Enigma

[abasio]

Enigma

Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi!

 

Tracklisting

 

1 Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi! (1:57)

2 Morphing Thru Time (5:47)

3 Third Of It's Kind (0:19)

4 Beyond The Invisible (5:00)

5 Why!… (4:59)

6 Shadows In Silence (4:21)

7 The Child In Us (5:06)

8 T.N.T. For The Brain (4:26)

9 Almost Full Moon (3:26)

10 The Roundabout (3:38)

11 Prism Of Life (4:55)

12 Odyssey Of The Mind (1:40)

 

 

Enigma might seem a little mainstream for many people's tastes. He had a track in an advert right? His first album was a big hit & his second had a famous famous track used on a car advert but this album I have never heard anything about, which I find very strange because it is definately Michael Cretu's finest work.

It's a real journey of an album, in parts it's quite lethargic & in other places it's quite upbeat. A lot of the tracks have a dark melancholic edge & all are very atmospheric.

Lets take a look!

 

1 Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi!

A short atmospheric opener. Beeps in the background & astronaught type mutterings make it sound like a message into outerspace Things are changing, but nothing changes, yet still there are changes. Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi

 

2 Morphing Thru Time

The beat comes in, in this track. It's very slow & lethargic. Gregorian (sounding) chants give a very trippy earthy atmosphere, whereas the vocals make it sound like the track is flying through fog. Great stuff.

 

3 Third Of It's Kind

A 19 second track, more of a transmission.

 

4 Beyond The Invisible

A Slow tribal beat & dreamy female vocals set an ethereal atmosphere which is then imposed upon by a powerful male vocal. The vocal sounds good though & it adds ummph! to the atmosphere.

 

5 Why!…

The lyrics are a bit cheesy but the beats & music are good & the powerful chorus carries on the ummph! from the last track. Once again the vocals (sound not meaning) add to the atmosphere rather than detract from it as do the very faint trippy chants in the background.

 

6 Shadows In Silence

The pace has increased now & this one has a nice melody, no lyrics & very minimal use of vocals. The one vocal is a very long drawn out cry. It sounds very dark & melancholic. I like it a lot, it's dreamy.

 

7 The Child In Us

This is my favourite Enigma track to date. Female tribal chanting sandwiches more gregorian sounding chants which then leads into english lyrics. It all creates another melancholic sound that makes me want to fly away & makes me feel like I can. The beats have quickened again & are more complex here. I love it!

 

8 T.N.T. For The Brain

This follows on very well from the previous track. Tribal beats, a nice simple melody & a dark sounding voice half sings Smell your skin, feel your breath. you on my side, I couldn't resist. I hope I'll understand someday, what's the meaning of this crazy game. It is real& Pure... T.N.T. for the brain. The rest of the lyrics in this are kind of muffled as are the male vocal here which is more explosive in the chorus.

 

9 Almost Full Moon

Another melancholic monster. Like track 6 the chants are very long & drawn out cries but these sound more twisted & almost painful (like they are in pain, not painful on your ears). The track has nice beats & a melody that manage to make the track sound both quick & slow at the same time.

 

10 The Roundabout

Thi strack makes me imagine a shaman stood at the top of a small mountain, surrounded by fog trying to shout a message to the spirits beyond the veil of mist. A great chant, the synths & some very very faint spacey noises create that atmosphere.

 

11 Prism Of Life

This track slows theh pace down for the finale. We start with a beautiful sounding voice saying I am hunted by the future, will the future be my past? Or is time a fade out picture of my everlasting cast? Loving is fazing, love is moving to the rhythm of your sight& we get closer to the crossing point of life. This leads into a very slow chant which conjures images for me of memories of another time, long ago in another life

 

12 Odyssey Of The Mind

A spacey outro sums up the album & takes the message away into outer space

 

This is a great album to have in my chill collection. It's trippy & dreamy & completely different from all my other albums. Some people might be put off by the lyrics but the are usually so unclear that they do not becoming annoying after repeated listens. And I usually hate lyrics.

 

Favourites #2 #6 #7! #9 #10 #11

 

Giveit a try. You might like it!

[Jon Cocco]

Enigma's' earlier work is wonderful and I was unaware of this one!!

 

It's just too bad they've rehashed their ideas over the last 7 years with forgettable songs on bearly memorable albums. Enigma's work has become so mainstream and typical sounding, with the same beat they used in Mea Culpa back in more recent non-innovative works. They seem to have run out of ideas over the past 10 years, it's been a slow decline since 1996.

 

I wonder why this third album seems to have gotten less attention.

 

Enigma once made great music and this album is one of them, the most underrated and least known one I presume.

 

Thankfully there are none of those Mea Culpa remixes on it. Thanks for the review!!

 

UPDATE: This is a very good album, and one of their best. Those who generally like Enigma and New Age should definitely check this out. It's only around $2 on amazon or amazon.co.uk.

 

Those who have issues with vocals, singing, and lyrics in New Age (known for not seldom having all three) may be put off by some of this. However I think the chants and women voices work together in beautiful ways and to effect. The guys actual singing however has it's times when I wish it wasn't there...and sometimes, on some tracks it isn't there. Nonetheless, his voice and singing (when he does sing) occasionally takes the "mood" away from the romantic, ethereal music sometimes. Also, the music is often beautiful and relaxing throughout, even the songs with his voice on it.

 

For 1996 this is derserves nothing less than a B for a New Age album. It's very well done.

[snowball]

Thank U Thank U Thank U!!!

[sleepingzombie]

Before adding my review to this cd, let me introduce my relation

with Enigma :

1st album MCMXV (sorry, don't remeber well) : loved this album and listened to it

thousands of times ; 2nd album (forgot the title) : disliked a part from the song

Dream of the dolphin (beautiful ambient vocal/piano song) ; 3rd album Shade behind the mirror : liked very much some songs , expecially those with samples from "carmina burana" .

 

... and now this one .

Its force is the same as its weakness.

Let me explain : it's a good Enigma album , with Enigma feel,

Enigma sound, Enigma samples ... and this is the problem ! it's a good

album only if you are absolutely new to Enigma sound , because it's really

*too* much the same as the previous albums ! It's really too similar

to their previous works ! it's like they're

eternally remaking the same old song in every album .

A part from it, the cd is good : well produced,poetic and relaxing; and ok, its bpm is very quiet but if you feel adrenalinic you don't look for Enigma.

Conclusion : 8 if you own a lounge bar and you are running out of cd to play

during the happy hour , 5 if you have already buyed every Enigma album, beacuse

the sense of "deja-vu" is high.

[seraph]

It is pretty nice album, but least best from the group...yes, it has a story, the concept, but I somehow mind him singing so much. Maybe I got fed up with vocals in general, but I also don't find this album as mystical as their first two...7/10 only.