''Musique'' is the fourth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by the

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

band

Theatre of Tragedy Theatre of Tragedy was a Norwegian band from Stavanger, active between 1993 and 2010. They are best known for their earlier albums, which influenced the gothic metal genre. History Formation (1993) Theatre of Tragedy was founded on 2 October 19 ...

, released in 2000. The title on the album's cover, , is the pronunciation of the English word "music" transcribed in the

International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic transcription, phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standa ...

. ''Musique'' is the album that marked for the band the change from

gothic metal Gothic metal (or goth metal) is a fusion genre combining the aggression of heavy metal with the dark atmospheres of gothic rock. The music of gothic metal is diverse with bands known to adopt the gothic approach to different styles of heavy met ...

with

Early Modern English Early Modern English or Early New English (sometimes abbreviated EModE, EMnE, or ENE) is the stage of the English language from the beginning of the Tudor period to the English Interregnum and Restoration, or from the transition from Middle E ...

lyrics to a more

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

style, using Modern English. The change in musical direction for Theatre of Tragedy was associated with a change from traditional gothic and supernatural themes to lyrics based on modern life, including technology ("Machine", "Radio"), nightlife ("Image", "The New Man") and streetfighting ("Crash/Concrete"). The song "Commute" has the line "It's more fun to commute" in its lyrics, possibly a reference to

Kraftwerk Kraftwerk (, "power station") is a German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk were among the first successful acts to popularize the ...

's "It's more fun to compute" from their ''

Computer World ''Computer World'' (german: link=no, Computerwelt) is the eighth studio album by German electronic band Kraftwerk, released on 10 May 1981. The album deals with the themes of the rise of computers within society. In keeping with the album's con ...

'' album, which in turn is a reference to "It's more fun to compete" found on old pinball machines. Metal Mind Productions reissued the album after it had been digitally remastered using a 24-bit process on a golden disc. It includes three bonus tracks, "Quirk" (Original Version) - also known as the original version of "Image" - , "Radio" (Unreleased Mix) and "Reverie" (Unreleased Mix). The reissue is limited to 2,000 copies and was released in Europe on 27 July 2009.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Theatre of Tragedy. On the back of the album's casing, "Space Age" is written in

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

: "''Космическая эра''"; moreover, the words "''Гагарина, Терешковой, Леонова, Лайки, Белки и Стрелки''" ("''Of Gagarin, Tereshkova, Leonov, of

Laika Laika (russian: link=no, Лайка; – 3 November 1957) was a Soviet space dog who was one of the first animals in space and the first to orbit the Earth. A stray mongrel from the streets of Moscow, she flew aboard the Sputnik 2 spacecra ...

Belka and Strelka Belka (Белка, literally, "squirrel", or alternatively "Whitey") and Strelka (Стрелка, "little arrow") spent a day in space aboard Korabl-Sputnik 2 (Sputnik 5) on 19 August 1960 before safely returning to Earth. They are the first hig ...

''") are recited throughout the song. The song "Reverie" begins with loading of a

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as t ...

program from an audio cassette.

Personnel

Theatre of Tragedy

*Raymond I. Rohonyi - vocals, programming *

Liv Kristine Espenæs Liv Kristine Espenæs (born 14 February 1976) is a Norwegian singer who has performed and composed songs mostly for various subgenres of heavy metal music. She started her career in the music industry as a vocalist for the gothic metal band Th ...

- vocals *

Frank Claussen Frank Claussen (born 19 March 1976 in Stavanger) is a Norwegian heavy metal guitarist. From 1997 to 2010 he played in Theatre of Tragedy, and with them released six studio albums, a live album and several studio EP's. With Theatre of Traged ...

- guitars *

Lorentz Aspen Lorentz Aspen (born 23 April 1978 in Stavanger) is a Norwegian heavy metal pianist and keyboardist. He played in Theatre of Tragedy from 2 October 1993 to 2 October 2010 and with them he released seven studio albums, one live album and five EP ...

- keyboards *

Hein Frode Hansen Hein Frode Hansen (born 25 March 1972 in Haugesund) is a Norwegian heavy metal drummer. He was the original vocalist of the power metal band Serpent, formed in 1989. In 1990 he started playing drums in the death metal band Phobia. Both bands b ...

- drums

Additional musicians

*Erik Andre Rydningen - additional drums *Erik Ljunggren - keyboards and programming

Production

*Erik Ljunggren - producer, engineer *Jon Marius Aareskjold - engineer *Ulf W. Ø. Holand - engineer and mixing

Singles

Two tracks from ''Musique'' were released as singles. *"Image" was released in 2000. This single had the album version of "Machine" plus remixes of "Fragment" (by Element) and "Machine" (by

VNV Nation VNV Nation is an Irish alternative electronic project led by Ronan Harris in the roles of singer, songwriter, and producer. VNV Nation's sound combines lyrics with sounds that ranges from melodic industrial dance anthems, to haunting ballads ...

). *''Machine'' was released as an EP in 2001. The EP had the same remixes of "Fragment" and "Machine" which were on the "Image" single. The EP also had the French version of "Image", a remix of "Reverie" and "Radio". The multimedia content on the disc is the video for "Image".

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2000 albums Theatre of Tragedy albums Nuclear Blast albums East West Records albums