.

I do agree that Assembly is not a record for every metalhead, save for a few tolerant souls like me. Yes. Earlier I mentioned that the band gained confident in writing and playing in this style of music. The opening track “Automatic Lover” is one of my favorite tracks as it is packed with futuristic vibe while moving your body to its addictive, rhythm-heavy tunes. Throughout the album, Liv sings with full determination albeit band members’ claim otherwise (heard that she got kicked out from the band due to lack of commitment post-Assembly). The electronically charged tracks like “Automatic Lover” pretty much give you an idea on what the whole album is all about; flirting, city life, and contemporary metropolitan society. All crafted in somewhat frivolous, toyetic approach.

A few tracks maintained somewhat dark and gloomy passages be it synthesizer-wise or vocally. We heard that in the opening track and now “Episode” continues the solitude-inducing sensation just like its successor “Play”. For this type of music though, you can’t really complain much about the lack of bass; it is there alright. Although on “Play” the bass is a bit distorted to complement the synthesized drum beats, it still creates a nice boom on the finished sound. Well, good thing they didn’t completely abandon the electric guitar because on some songs, the rhythm is surprisingly good too.

Perhaps the most interesting song on this record is “Superdrive”. The mesmerizing synth intertwined with poppy beats combined with Kylie Minogue-esque vocals make this song worthy of repeated listens. Raymond with his pseudo-robotic voice stands somewhere between being annoying to hilarious but eventually his part is nonetheless integral to the track. In a final interview with Raymond Rohonyi (on Last Curtain Call DVD), he stated that “Superdrive” was his among his favorite tracks so it is understandable that he was not too happy with Forever is the World and decided to disband due to Theatre of Tragedy not going in the direction he wanted. Back to the song, the listenable value of this particular song is surprisingly high, if only you are the type of person who enjoys dance music when you are not worshipping Satan while masturbating to Sargeist’s “Empire of Suffering” in your parents’ basement. Well, not that I have anything against that though; I’m a huge fan of Sargeist too, you know.

The lead single from Assembly “Let You Down” is somewhat a downer and does not live up to the magnificence of “Superdrive” but it should be enjoyed in its own perspective exclusively. However, the band restored their dark yet danceable spirits with “Starlit”, which is also another one of my favorite off this record. Like I said, this album is full of surprising elements, prove that Theatre of Tragedy while losing fans after reinventing themselves in the already-tired Gothic scene metal scene, they gained new following with Musique and this album. Just listen to “Envision” where Liv sort of pushes her voice without sounding too banal or forced. One thing you need to remember is that Liv is still singing behind the mic so the stylistic change is not disastrous after all. And yes, the chorus part of “Envision” is also worthy of praise and it sticks in your head long enough that on boring days, the chorus just pops in your head and you start singing away to it. Similar vocal lines are observable on “Flickerlight” where the chorus is even well thought out.

The remaining track, in particular “Motion” is a somber closure. It is a slow, synth-laced conclusion with computerized vocal effects that pretty much summed up the entire record. Although I considered it to be a non-standout track but over time, it grows on you for some reasons unknown. I can’t explain it but this song sounds quite sad, perhaps because it is the final track (the official album track list, excluding the bonus songs which I’m not going to say anything about) where we get to hear Liv Kristin’s vocal for the last time before she got kicked out of the band. Yeah, that’s probably it. Nevertheless, a cool song to close the chapter.

Here we have a band once known to be the godfather of Gothic doom / death metal metamorphoses into something that many purists considered as “blasphemy” to the band’s roots. Plus, Theatre of Tragedy are among those outfits that brought forward the perfect marriage between death growls and enchanting female lullaby. All in all, Assembly is not a bad album. It needs more than just ears to listen and appreciate what the band had done for their fans anew, which to me is another positive change for them. Sometimes, playing the same thing over and over again can be bothersome; you are left to drown in unfathomable monotony for the rest of your career. I think the shock that Theatre of Tragedy created after the radical transformation has somewhat attracted attention of new, younger fans, who may not always be into metal but they love to listen to music that stands somewhere between rock and electronic. Perhaps it is just business as usual, perhaps not.

When I hear the name “Theatre of Tragedy”, the image of a band which had a great impact on the development of the gothic metal genre with its early albums pops up in my mind. But here we are, yet to face another, completely different face of the band. Yes, this is not metal, it’s not even goth music. This is electro pop/rock. However, I think the goths who listen to industrial and EBM would enjoy it.

But let’s concentrate on the music. It’s happy, it’s up-beat, it’s full of positive emotions and you can chill out while listening to this album. Well it’s not something really unique but the band has put their talent in making this a nice and interesting album. Its mood really fits the modern nightlife in a big metropolis. While listening to “Assembly” I feel like I’m in a club where the people are dancing wild on the floor. So it’s logical that the lyrics deal with flirting and modern life in somewhat a funny way.

There are two main elements that build up the music:
The popish synthesized sounds that actually are complex and a bit eccentric, so that they cannot be found in a song by some pop diva. They are the key part of the melody and are responsible for the pleasant club atmosphere. I personally “see” them as strange floating and intertwining neon lights.
And the guitars, simple and not heavy at all. But they load the music with energy, which is actually their main purpose, because here the synthesizers are in the front place, as in most electro rock bands.
I assume there are drums but it seems that they were killed by the electronic beats.

The vocals are, of course, perfectly performed by Liv. She doesn’t sing in the same vein as in the first albums, and has approached in somewhat pop-manner to her singing, which really fits the atmosphere. However, although I don’t really like the robot voice of Raymond, especially in their last album “Storm”, here he finds his place.

Of course it’s not a perfect release, there are some weak parts, some mediocre tunes. But as a whole it’s a well-done album and most of the songs have their memorable parts. I would recommend this album to all open-minded music fans or those who would like to explore the territory or the electronic music.

After the near fatal horror or Musique, Theatre of Tragedy continued their descent into electopop, but unlike Musique- Assembley is good electropop. Now don't get me wrong, I like gothic metal and it hurt like hell to watch one of the most important gothic metal bands turn into some sort of club music, but where Musique was bad club music, Assembly is at least a better album.

In the world of electronica that means catchy, fun and happy. And somehow a band called "Theatre of Tragedy" managed to make a happy pop sort of album. There is no variety in the sound, all electronic, all sung with light voices and lighter lyrics about space, flowers and sex. There is no real quality beyond the fact that it sticks in your head with funny little phrases and notes repeated so much that you can't help but start thinking them. It all plays like the soundtrack to a sci-fi romantic comedy.

If you like real gothic metal, stick with the first 3 albums. If you need a break from gothic induced depression and good music, get this. That's not sarcasm, that's a good review. Kind of.

What I first noticed when listening to this album was the text. The (very) stupid lyrics. The music sounded pretty interesting during the first song (Automatic Lover) but the title of the song and the lyrics pretty much defined the rest of the album: idiotic text and techno/rock music. While I don’t particularly dislike this kind of stuff, it’s definitely Theatre Of Tragedy’s worst album. Their previous release, Musique, was much better than this and Aegis is light years away. Since I like Theatre Of Tragedy, I'll make an exception to my own rule and spend some time in writing a review about something I don't love. I don't hate this album, but it's definitely a disappointment.

What annoys me most are the lyrics. I can’t really stand listening to music when stupid words are being shot at me ears like bullets in my stomach. Even so, I’m going to try and make a super-human effort and ignore this aspect (even if it’s so hard considering the lyrics are sang, not screamed, which makes them more understandable, unfortunately!). So, let’s concern ourselves only with the music on this lowly release.

I don’t know what they were thinking when they recorded this stuff. ‘cause it wasn’t metal, that’s for sure. On some songs, the guitars are used only as filling material and dare-say, the entire album revolves around keyboards, not around guitars. While this might be okay in other situations, it’s not here, since the guitar arrangements are too simple and… simply dumb. They might as well have used a keyboard simulation of a guitar. Anyway, the music isn’t terrible. It’s just… the worst I heard from Theatre Of Tragedy. However. Some songs have really good parts, such as the beginning of “Episode” or “Starlit” or “Automatic Lover”. There are highlights, no doubt about this. But this isn’t enough. The album seems like a happy-horse-shit collection of songs with meaningless lyrics, stretched on a techno-rock instrumental platform. Liv Kristine’s last album as vocal for Theatre Of Tragedy is a sad piece of sound compared to their past works. It looks like it’s turning into a habit with these girls… Tristania’s last album with Vibeke was also their worst. I wouldn’t buy this CD and I would even advice people against it. Go get Aegis instead, it’s a fantastic album. Or, at the opposite ends, Velvet Darkness They Fear (old style) or Musique (new style) are better options.