At this point in their career, Theatre of Tragedy has all but eschewed their Scandinavian metal roots in a direction that is a lot closer to Siouxsie & the Banshees jamming with Ace of Base.
No, that's not a joke.
Even more surprising, Theatre of Tragedy pulls off the synth pop quite admirably.
Much of the disc has a somewhat retro quality to it, paying homage to the '80s -- "Play" sounds like the Pet Shop Boys would have sounded had they been clad in black lipstick and leather when recording "West End Girls" and "Superdrive" could have been the B-side to "Like a Virgin"; however, it also has a space-age modern feel as well, further adding to the schizophrenic nature of Assembly.
Death metal growls are completely missing, and frankly, not missed.
Like Mortiis did with the preceding year's Smell of Rain, Theatre of Tragedy made a very credible album that is quite out of character, and they both succeed because of (not in spite of) that very reason.
The black metal kids will hate it (even the guitars seem to vanish two songs in), but sometimes the view from a dancefloor is a lot nicer than that from a mosh pit.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Automatic LoverTheatre of Tragedy | Theatre of Tragedy | Play | 04:26 | 10 MB | 33 MB |
| 2 | Universal RaceTheatre of Tragedy | Theatre of Tragedy | Play | 03:30 | 8 MB | 27 MB |
| 3 | EpisodeTheatre of Tragedy | Theatre of Tragedy | Play | 03:34 | 8 MB | 26 MB |
| 4 | PlayTheatre of Tragedy | Theatre of Tragedy | Play | 03:24 | 7 MB | 24 MB |
| 5 | SuperdriveTheatre of Tragedy | Theatre of Tragedy | Play | 03:48 | 8 MB | 29 MB |
| 6 | Let You DownTheatre of Tragedy | Theatre of Tragedy | Play | 02:55 | 6 MB | 21 MB |
| 7 | StarlitTheatre of Tragedy | Theatre of Tragedy | Play | 04:07 | 9 MB | 28 MB |
| 8 | EnvisionTheatre of Tragedy | Theatre of Tragedy | Play | 03:51 | 8 MB | 30 MB |
| 9 | FlickerlightTheatre of Tragedy | Theatre of Tragedy | Play | 03:46 | 8 MB | 27 MB |
| 10 | Liquid ManTheatre of Tragedy | Theatre of Tragedy | Play | 04:16 | 9 MB | 28 MB |
| 11 | MotionTheatre of Tragedy | Theatre of Tragedy | Play | 04:41 | 10 MB | 28 MB |
| 42 mins | 97 MB | |||||
| 42 mins | 306 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thomas Ewerhard | Artwork |
| 2 | Hiili Hillesmaa | Engineer, Producer |
| 3 | Mika Jussila | Mastering |
| 4 | Jukka Puurula | Engineer |
| 5 | Theatre of Tragedy | Composer, Primary Artist |
Theatre Of Tragedy
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |