# Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi!

Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi! (French for "The King Is Dead, Long Live The King!") is the third studio album by the German musical project Enigma, released on 22 November 1996 by Virgin Records.

## Background and release

The album continued Enigma's trend, giving it a slightly more modern, futuristic sound by combining the elements of Enigma's first album, MCMXC a.D., and their second album, The Cross of Changes. Michael Cretu, producer of the project, considered Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi! to be the child of the previous two albums, with the first being the father and the second being the mother, as indicated by the 19‑second track "Third of Its Kind". There are two editions of the packaging; one with standard paper artwork, and another with translucent tray and booklet artwork printed on a heavier plastic.
Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi! was nominated for Best New Age Album at the 1998 Grammy Awards, while Johann Zambryski's album art design earned him a nomination for Best Recording Package.
The intro track begins with a sample of mission control contacting the Discovery from the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. The intro, including the famed "Enigma horn", is played backwards for the closing track, "Odyssey of the Mind". The track "T.N.T. for the Brain" contains samples taken from Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds. The samples are just audible, underlying the main music. They can be most clearly heard at the start and the end of the track, but are just noticeable throughout. The track "Prism of Life" appears at the end credit of the 2023 documentary "Close Encounters of The Fifth Kind".

## Commercial performance

The album reached to the top spot in Norway and the top five in Austria, Finland, Germany and Switzerland. It spawned two singles, "Beyond the Invisible" and "T.N.T. for the Brain". A planned third single, "The Roundabout", was scrapped at the last minute for unclear reasons, even though a remix had already been created by DJ Quicksilver.

## Reception

Professional ratings :
| Review scores ||
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | |
| Entertainment Weekly | D+ |
| The Guardian | |
| Muzik | |
Rick Anderson of AllMusic stated that "[Michael Cretu, as Enigma] doesn't seem to have done much to expand upon his original ideas", and despite reserving praise for the "darkly lovely" "The Child in Us", dismissed most of the album as "twaddle" and "disappointing". The site gave the album two and a half stars out of five. Tracey Pepper of Entertainment Weekly summarized the album as "another synthesizer-heavy mix of Gregorian chants, moody atmospherics, lyrics rife with existential platitudes, and well-trodden '90s dance rhythms", writing, "It sounded okay in 1990, but now it's just embarrassing."

## Track listing

All lyrics and music by Michael Cretu, except where noted.

## Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi!
* Dr. Bhagya Murthy – Sanskrit chant
* Sandra Cretu – female voices
* Louisa Stanley – female voices
* Peter Cornelius – guitars on "The Child In Us"
* Michael Cretu – instruments, production, engineering
* Johann Zambryski – art direction, design
* Volker Sträter – illustrations

## Certifications

Certifications for Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi! :
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
| Australia (ARIA) | Gold | 35,000$^^$ |
| Austria (IFPI Austria) | Gold | 25,000$^*$ |
| Canada (Music Canada) | Platinum | 100,000$^^$ |
| Finland (Musiikkituottajat) | Gold | 21,236 |
| France (SNEP) | Gold | 100,000$^*$ |
| Germany (BVMI) | Gold | 250,000$^^$ |
| Hong Kong (IFPI Hong Kong) | Gold | 10,000$^*$ |
| Netherlands (NVPI) | Platinum | 100,000$^^$ |
| New Zealand (RMNZ) | Platinum | 15,000$^^$ |
| Norway (IFPI Norway) | Platinum | 50,000$^*$ |
| Poland (ZPAV) | Gold | 50,000$^*$ |
| Spain (PROMUSICAE) | Gold | 50,000$^^$ |
| Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland) | Gold | 25,000$^^$ |
| United Kingdom (BPI) | Gold | 100,000$^^$ |
| United States (RIAA) | Platinum | 1,000,000$^^$ |
| $^*$ Sales figures based on certification alone. $^^$ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |||