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Enigma: The Fall of a Rebel Angel

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Island Records (Universal Music)
Released: 2016.11.11
Time:
 44:51
Category: New Age, Pop
Producer(s): Michael Cretu
Rating:
Media type: CD
Web address: www.enigmaspace.com
Appears with: Michael Cretu
Purchase date: 2016
Price in €: 1,00





 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Circle Eight [feat. Nanuk] (M.Cretu/M.Kunze) - 2:19
[2] The Omega Point (M.Cretu/M.Kunze) - 5:39
[3] Diving (M.Cretu/M.Kunze) - 2:52
[4] The Die Is Cast [feat. Mark Josher] (M.Cretu/M.Kunze) - 4:16
[5] Mother [feat. Anggun] (M.Cretu/M.Kunze) - 3:38
[6] Agnus Dei (M.Cretu/M.Kunze) - 3:57
[7] Sadeness (Part II) [feat. Anggun] (M.Cretu/M.Kunze) - 4:09
[8] Lost in Nothingness (M.Cretu/M.Kunze) - 3:20
[9] Oxygen Red [feat. Anggun] (M.Cretu/M.Kunze) - 4:02
[10] Confession of the Mind (M.Cretu/M.Kunze) - 3:47
[11] Absolvo (M.Cretu/M.Kunze) - 2:01
[12] Amen [feat. Aquilo] (M.Cretu/M.Kunze) - 4:52

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Michael Cretu - Music, Lyrics, Story, Producer, Programming, Arrangements, Engineering

Anggun - Vocals on [5,7,9]
Aquilo - Vocals on [12]
Nanuk - Voice on [1]
Mark Josher - Vocals on [4]

Wolfgang Beltracchi - Cover Art, Original Painting
Michael Kunze - Story, Co-Author
Ian Wood - Album Story Narrator (English)
Manuel Sanchez Fraguas - Album Story Narrator (Spanish)
Patrice Luc Doumeyrou - Album Story Narrator (French)
Büro Dirk Rudolph - Artwork

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


Recorded in March 2015 – May 2016 - at the Merlin, an all-in-one mobile digital studio.



There is poignant irony in the fact that Enigma's Michael Cretu chose painter Wolfgang Beltracchi, the world's most famous art forger, to illustrate The Fall of a Rebel Angel, his first album in eight years. Enigma has been, since its 1990 debut album MCMXC A.D., a lush, carefully strategized, and orchestrated melange of electronic and cinematic styles (from crossover classical and new age to ambient and rock), with expansive textures, samples, and beats. He too is a copyist, and it works on a commercial level: He's sold over 70 million records.

The Fall of a Rebel Angel is a concept album about the evolution, redemption, and transformation of an unspecified protagonist. It's a conscious attempt to recapture the spirit and aesthetic of MCMXC A.D. in what Cretu says is "a new musical language." Each track contains a part of the narrative journey (adapted from an epic poem by Michael Kunze), and is represented in the booklet by an accompanying print of an original Beltracchi painting. The set's first single, "Sadeness (Part II)," is a sequel to MCMXC A.D.'s global smash of the same name. It features one of three vocal performances by France-based Indonesian pop singer Anggun. The intro is excerpted from Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" and introduces dubby loops, tablas, a classical choir, Gregorian chant (of course), and ritual singing by members of Taiwan's Ami Tribe. Anggun's breathy, seductive spoken word is answered by her remarkable singing voice. Her performance on "Mother" is a whispered hush, with overtly Oedipal overtones. On "Oxygen Red," she and Cretu head straight for the club floor. Her vocal is chopped, spindled through a vocoder and sped up with Auto-Tune, but framed by an anthemic chorus and majestic dubstep breaks - it works. Cretu also collaborates with vocalist Nanuk on opener "Circle Eight" that offers new age drones and wordless voices layered atop a spacy drift that spookily recalls Vangelis' Blade Runner score. Brazilian singer/songwriter Mark Josher adds his proto-Bahia soul to the "The Die Is Cast," which is the set's best track. The closer "Amen" features electro pop duo Aquilo over pillowy layers of smeared chants, syrupy beats, and chorus vocals. A slow 4/4 tom-tom rumble builds the track up as swirling ambient soundtrack-esque effects send it, and the album, into emptiness. The Fall of a Rebel Angel may signify a new direction for Cretu, but given that the roots of all of these productions lie in a record 25 years old, there's only so much he can do. That said, given his tremendous commercial success and catalog, it's not like Enigma's legions of fans - who've been patiently waiting for eight long years - will care. It delivers what's expected: nocturnal, atmospheric, seductive - and yes, nostalgic - pleasure.

Thom Jurek - All Music Guide



Over 25 years since the release of the ground-breaking debut ENIGMA album, MCMXC a.D., Michael Cretu the founder of this genre-defying act, and its composer and producer has announced a brand new project, The Fall Of A Rebel Angel. The musical act, known globally as ENIGMA, has proved one of the most successful of the last quarter-century, delivering more than 70 million sales across seven albums, 60 Number One albums around the world, and in excess of 100 Platinum awards. Now, in 2016, Cretu re-connects with the bold, pioneering musical sound-world of that very first multi-platinum album a unique and timeless world that touched millions across the globe, and helped define the musical landscape of an entire generation.

Amazon.com



The Fall of a Rebel Angel is the eighth studio album from the German musical project Enigma, released on 11 November 2016 by Republic Records. The first studio album since Seven Lives Many Faces (2008), it is a concept album that tells the story, developed by Enigma's founder, producer and principal composer Michael Cretu and German lyricist and librettist Michael Kunze, of a protagonist's journey of development and change to find a new, fulfilling life. Its artwork was designed by Wolfgang Beltracchi.

The Fall of a Rebel Angel is the first release from Enigma since its 2010 fan collaboration track "MMX (The Social Song)" to commemorate the group's twentieth anniversary, and first studio album since Seven Lives Many Faces (2008). Michael Cretu, Enigma's founder, principal composer and producer, spent one year "testing and experimenting" for a new Enigma studio album prior to recording. Cretu aimed to return to the Enigma sound adopted in its early years which earned the group its biggest international commercial and critical success, adding his wish "to transfer the spirit of Enigma's beginnings to the here and now, but in a new musical language".

On 19 March 2015, a quote from Cretu posted on the official Enigma page on Facebook revealed that recording for The Fall of a Rebel Angel had begun. A video update posted on 19 January 2016 revealed that five months were left to complete the album, during which three songs had yet to be completed. The album features four guest artists: Brazilian singer-songwriter Mark Josher, Indonesian singer Anggun, Nanuk as female voice in intro, and English electro-pop duo Aquilo. Its artwork was designed and illustrated by German artist Wolfgang Beltracchi, who also designed 12 paintings that accompany each of the album's "chapters".

The album was recorded on Merlin, an all-in-one mobile digital studio that is the successor to a larger version of the unit named Alchemist, which Cretu operated to record Seven Lives Many Faces. First used to record "MMX (The Social Song)", Merlin is roughly one third the size and weight of Alchemist and incorporates an Apple Mac Pro computer running the Logic Pro digital audio workstation software, an LG 21:9 aspect ratio monitor, three 3 TB LaCie hard disks, a Mark of the Unicorn analog/digital interface, an 88-key keyboard, and surround sound speakers.

The Fall of a Rebel Angel is a concept album formed of 12 "chapter-like" tracks that tells a surreal narrative, based on an epic poem written for the album by German lyricist and librettist Michael Kunze, about a male protagonist's journey of development and change to find a new, fulfilling life. Cretu described the story as a "symbolic journey to redemption – with everyone to define his individual path" combined with "psychedelic undertones". He quotes from various literature, religious, and pop culture sources to aid the story which includes themes of sexuality, faith, and death. In one chapter, the character wonders through an imaginary town and encounters a priestess whose god is the Marquis de Sade, thus becoming a continuation of the story to "Sadeness (Part I)", the worldwide hit single from Enigma's debut album, MCMXC a.D. (1990). The story concludes with the individual breaking their own reflection in the water of a lake, accepting responsibility of its life.

wikipedia.org



Über 25 Jahre nach der Veröffentlichung des bahnbrechenden ersten Enigma Albums MCMXC a.D., erscheint 2016 das neue Album des stilprägenden Projektes von Mastermind Michael Cretu, The Fall Of A Rebel Angel.

Enigma ist mit über 70 Millionen weltweit verkauften Alben, 60 Nummer 1 Chartpositionen und mehr als 100 Platinauszeichnungen über die letzten 7 Alben in einem Vierteljahrhundert eines der erfolgreichsten deutschen Musikprojekte überhaupt.

Nun, 8 Jahre nach dem letzten Album greift Produzent und Komponist Cretu die mystischen Soundwelten des ersten Multi-Platin Albums wieder auf und transferiert den zeitlosen Klangkosmos, ins Hier und Jetzt.

Das Album erzählt in 12 Kapiteln die Geschichte fiktiven Protagonisten, der sich, stellvertretend für uns alle, auf eine symbolische Reise zu einem neuen, erfüllten Leben begibt. Zu jedem Kapitel hat einer der außergewöhnlichsten und widersprüchlichsten Maler unserer Zeit, Wolfgang Beltracchi, ein eigenes Gemälde geschaffen, dass die mystische Erzählung, von Grammy- und Echo-Gewinner Michael Kunze in Zusammenarbeit mit Michael Cretu erdacht, eindrucksvoll bebildert.

Die Deluxe Edition von The Fall Of A Rebel Angel ist eine Doppel CD im hochwertigen Digipack mit einem 40-seitigen Booklet, dem kompletten Album und einer Bonus CD, die die Geschichte von The Fall Of A Rebel Angel in drei Sprachen als vorgelesene und musikalisch begleitete Audioversion enthält.

Amazon.de



Jede Wartemarke an der Fleischtheke hat mehr Inhalt.

"Ich schätze es sehr, dass man nur meine Musik kennt, ich aber trotzdem noch unerkannt durch die Straßen laufen kann." Angesichts des neuen Enigma-Albums "The Fall Of A Rebel Angel" kann man Michael Cretu zur popkulturellen Tarnkappe nur gratulieren. Denn viel Freundliches würde den Passanten sicherlich nicht einfallen.

Zugegeben: Das Projekt hat seine Meriten. Dank des Debütalbums "MCMXC A.D." von 1990 gilt Enigma weltweit als Inbegriff des kommerziellen Sakro-Pop. Doch was dereinst als sexy Statement gegen Prüderie funktionierte, eine mönchisch-mystische Clubästhetik erfand und den Zeitgeist definierte, verkam im Laufe von 25 Jahren zum ranzigen Klosterfrau Melissenzombie. Spätestens diese Platte birgt nur noch Schimmelpilz unter der bereits mottenzerfressenen Kutte.

"The Fall Of A Rebel Angel" lädt auf eine philosophische Sinnsuche samt Marquis de Sade und groß angelegter Symbolik ein - internationale Gaststars inklusive. Doch je näher man der Scheibe kommt, desto mehr entpuppt sie sich als Trugbild. Die Story ist nicht ansatzweise der Rede wert. Jede an der Fleischtheke gezogene Wartemarke hat mehr Inhalt. Den großen französischen Denker missbraucht Cretu dazu eiskalt kalkuliert als nützliches Feigenblatt und degradiert ihn zum Stichwortgeber.

Co-Autor Michael Kunze ist ohnehin ein Meister darin, große Stoffe wie Polanskis "Tanz Der Vampire" oder das Leben der K.u.K-Monarchin Elisabeth in gleichnamigen Musicals zu verwässern. Auch hier macht er seinem Hang zur niedersten Musikform seit es Theater gibt alle Ehre. Die Darbietung von Sängerin Anggun transportiert so viel Ausstrahlung, wie es ihr 22. Platz beim 2012er ESC in Aserbaidschan vermuten lässt.

Übrig bleibt Cretus auffallend angestrengter Versuch, seine blechernen Soundscapes ins goldene Ikonenregal neben kreative Könner wie beispielsweise Jean Michel Jarre zu mogeln. Der provinzielle Schuss geht komplett nach hinten los und offenbart ein grachtenbreites Qualitätsgefälle wie zwischen Tiffany's und Kik.

Große Teile der Platte klingen nach dem in Eso-Kreisen beliebten Unterwasser-Effekt. Am Ende der Scheibe weiß man dann: Das Album gehört auch versenkt. Drumherum drapiert der Rumäne immergleichen, ramschigem Trance-Pop und Billig-Ambient.

Die in angedeuteter Terrassendynamik gepushten Melodien sollen geheimnisvolle Spannung aufbauen. Neben den nicht vorhandenen oder höchstens kinderliedhaften Melodien steht sogar manches Schiller-Verbrechen wie großes Songwriting da. Quälender Cher-Effekt, ausgelutschtester Monk-Pop, unpassendes Indianergeheule und die fadenscheinigste Klassikverwurstung seit Bachs Hinscheiden.

Mit "Sadeness (Part II)" reißt Cretu dann restlos alles nieder, was er vor einem Vierteljahrhundert mit dem ersten Teil aufgebaut hat. Während Exfrau Sandra seinerzeit tatsächlich einen Hauch Eros versprühte, reicht es bei Anggun lediglich zu verschnupft-sterilem Geflüster für angetrunkene "Fifty Shades Of Grey"-Vetteln.

Das penetrante Bach-Zitat stellt dazu unfreillig die Frage, wie sehr man sein gebeuteltes Publikum unterschätzt oder hasst. Wie sonst könnte man die jahrzehntelang praktizierte Idee aller Klischee-Gregorianiker begreifen, diesem in Dauerschleife "Toccata & Fuge" rein zu würgen, als ob es kein anderes Klassikstück auf Erden gäbe? Doch mit diesem Rätsel bleibt der verstörte Hörer allein zurück.

Rating: 1/5

Ulf Kubanke - laut.de-Kritik
 

 L y r i c s


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 M P 3   S a m p l e s


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