Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the biggest disappointment of 2002.

When I first started listening to TOT, they were still doom metal, some writers even went as far as calling them one of the most influential gothic bands of the 1990's, shaping the sound of other bands, and the genre. Then came "Musique" which I enjoyed, but if you read issue one, our chris parasyte had some mixed feelings as well. Now their latest release Assembly makes me say "Okay, enough is enough!!!" I haven't seen someone pull something so obviously stupid since Paradise Lost made their little change. Sorry fellas, the only pop I like comes in a bottle.

Assembly is an even more drastic change than before, track one for example, Automatic Lover, utilizes about 4 lines and proceeds to repeat it every chance they get. Liv Kristine is straining to sound cool, and same with male vocalist Raymond, who's vocals here and pushing hip hop. Here, have some more weed.

The entire CD's synth work is weak and flat, way too much pressure was placed on these synth lines and guitars, which are formed in such a manner you would swear belt buckles were hitting the floor for a top 40 hit. As far as vocals go, Liv Kristine is nothing of what she used to be and Raymond could never sing to begin with, he growled in the early stuff when they were still doom metal and did a decent job in Aegis, other than that, shut-up! Oh look, Raymond techs his voice up . . . shut up!!

Another lovely quality they managed to pull off is lack of danceability, since the tracks lack oomph I seriously doubt this will be anything more than a floor killer, killer being used in the die die die sense of coarse.
When I looked at their web site after I heard Assembly I thought to myself "Jesus H Christ, these guys must have spent more time on their hair than the bloody album" The biggest problem with constantly changing the sound of your music is that it will make you an amateur of your genre, by not allowing yourself to get good at the music you do.

A neutral way of describing this album is perky and happy, which brings me to the next point, where the hell does the "Tragedy" in Theatre of Tragedy come in, or the Theatre for that matter. At least they didn't go with their original band name idea "Suffering Grief" then

again, it would probably suit this album.
The album is filled with songs you will hate to begin with and only like after hearing a hundred times, perfect for the radio!

-Azriel J. Knight