Released 1995 Producer Sopor Aeternus Label Apocalyptic Vision | Length 74:49 Release date 1995 Genre Dark wave | |
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Todeswunsch - Sous le soleil de Saturne
(1995) Ehjeh Ascher Ehjeh
(1995) Artist Sopor Aeternus & the Ensemble of Shadows Similar Sopor Aeternus & the Ensemble of Shadows albums, Other albums | ||
Sopor aeternus the ensemble of shadows todeswunsch sous le soleil de saturne full album
Todeswunsch - Sous le soleil de Saturne (German and French: "Death wish - Under the sun of Saturn") is the second album by darkwave band Sopor Aeternus & the Ensemble of Shadows and was released in 1995. Todeswunsch saw a fundamental change in sound, abandoning the heavily synthesized darkwave music for a sound akin to the Renaissance and neo-Medieval music. A limited pressing of 3,000 CDs was initially available, and the album has been re-released at least three times. An accompanying EP, Ehjeh Ascher Ehjeh, was released later that year.
Contents
Overview
"Todeswunch" was a major departure from Sopor Aeternus' first album, "...Ich töte mich jedesmal aufs Neue, doch ich bin unsterblich, und ich erstehe wieder auf; in einer Vision der Untergangs...", in that the aggressive synthesized music of the first record was replaced with ornate Renaissance- and Baroque-inspired folk music. Brass, woodwinds and acoustic guitars came to the fore, while drum machines were largely abandoned for varying amounts of hand percussion. Shrill female vocals also resound throughout the album, all of them provided by Anna-Varney Cantodea herself.
The album quotes heavily from other works. One example is the title track, where the music is a darkwave version of Cat Stevens' "I Think I See the Light". "Drama der Geschlechtslosigkeit (part 2)" employs the melody from "Chim Chim Cher-ee", as featured in Mary Poppins, while "Shadowsphere" quotes the bass lines from Black Sabbath's "Under the Sun". "The Devil's Instrument" also quotes lyrics from Rozz Williams' "Mysterium Inquitatis". "Todeswunsch" contains the first instance of Cantodea's long-standing interest in Edgar Allan Poe: "Die Bruderschaft des Schmerzes" is a re-telling of his work Dream-Land.
"Todeswunsch" would see re-releases in 1999, 2003 and 2008. The album artwork received significant changes for both the 2003 and 2008 editions. The painting on the cover of the original release is a detail of Death of the Virgin by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. The title of "Soror Sui Excidium" was changed to "Soror (Sister of Self-destruction)" for re-releases, and both halves of "Shadowsphere" were indexed into one track on re-issue.
Track listing
All tracks written by Anna-Varney Cantodea.
Personnel
Songs
1Flesh Crucifix (Suffering From Objectivity)1:53
2Die Bruderschaft der Schmerzes (Die Unbegreiflichkeit des Dunklen Pfades - den die Kinder Saturns gehen)5:50
3Shadowsphere - Part 1 (The Monologue-World and Subconsious Symbols)5:03