Gasta

PS: I would refer to it as "pagan metal," which has no "ethnic" connotation, so it won't lead anyone astray :) Sorry for the picky comments.

But I say that it is wrong to associate the term "viking," precisely because of the "themes dear to their land" :) Viking, if we wanted to be historically/philologically correct, should only be associated with bands - that propose a sound akin to the idea of "viking" - coming from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, etc. (not Finland, which has a different linguistic background, Uralic-Finnic). I don't know if you understand what I mean... For Primordial, BECAUSE OF THE THEMES OF THEIR LAND, one cannot speak of viking (even if it has perhaps been done), since THEY ARE NOT a Viking people. I hope I have explained myself better ;-) I don't want to sound like a know-it-all, just trying to clearly define something :)

*Vikings and Celts...

Well done; I only object to that "viking" mentioned a couple of times and now I'll explain why: it's philologically incorrect, since they are Irish and deal, I believe, with themes related to their people. Vikings and Celts are two very different things :) Try telling an Irishman from the 11th century "Viking!"...he'll knock you out, considering that (the Vikings) had occupied their (the Irish's) major ports to the east :D I've always heard very good things about them, but I've never really listened to them seriously, I've only heard a little bit. I'll have to dig deeper. Cheers!

*At first, I wanted to write "assimilated," of course. Please forgive any other nonsense :)

So... a few years ago, after getting used to the trio ToT-Velvet Darkness-Aégis (the latter took me a while to assimilate due to the "contrast" with the first two), hearing this "Musique" (which to be honest I heard after the HORRIBLE "Assembly"... that was truly an unprecedented shock) was difficult. It’s inevitable to think about the golden years 1995-1998, about what they could have (perhaps) still done on that front, but mostly about the WHY of this revolutionary change in their sound. That’s something I still need to understand, the reason behind it. Do you think that in a couple of years (as I mentioned, there were some hints on "Aégis", even if minimal, and even more so in the EP "A Rose For The Dead" from 1999) Raymond became so madly in love with Kraftwerk-style electronics that he wanted to completely deny everything that had been done before? I’m not saying that change isn’t necessary, far from it! It’s just that such a radical change is... too much! In my opinion, "Aégis" isn’t exactly a bridge to this "Musique"; I see a much more abrupt change. That said, let’s move on to the album. As mentioned, I was shocked and it took me about a couple of years to learn how to listen to it. Yes, learn. Because I had to separate the various periods, try to associate the moniker "Theatre Of Tragedy" with the first three works and attempt to listen to the rest in a more detached way, as if they were another band. I had to do this with several other albums... just to name one: "34.788%...Complete" by My Dying Bride, another heavy shock. So I learned to listen to it, without trying to compare it to the previous albums, and I must say it’s not bad at all. I would give it a 3.5, rounded down though. The electro-industrial solutions are engaging, and the choruses are damn "sticky." Best track (in my opinion): "Crash / Concrete" (maybe because it’s the only one where the vocals try to get a bit more violent?...who knows... :D ). Sorry for the long post. Au revoir!

@Hairy-mouse: noooo, come on! Maybe because it's taken out of the context... but the beginning of the first track (from which that sample is extracted) is actually not bad at all.

A thank you to the voters... bye!

Hi! I don't know the group/the album/the genre... so I'm not commenting. I'm giving it a 4 for some imperfections in form/oversights, the most glaring of which is syntactical ("è come si abbia la piena consapevolezza"; I would have written "è come se si avesse la piena..."). À bientôt.

I'll try with "Trees In Winter" :) Thank you, bye