Opheliac

Opheliac
Studio album by Emilie Autumn
Released September 1, 2006
October, 2009
Recorded Mad Villain Studios, Chicago
Genre Cabaret, Electronica, Classical, Industrial
Length 85:41
Label Trisol Music Group
The End Records
Emilie Autumn chronology
Enchant
(2003)
Opheliac
(2006)
Laced/Unlaced
(2007)
The Deluxe Edition
Singles from Opheliac
  1. "Opheliac"
    Released: April 2006 (2006-04)
  2. "Dead is the New Alive"
    Released: November 2006 (2006-11)
  3. "Liar"
    Released: November 2006 (2006-11)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]
Amazon [2]

Opheliac is the second studio album by Emilie Autumn released in September 2006 by Trisol Music Group GmbH. Opheliac was recorded at Mad Villain Studios, Chicago, USA. It is the first album by the artist to receive widespread distribution around the world. All of Autumn's previous albums were only available through her own independent record label, Traitor Records.

Contents

Release and Promotion

The album Opheliac was preceded by the Opheliac EP, released in Spring 2006. This was a preview of the full-length album, and featured the first six tracks plus 'Marry Me' and 'Thank God I'm Pretty', the latter as a hidden track following the former. However, track 5 'I Want My Innocence Back' does not play on any one of the copies of the EP, due to a manufacturing error.

In addition to the musical and spoken-word tracks, Opheliac features live concert footage, clips from her performance of 'Misery Loves Company' on the WGN Morning Show on January 12, 2006, and three short video clips entitled "Inside The Asylum: Lessons In Being A Wayward Victorian Girl".

Opheliac was originally released as a limited edition Digipak in Europe on September 1, 2006. Then it was released Worldwide on September 22, 2006, Emilie Autumn's birthday. When this limited edition sold out, it was released in a standard jewelcase edition on February 5, 2007. There is no difference in musical content between the two versions, however the Digipak edition includes an additional "Opheliac" poster.

At some point, a Russian printed version of Opheliac became available. It only features disk one of the "double disk" album, thus, the Russian album normally sells for a lower price (on eBay, prices have been as low as £3 but as high as a normal edition of Opheliac).

As of August 6, 2008 Emilie announced that she will be releasing Opheliac Nationwide in music stores across the US on October 7, 2008. The US release features exclusive tracks, such as "The Art of Suicide - Acoustic" and out-takes from the Opheliac recording sessions.

A third issuing of Opheliac, entitled The Deluxe Edition, was released by The End Records in October 2009 to coincide with her first American tour.

Songs and Lyrics

The album "Opheliac" was completely written by Emilie Autumn, alone. The album name derives from the song "Opheliac" which serves as the lead single of the album. The song "Opheliac" is based on a character from Shakespeare's play Hamlet, named Ophelia. The song centres on the character of Ophelia and quotes from the play are also used.

The song "Shallot" is based on the poem "The Lady of Shallot" by Lord Alfred Tennyson. She has performed this song since 2003 and has performed it at every concert since.

She also talks about her bipolar disorder in the songs "Swallow" and "Misery Loves Company".

Track listing

Standard Edition: Disc One
No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "Opheliac"   Emilie Autumn 5:33
2. "Swallow"   Emilie Autumn 6:15
3. "Liar"   Emilie Autumn 6:01
4. "The Art of Suicide"   Emilie Autumn 5:32
5. "I Want My Innocence Back"   Emilie Autumn 3:48
6. "Misery Loves Company"   Emilie Autumn 4:28
7. "God Help Me"   Emilie Autumn 5:58
8. "Shalott"   Emilie Autumn 4:04
9. "Gothic Lolita"   Emilie Autumn 6:03
10. "Dead is the New Alive"   Emilie Autumn 5:04
11. "I Know Where You Sleep"   Emilie Autumn 3:15
12. "Let the Record Show"   Emilie Autumn 3:54
Standard Edition: Disc Two
No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "Dominant"   Emilie Autumn 3:47
2. "306"   Emilie Autumn 5:36
3. "Thank God I'm Pretty"   Emilie Autumn 4:01
4. "Marry Me"   Emilie Autumn 4:50
5. "Largo for Violin"   Johann Sebastian Bach 4:06
6. "Poem: How to Break a Heart"   Emilie Autumn 1:01
7. "Poem: Ghost"   Emilie Autumn 2:38
8. "Poem: At What Point Does a Shakespeare Say?"   Emilie Autumn 0:36

The Opheliac Companion

In August 2009, Emilie released a companion "album" to Opheliac. This "album consisted of a an interview/chat between Emilie and her "Sound Guy" InkyDust. The discussion covers everything from the musical backing tracks to metaphors used in the lyrics. Containing 15 tracks at a length of aproximatly 8 hours, The album Is currently only available from Emilie's official store and iTunes.

References