Screen Behind the Mirror
click the image to get it in cd-cover size
| Release Date: |
November 30, 1999 |
| Label: |
Virgin Records |
| Rating: |
4.0 |
Description: Michael Cretu, the man behind Enigma, formulates an intriguing symbiosis between New Age musicality, classical and world-music influences, and dance-club rhythms. Gregorian chants, Native American meditations, and the breathy musings of a French chanteuse have been incorporated into legendary dance-floor hits from his previous three albums. The leitmotif of his fourth album,
The Screen Behind the Mirror, is the grandly ominous "O Fortuna" from Carl Orff's
Carmina Burana. "O Fortuna" opens the set and appears repeatedly throughout the tracks, sometimes lurking in the background, sometimes storming into the forefront. This album marks Enigma's continued foray into the ambient New Age realm, as Cretu's efforts focus more and more on melding compatible styles of world music, while the tracks are mixed into a single continuum. There's a lot to chew on; bits and pieces of church bells, Middle Eastern singing, and native instrumentation from you-name-it fold into each other on a steady current of shuffling hip-hop rhythms and velvety synthesized melodies. Cretu lends vocals to several songs, and his voice stands somewhere between Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins (though it's not as good as either), tending to distract from the album's flow and mood, lending it more of a prog-rock feel at times that he probably intended. Albums like this continue to invoke the same question: Is this a beautiful, transcendent union of artificial and indigenous sounds or is it just a bunch of self-indulgent schlock? It can be answered either way with equal conviction.
--Beth Massa
Tracklist of Screen Behind the Mirror
Reviews:
Better Than #3, but Not #1 and #2
The melodies on this CD seem to be more cohesive and enjoyable to chill to than those on their 3rd cd (Le Roi). Smell of Desire is easily my favorite and qualifies as one of the best dark/ambient tracks in my collection. I don't much care for the Carmina Burana stuff laced throughout a few of the songs as I think it clashes with the moody relaxed atmosphere Enigma is so good at creating. As with the previous few CD's, Cretu's vocals are less than impressive, but they don't appear that often on this CD. Push the Limits, Traces, and Endless Quest are also very relaxing. You won't find anything of the caliber of Sadeness or Return to Innocence on this CD, but it's still a good CD nonetheless.
powerful secrets
It is very interesting to discover the prevalent Carmina Burana thread to this work - despite no mention of this on the sleeve. Obviously a bold and potentially disastrous move - interweaving one's own work through this monumental thread - is pulled off with aplomb by Michael Cretu, aka Enigma. These songs are mysterious, deeply moving and varied. Overall, this guy is still at the bleeding edge of trance/pop/new age mélange and his keen vision justifies the usurping of one of the most amazing pieces of classical music ever heard. He took a risk and made it work.
Pushing the Limits
Just like previous Enigma albums "Screen Behind the Mirror" is a beautiful sound experience. It has influences from a bit of everything but the classic mysterious Enigma sound is still dominant on the album. Ambient, World Music and some more rock indfluented songs are all good, however I personally prefer the instrumental songs that creates a special feeling to the listener. It opens with "The Gate" that is a classic indrudution of what's coming, "Push the Limits" got electro sound and it isn't one of the best here. "Gravity of love" has a woman singing. It's a deep and magical song. "Smell Of Desire" is my favorite here. It's instrumental with flutes, guitars and slow drums. "Modern Crusaders" is rock influented and it's perhaps the roughest song Enimga has made, but even on their previous album we saw hints of Cretu's passion to express himself in words and he did that with a good result. This song isn't one of my favorites coming from the ambient Enigma but it's far from a bad song either. "Traces" is very beautiful. It's slow and it has got the sound of water dripping. The title track is odd, it has a beautiful sound and voices in the backround I don't understand. But it's mysterious which I like. "Endless Quest" is another flute song. Could have been influented from native americans. Wonderful. "Camera Obscura" is Cretu's own interpretation of the classic opera anthem, It will ring a bell when you hear it. A decent song, but not his own. "Between Mind and Soul" is a classic Enimga song with many influents, especially gregorian. The last song "Silence Must be heard" is a song with a female singer, it would have like to have it slower though. Overall this album is exellent, I didn't like all the songs but Enimgma delivers what the listeners want to hear from them. It's a album with many influensts that never will become repetitive or ordinary. "Screen Behind the Mirror" is the 4th Enimga album, and it's almsot just as good as the others. Exellent experience, don't miss your opportunity.
