At this point in their career,
Theatre of Tragedy
has all but eschewed their
Scandinavian metal
roots in a direction that is a lot closer to
Siouxsie & the Banshees
jamming with
Ace of Base
. No, that's not a joke. Even more surprising,
pulls off the
synth pop
quite admirably. Much of the disc has a somewhat retro quality to it, paying homage to the '80s --
"Play"
sounds like
the Pet Shop Boys
would have sounded had they been clad in black lipstick and leather when recording
"West End Girls"
and
"Superdrive"
could have been the B-side to
"Like a Virgin"
; however, it also has a space-age modern feel as well, further adding to the schizophrenic nature of
Assembly
.
Death metal
growls are completely missing, and frankly, not missed. Like
Mortiis
did with the preceding year's
Smell of Rain
,
made a very credible album that is quite out of character, and they both succeed because of (not in spite of) that very reason. The
black metal
kids will hate it (even the guitars seem to vanish two songs in), but sometimes the view from a dancefloor is a lot nicer than that from a mosh pit. ~ Brian O'Neill