Assembly

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.