La Roi est Mort. Vive le Roi!

Review by Daniel Ewacha

This CD offers love, sympathy, madness, sadness, truth, lies, confusion, distortion, emotion on all levels, happiness and surrealism, questions the unquestionable and attempts to find an answer. The joke, however, is on us, as the solution is as rhetorical as it gets. More importantly, after you listen to the third Enigma CD, La Roi est Mort. Vive le Roi!, you are offered completeness and satisfaction.

From the odd signature Gregorian chant to whale calls, to ethnic vocals of a Mongolian influence, to the various samples, drum loops, sequencers and synthesizers, the listener takes part in a soul-searching journey that leaves one yearning for more of the genius that is Michael Cretu.

What this particular disc offers isn't as important as to whom the disc is offered. Everyone, to be precise, from your most hardcore Iron Maiden fan to a Mozart connoisseur. There is something for everyone and no one can deny how intensely beautiful this disc is. Particularly moving are the cuts "Why!...," "The Child in Us" and "Prism of Life," all of which leave no doubt in my mind that, given the right mood, they will drive you to tears of sadness or happiness, depending on your state of euphoria at any given time.

Granted, this disc doesn't take really any effort to listen to; but with so many things in life needing effort, why should music, a form of entertainment, need any? Enjoy the CD for what it is -- a fantastic piece of work.