Having disliked Enigma's third album I stopped buying their records in the late nineties. As a consequence of this, "The Screen Behind the Mirror" passed me by when it was released in 2000. It wasn't until I began to seek out the band's back catalogue in 2020 that I finally heard this record.
This album opens with a track called "The Gate" which features the traditional Enigma horn motif and an idea lifted directly from Vangelis's "Albedo 0.39". As the song segues into "Push the Limits", we are treated to snippets of Carmina Burana and an intriguing pizzicato riff. At this point I'm tempted to think this is the album that "Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi!" should have been.
The Carmina Burana motif is used again on "Gravity of Love" which features an excellent vocal by Ruth-Ann Boyle. Whilst there is much that is familiar here, a change in vocalist injects some new energy and seems to have inspired Mr Cretu.
"Smell of Desire" recycles some vocal snippets from previous albums and passes quite pleasingly. The tempo rises for "Modern Crusaders" which pounds along until it reaches a noisy crescendo. "Traces (Light & Weight)" sees the ethnic sample library being raided, but unlike the previous album, there is a strong melody to tie things together.
The title track uses an updated version of the "Sadeness" groove and there is enough detail woven through the song to ensure it is entertaining. Next is a more routine 'Enigma by numbers' track called "Endless Quest" which employs the usual drum loop/Shakuhachi/guitar solo recipe. I'm not too keen on the reversed vocals of "Camera Obscura" and the Carmina Burana samples are getting a bit annoying by this point. "Between Mind & Heart" isn't all that engaging and the main points interest in the final track "Silence Must Be Heard" are the Art of Noise samples. Due to the slight disappointing flip side, the initial promise of this album remains unfulfilled. 3/5
