''The Screen Behind the Mirror'' is the fourth studio album by the German musical project

Enigma Enigma may refer to: *Riddle, someone or something that is mysterious or puzzling Biology *ENIGMA, a class of gene in the LIM domain Computing and technology * Enigma (company), a New York-based data-technology startup * Enigma machine, a family ...

, released on 14 January 2000 by

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...

. It was recorded at the A.R.T. Studios in

Ibiza Ibiza (natively and officially in ca, Eivissa, ) is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, in Spain. Its l ...

, Spain.

Composition

"The Gate" begins the album with its trademark Enigma horn, fused together with Elisabeth Houghton narrating astronomical facts about the fourth planet from the sun,

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...

, similar to the ending title track of

Vangelis Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou ( el, Ευάγγελος Οδυσσέας Παπαθανασίου ; 29 March 1943 – 17 May 2022), known professionally as Vangelis ( ; el, Βαγγέλης, links=no ), was a Greek composer and arranger of ...

' album, ''

Albedo 0.39 ''Albedo 0.39'' is a studio album by the Greek electronic composer Vangelis, released in 1976. It was the second album produced by Vangelis in Nemo Studios, London, which was his creative base until the late 1980s. It contrasts with his previous ...

''. "O Fortuna, velut Luna, statu variabilis" cuts into it rather abruptly and loudly, and ends quickly for the voice to continue the recital unfazed, as it continues deep into the next song, " Push the Limits" for 24 seconds. "Push the Limits" introduces first a high-paced beat, first some snare drums and then several other layers of music gradually to form a complex and multilayered track. Elisabeth Houghton whispers the lyrics to the song and this brings in a presumably mellow voice (actually an

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

solo modified to sound so) throughout the slow centre of the track, and as the music picks up, Elisabeth whispers again and the soft moans of a girl enters. Further strong beats brings an end to this 6'26" track as it fades to silence, leaving a blurry mumble at the end of the song, and the beginning of the next one. Chants of "O Fortuna, velut Luna" appears at the start of the next song, " Gravity of Love" as

Ruth-Ann Boyle Ruth-Ann Boyle (born 26 April 1970, Sunderland, England) is an English pop singer. Together with producers Tim Kellett and Robin Taylor-Firth, she formed the British band Olive. The band's single " You're Not Alone" reached number 1 in the UK S ...

sings with sounds of "

O Fortuna "O Fortuna" is a medieval Latin Goliardic poem which is part of the collection known as the ''Carmina Burana'', written early in the 13th century. It is a complaint about Fortuna, the inexorable fate that rules both gods and mortals in Roman and ...

" in between. A woman and a man whispers a line each before Ruth-Ann resumes and "O Fortuna" comes in, following the same pattern. The beats of this track becomes more and more audible as each of the instruments fade away, and eventually it stops. "Smell of Desire" reintroduces the shakuhachi flute from the '' MCMXC a.D.'' as

Jens Gad Jens Gad is a German producer, songwriter and guitarist of Danish parents. He started making music at young age. Gad produces music for many artists (Sandra Cretu / Sandra Gambino) and was previously co-producer for the musical project, Enigma. I ...

plays the

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

occasionally in the middle of the song. Reversed

Gregorian chant Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed mainly in western and central Europe durin ...

s from "Sadeness (Reprise)" and vocals from "Mea Culpa" lead to Sandra Cretu's whispers at song's end with more reversed chants and fades into the next track. Andru Donalds sings on this high tempo and rock-ish song, "Modern Crusaders", with significantly large portions of "O Fortuna" in the middle as Jens Gad plays the guitar. Andru continues on with the vocals and the track ends with an organ sample from

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

's "

Toccata and Fugue in D Minor The Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565, is a piece of organ music written, according to its oldest extant sources, by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750). The piece opens with a toccata section, followed by a fugue that ends in a coda. Schol ...

". In "Traces (Light and Weight)", the sounds of a match being struck and water droplets, symbolising the elements of

fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition ...

and

water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...

respectively, form a loop together with a light beat, and the chiming of

church bells A church bell in Christian architecture is a bell which is rung in a church for a variety of religious purposes, and can be heard outside the building. Traditionally they are used to call worshippers to the church for a communal service, and t ...

entering occasionally. A vague crying sound and the chiming continues and after the beat stops, it fades into the following song. "The Screen Behind the Mirror" reintroduces the beat used in "

Sadeness (Part I) "Sadeness (Part I)" is a song by German musical project Enigma, released in 1990 as the debut single from their first album, '' MCMXC a.D.'' (1990). It became an international hit, reaching number one in 14 countries. In the United States, the son ...

" as vocals from Andru Donalds and

sing part of the lyrics from "Gravity of Love". An earlier version of this song, named "The Experience" only appears on the Australian promo version of the album. The previous song crossfades into "Endless Quest", where further more snare drums and shakuhachi flutes can be heard, with two different guitar riffs from Jens Gad replacing the former two instruments. The paces turns uncontrollably high and somewhat erratic before it stops with sounds of heavy breathing and

segue A segue (; ) is a smooth transition from one topic or section to the next. The term is derived from Italian ''segue'', which literally means "follows". In music In music, ''segue'' is a direction to the performer. It means ''continue (the next ...

s into "Camera Obscura", where it immediately starts with a sample of "Modern Crusaders" with Michael Cretu on vocals, being reversed and sections of "O Fortuna" being followed up quickly. The pace and music then turns erratic and chaotic, and fades gently into the next song. "Between Mind & Heart" brings in a light and breezy pace and

Michael Cretu Michael Cretu ( ro, Mihai Crețu, ; born 18 May 1957) is a Romanian-German musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He gained worldwide fame as the founder and musician behind the musical project Enigma, which he formed in 1990. Cretu ...

sings in this track.

Sandra Cretu Sandra Ann Lauer (born 18 May 1962), commonly known under her stage name Sandra and Sandra Cretu (), is a Franco-German pop singer who enjoyed mainstream popularity in the 1980s and early 1990s with a string of European hit singles, produced ...

only appears in this track for the whispers as sounds of gentle, ethereal Chinese

yangqin The trapezoidal yangqin () is a Chinese hammered dulcimer, likely derived from the Iranian santur or the European dulcimer. It used to be written with the characters 洋琴 (lit. "foreign zither"), but over time the first character changed ...

can be heard. It fades with more whispers and vocals. Ruth-Anne Boyle sings in the last track, "Silence Must Be Heard" as the album picks up its pace, with echoes in the middle. The effect repeats itself again for one more time as it quickly resumes back the original pace. Ruth-Ann's vocals turn into whispers and the earlier crying voice enters, before ending the album with the signature Enigma horn. The song "Modern Crusaders" is used as the second ending theme song for the '' Golden Wind'' arc of the ''

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki. It was originally serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1987 to 2004, and was transferred to the monthly ''seinen'' manga ...

'' anime series; the series had previously referenced Enigma as the namesake of an antagonist's anthropomorphic "Stand" ability in the '' Diamond Is Unbreakable'' arc.

Reception

Heather Phares of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

wrote, "Though it doesn't reveal significant growth or change in Enigma's work, ''The Screen Behind the Mirror'' will please fans of the group's other atmospheric works."

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''The Screen Behind the Mirror''. * Elisabeth Houghton – voices *

– voices * Ruth-Ann – lead vocals * Andru Donalds – lead vocals *

– lead vocals, engineering, production *

– guitars, engineering * Johann Zambryski – art direction * Lmp – design * Steffen Jagenburg – some original photography

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

References

External links

Short article about the album
{{DEFAULTSORT:Screen Behind The Mirror, The 2000 albums Albums produced by Michael Cretu Enigma (German band) albums Virgin Records albums JoJo's Bizarre Adventure songs