“This piece of work is my interpretation of classical music,” Enigma mastermind Michael Cretu said when speaking to RS about Seven Lives, Many Faces ”“ well, either he should have said ‘reinterpretation’ else just left the insightful bit of information out ”“ cause this Enigma record doesn’t venture out to explore any uncharted territory which Cretu hasn’t tread before. He beguiles with the help of arrangements culling from his stale vault of samples minus the Gregorian chants and ex-wife Sandra Ann Lauer’s charming arabesque vocals. There are the sporadic strains of Shakahuchi flutes and ‘wake-up’ rage of guitars through the otherwise symphonic and string orchestra soused compositions. Cretu does enough justice to his long running obsession with avowing sexual themes, but with little restrain. The quatrain on ‘Touchness’-“Touch and kiss me/up and down/touch and feel me/up and down”- seems to be penned by a sex starved maniac on aphrodisiac. The crass lyricism on ‘Distorted Love’ – “I need you/I love your body/Touch me/I’ll be your daddy/Smell me/I’ll be your mommy” ”“ alludes to a senile condition Cretu might be catching on to with age. We suspect his teen twins might be able to do a better job of writing. The song that follows ‘The Same Parents’ is inspired of Cretu’s sons concerns on war and mankind’s descent, it also features them on vocals. ‘La Puerta Del Cielo’ is the first time a track has been attempted in Spanish on an Enigma album, the vocals on the track are all that deem distinction. If you are a fool for Enigma and Cretu’s past arrangements have gotten cloying, he does the bare minimum to pleasure your jaded ears.
