Customer Reviews

Assembly

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

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.

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.

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).

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!

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.

(...)

I've been listening to 'Assembly' long enough for the novelty to wear off. I got it about two days after it came out. I was kind of excited to hear it. I loved their last CD quite a bit. The sudden change in direction was fun and their overwhelming sarcasm refreshing. Funny thing about this CD, the sarcasm is mostly gone.

They are taking themselves a little more seriously lyrically. I'm sure most of that is because Liv started writing most of them (and that's fine, she is doing most of the vocals here, as well). Problem is, the sarcasm was the fun part. Now, they seem almost commonplace. Almost. They still have a great sound, catchy songs, great vocals (as expected from Liv); but they just aren't as funny as they were on 'Musique' - and I really miss that.

Though not as funny, this CD is better in many ways. The guitar tone is actually heavier overall (some of the riffs are their heaviest yet), but somehow the songs actually seem catchier and more commercially appealing (not that there's anything wrong with that). Liv's vocals fit the style a little better also. I personally like the processed male vocals and I do wish they'd done a little more, but it's a small quibble on my part.

I also have to admit that I miss the song-structures and soprano vocals of 'Musique'. They still had a hint of their old style. I realized after several listens to 'Assembly' that I miss that just a little. They have indeed become a totally different entity. Nothing is left of their old gothic doom days - for better or worse. On it's own, 'Assembly' is still a really good album and if you liked the last one, you won't go wrong buying this one.

I actually _did_ like "Musique" because it still had some elements of their masterpiece, "Aegis". There were some grungier tunes, some slower ones, all containing the excellent vocals of Liv Kristine. However, attempting to listen to "Assembly" was almost painful. I was repeatedly reminded of how they "used" to sound and wanting to put in "Aegis" or the earlier discs, all of which I own.

ToT has basically gone further in the direction they started with "Musique", that is to say, quite "techno". There are a lot more electronic elements (I believe most of the drums very well may be) and samples used here. Raymond's vocals are a bit hard to listen to (yes, it was better when he grunted). Liv isn't as "in the front" as she was before, almost as if they were acknowledging that she were no longer the lead vocalist, but perhaps a guest. I really, really tried to listen to "Assembly", because I have a lot of respect for ToT and any band's decision to change their musical direction, but I think this may be a bit too far for most of us older fans that really enjoyed the darker side. "Assembly" is very "poppy" and probably would have done well about 15 years ago as a new wave or electronic genre release (and it would have been ahead of its time then, with elements of gothic metal) but instead the ghost of "old" ToT haunts it.

I gave it 2 stars out of respect for the band's career. ToT may gain new fans with "Assembly", but I think they may lose many of those from years past.

But, to be fair, "Assembly" is still decent music, just not with the band name on the cover. Lovers of electro-rock and possibly 80's fantatics may enjoy this CD, but stray away if you are an old "gothic metal" purist.

I think the thing really hurting this release is that Theatre of Tragedy didn't abandon their old monicker. They should have buried the name along with the style, thus sending a clear message to old fans and distancing themselves from a genre they have obviously lost interest in at the same time. Instead, they stick with their old name, engendering hatred from old fans and repelling their target audience with such a positively non-mainstream, unhappy sounding name. A stupid, stupid move from a marketing standpoint.

As for the music, if you can put yourself past the fact that these are the same people who produced Velvet Darkness They Fear and, as is often necessary with this band, keep an open mind, you might find you actually like it. As in, really really like it. The push for the mainstream is obvious and I truly wish the vocals were in Norwegian or something because some of it so so cheesy it makes me reflexively reach for the fast forward button (Superdrive, ugh). However there is a lot of it which is truly enjoyable, and not all of it is in-your-face mainstream. Motion for example is a track of sublime beauty in mind, with amazing bass too. There are still memorable guitar riffs(Automatic Lover), and for those of you who love distorted, NIN-esque synths (like me!), there is a fair share of that too (ie. Episode).

And there is one big thing this CD still has going for it; the sexy, awesome Vocals!!! The female vocals may have been cheesefied X10000 but they are still beautiful. Except the refrain on automatic lover. I would prefer that tune to be instrumental.

Bottom line: let's rename the artist for this release and call them: Electrofuzz. Let's put the singer on the cover in a sexy grungy outfit, have MTV2 play a music video for Universal Race,and this CD becomes a platinum seller. Goth fans: stay away. Fans of good music: give it a whirl.

I want to start out by saying the song titles on the Nuclear Blast CD that I own are completely different than what's listed above. As for the music, it is absolutely first-rate techno-pop. Normally, I would hate stuff like this, as I heard too much third-rate ... of this kind back in the '80s, but this is just so well-done it grabs hold like a fishhook in your brain and won't let go. Their previous album, Musique, is in the same vein, and almost as good. Before that, they put out some excellent goth metal albums, and Liv Kristine's solo album is far superior to almost anything put out by any American pop princess diva. Give 'em a try.

If You like the old ToT you probably will hate this cd. if you like musique you will like this cd.

Assembly could be described as a mixture of 30% electronica, 40% pop, and 30% metal, as another reviewer said has a lot in common with Garbage, and yes it is a catchy cd that will maybe be forgotten in a few months, but that is the quality of most pop music, and dont necessary means a weakness in itself.

I like this cd and I will enjoy it a few months, it is in the same vein as musique but still is different, the guitar sound has more punch but it is layered beneath the electronica and the pop structures of the songs, so requires a few spins to apreciate.

another thing is the voice of liv kristine. it has a different tone, less soprano and more of a hard rock vibe, and thats a great thing!!!, the robotic voice of liv kristine is a bit silly, but it goes along with the song.

Those soprano voices that have plagued the metal scene in the past years are becoming boring, so we need more voices ala Lita Ford... rock on!!!!