Assembly (album)

Assembly
Studio album by Theatre of Tragedy
Released April 16, 2002
Recorded Karillo and MD Studios
Genre Industrial rock
Futurepop
Electropop
Length 42:27
Label Nuclear Blast
Producer Hiili Hiilesmaa
Theatre of Tragedy chronology
Closure: Live
(2001)		 Assembly
(2002)		 Storm
(2006)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]
Sea Of Tranquility [2]
Metal Storm [3]
Femme Metal [4]
Electrogarden [5]

Assembly is the fifth music album of Norwegian metal band Theatre of Tragedy, and continued the group's departure from gothic to a more electronic style of metal. This method was described as similar to "Siouxsie and the Banshees jamming with Ace of Base".[6]

The album was the last Theatre of Tragedy album to feature the vocals of Liv Kristine; the band fired her (according to Liv, via email[7]) due to musical differences.

While Musique namechecked radios, streetfighting and nightlife, the songs on Assembly generally focus more on people than technology, such as in "Play" and "Let You Down". The album's modern setting is still emphasised by "Automatic Lover", which refers to modern nightlife, and "Universal Race", which uses space travel as a metaphor for sexual intercourse.

An exclusive version of the album contains a bonus track, a cover of "You Keep Me Hangin' On", originally by The Supremes, and also made famous by Kim Wilde.

The cover art was designed by Thomas Ewerhard, who also made the covers for the next two albums by the band, Storm and Forever Is the World.[8]

The album was re-released on July 27, 2009 as a limited edition of 2000 copies.

Contents

Track listing

  1. "Automatic Lover" – 4:26
  2. "Universal Race" – 3:29
  3. "Episode" – 3:35
  4. "Play" – 3:24
  5. "Superdrive" – 3:48
  6. "Let You Down" – 2:55
  7. "Starlit" – 4:07
  8. "Envision" – 3:51
  9. "Flickerlight" – 3:45
  10. "Liquid Man" – 4:17
  11. "Motion" – 4:42
  12. "You Keep Me Hanging On" – 3:59 (The Supremes cover bonus track on limited releases of the album)

Singles

Two singles were released from this record.

  1. "Envision" was released in 2002. As well as the title track the disc featured the album version of "Superdrive", The Supremes cover "You Keep Me Hangin' On" and a remix of "Envision" (Conetik Remix).
  2. "Let You Down" was also released in 2002. This disc contains (as well as the title track) a Rico Darum & Superdead remix of "Let You Down".

2009 re-release

In July 2009, Metal Mind Productions issued a press release stating that the album was going to be re-released on July 27. The album has been digitally remastered using 24-Bit process on a golden disc and includes 3 bonus tracks, "You Keep Me Hangin' On" (Kim Wilde Cover), "Let You Down" (Remix) and "Motion" (Funker Vogt Remix). The album is limited to 2000 copies. Metalmind

References

  1. ^ Allmusic review
  2. ^ Sea Of Tranquility review
  3. ^ Metal Storm review
  4. ^ Femme Metal review
  5. ^ Electrogarden review
  6. ^ [1]
  7. ^ [2]
  8. ^ "Theatre of Tragedy: new album artwork unveiled". Blabbermouth.net. July 5, 2009. http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=123129. Retrieved July 5, 2009.