ENIGMA ³* – Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi!

Tend to agree with previous reviews, its an attempt to resurrect the tried and trusted formula of the first album that doesn't bring the vast amount of interest of that first album, it's a relaxed listen but not startling like the MCMXC a. D. album which is a stunning listen especially on SACD

A mixture of the first and second albums. Not his best, but in my opinion the last decent Enigma album, with some gems spread here and there after this.

Hello, I have a version of this CD from Japan that doesn't look like any of the others. It's the same release year but the cover and booklet is very different. Wondering if anyone else has this issue with this CD? Thanks.

You know, this album has always been stirred and mixed in my head with the 90s all-but-the-kitchen-sink videogame experiments by houses like Coktel Vision or, specially, Cryo. And this is because Stephane Picq, author of the better soundtracks of those games (really, listen to his Dune sountrack made in Adlib Gold) was very obviously influenced by the first Enigma album, which at its time was a mix of influences of new age and the first balearic sounds that you can see behind... plus the previous new wave career of Michel Cretu.

And that mix is everywhere here: I feel like this is part of the soundtrack of Lost Eden or Inca, I feel other times that Cretu, despite not being the most poetic lyricist or better singer around, wanted to feel like a superstar giving it all in his raspy echoy shouts (and he was in his right, but really, sometimes I bounce back really hard because of his AYEEEE), and at other times I feel like it could be part of the first BT albums or even Leftfield (who btw sampled the first track in "Not Forgotten") thinking that Cretu's voice was not that far away from the punk rock /electronica blending attempts of Leftfield or BT in their albums (another parenthesis: everyone wanted to hit that target, but it was Prodigy who won the jackpot). But of course he adds the gregorian chants as part of his brand, and the sexy woman voice, and many other things just in case anything needed to stick.

It stuck somewhere and it was a fair success. But honestly, the flow does not work too much mostly because some elements were too cheesy now. I can take the Deep Forest exoticism, I can take the chillout vibe, but the voice... is too much. And he is using a lot of the same rhythm samples as in previous albums. And TNT for the Brain sounds 100% like Stephane Picq's Dune. I like it because it shows production skills and it is ambitious and it is poppy, but it takes me a conscious effort to like it.

The album art was awesome though.

There is a VERY rare vinyl release of this... if I can get all the info I will add it.