After the experience of the violent death of ego in the third album, a new era comes with the fourth album “The Screen behind the Mirror” that pays so much tribute to one of world’s greatest musical masterpieces, Carl Orff’s “O’ Fortuna”. According to Michael Cretu, this album and the first album of Enigma are like ‘brother and sister’.

The title of the album could really be interpreted in several ways, and we need to be careful how to use the word ‘screen’ here as it’s definitely not about the screen of a television or a computer.

A screen is a barrier that is used to conceal, protect, shield and block visibility. In this context the screen has the figurative meaning of a veil or a mask. While the mirror serves as a tool where you can fully recognize yourself. The album cover also implies that very clearly and you can interpret the title in several ways.

1. A person who is not afraid to be fully himself without being scared of judgment, but this only happens in private. Because when he steps outside and in the light, he uses a mask to hide himself. He performs for the society and everywhere he goes. Nobody knows who he is. This mask is hanging behind the mirror.
2. The screen is the prison you’ve created around yourself. You block everyone and don’t let anyone come near you and to understand you. Only the mirror understands you fully, because you know who you really are.
3. The screen and the mirror are two things you can use to your advantage to be able to set yourself free
4. The screen is the person himself. He is himself the veil. He is scared to come in front of the mirror and see himself for who he really is. To accept himself. That’s why he stands behind the mirror. There is fear.

But no matter which version is it, all of them make sense somehow. Because the core message is the same: it’s about acceptance of yourself and how a mask or a facade conceals one’s true self, because it doesn’t allow them to live authentically.

We will understand everything as we analyze the tracks one by one.

The Gate

The first track of this album starts with scientific information about the planet Mars, which is the fourth planet in the Solar system. Planet Mars itself in Roman mythology used to be the fierce warrior and protector of the soil before he became the God of War. He also engaged in a very passionate and secret relationship with Venus, the planet of love. Even astronomically, you can see them once in every 23 months forming conjunctions.

Although Venus is not necessarily mentioned in the lyrics, she is still directly linked to Mars. These two planets symbolically represent two opposite energies, feminine and masculine, even speaking astrologically. Venus for example is the planet of love, pleasure, art and romance, while Mars is the planet of protection, war, physical drive and passion. The energies of these two combined is very explosive.

They’re also linked with the creation of Rome and the Roman civilization, (in mythology, obviously), which means that their union still laid the foundation that succeeded one of world’s greatest empires, albeit their secret affair. (A child was given to us, and empire was put on his shoulder…)

So “The Gate” is just standing at the threshold and seeing the light that illuminates. Opening a door as a symbol itself means stepping into the realizations. You’re provided with the truth, and you can finally see it.

Push the Limits

Be careful not to interpret this line as a violent rebellion, because it doesn’t signify a pointless rebellion through violence, anger and hatred. In fact, it tells you to rebel against the things which this world has normalized too much. Michael called himself too a rebel, but not the kind of rebel who spreads hatred, per his words, “rebellion is for the ignorant”.

When you look deeper it is telling you to not behave like the average human and fall to bad habits. This world has normalized arrogance, hatred of each other, sex without love and full of lust, superficiality, gambling, judgment of minorities, racism, fascism, religious fanaticism, and many more.

This song condemns these and it tells you to push the limits, or to push them away, not to be like them and it also helps you how to deal with it in love. In the video-clip of this song, it shows a couple who wears masks and fights all the time. It shows a portrayal of a musical duo, as they’re seen together playing piano simultaneously, but they play as if they’re in competition with each other.

The couple also seems to be in constant friction also in bed, where they’re trying to dominate and overpower each other even what is supposed to be the most intimate and vulnerable act. They’re always in constant competition and constantly fighting. Their masks are put on up until the end of the video, where the man “wins”. It doesn’t mean the man itself won, just the portrayal of masculine energy is shown via a male figure, it means logic won.

And it also means that, if you’re not willing to recognize yourself, what and who you’re meant to be, and if you’re rather aiming to perform a facade, you’ll never find yourself and you’ll never be true to yourself. You’ll always fight, whether with yourself, whether with the people and especially person you love the most. In the end, you’ll fall for the average habits and embrace the path of self-destruction.

Gravity of Love

This third and powerful track that famously uses sample from ‘O’ Fortuna’ by Carl Orff advises endurance while you’re walking in the road to enlightenment. Why? Because there’s also a good reason why the quote by English poet was used (The road to excess leads to the palace of wisdom), not only in the lyrics, but also in the album sleeve of the first Enigma album.

It perfectly fits with the message of the album, how a lust-driven love will only bring destruction. Because lust is selfish pleasure, even if it’s mutual. And this line explains how such an excess, no matter the limit it exceeds, will always and inevitably teach you important lessons that will make you grow and become a better person. For yourself, others, the world, and your lover.

You can always give different interpretations to the art, music, books and such poems because that’s truly the beauty art. And we can see why the quote was used. But what does the song itself mean?

As we said, it teaches endurance first and foremost. A separation is indeed painful, but at the end of the day, it’s for their own benefit. Because it will make them become better and love properly. They need to survive the separation and endure the pain, but the immense gravity of their love will make them come back to each other again.

Secondly, it also teaches how some beautiful things cannot be seen, but felt. (Remember what the fox told the Little Prince?) You shouldn’t bring yourself down, but be hopeful. It’s a constant reassuring the author makes across several tracks that love has never and will not disappear. A lesson fully learnt, a purification fully completed.

It also teaches how building a wall around yourself (screen) will only be to your disadvantage and will only make you isolated inside yourself, and how a mirror will act as your only savior to recognize yourself truly. Remember the mirror in Demian where the character Emil Sinclair sees a reflection of Max Demian in himself as he looks in the mirror.

But also remember in the lyrics that say how the screen and the mirror are “both ways where you can get in”, which as we said at the beginning can serve as ways to recognize yourself. We will see it in the track with the same title below.

Thirdly, it also teaches how, once again, you shouldn’t listen to people around you and accept their “average habits”. But you should follow the voice within yourself that will lead you to the right path (Virgil in Dante). There are so many voices out there dictating you what to do but you should listen only to the voice that will guide you.

And lastly, the line from Carl Orff’s piece ‘O’ Fortuna velut luna’ (Fortune like the moon) treats the moon as the celestial body that since antiquity was the ultimate guidance of people’s long journeys and quests in plain fields or deserts at night. It always shone their way to the destination. In the dark you can’t see, you need this powerful source of light to guide you without blinding you like the rays of Sun.

But what about the video-clip? This is also what Dante critiqued in his very own Divine Comedy, and the music video tackles these problems in a scandalous manner. You can see lust there, excess pleasure, gluttony dressed as cannibalism, and appearances of people who are wearing masks. And you can interpret this in two ways.

1. The masked people are portrayals of everything what’s wrong with society in general. They’re shallow and fake people who lecture others about morality, but inside they’re the most evil and selfish people to exist. Their masks, or rather their facades help them to live a hypocritical life. They’re a perfect representation of soulless and heartless people who haven’t allowed themselves to love and not just romantically. They only care about themselves, and their own pleasure. But they’ll be the first ones to be destroyed.
2. On the other hand, wearing a facade could also be the only way for a person to live truly. It could be the only time they’re fully themselves. (Which also fits Oscar Wilde’s quote). They won’t have any fear of being recognized because they’re concealing their identity. They express themselves freely without having eyes judging on them. They’re allowing themselves to live freely without worrying about defiance of morality. This anonymity gives them full reign in expression of their desires, dreams and wishes. But you should also be careful not to let it consume you. In both cases, the appearance of Jesus Christ in the video makes sense.

Also, one particular detail is that the music-video contains lesbianism, and this is the second time we will have themes of lesbianism in Enigma’s music videos. And once again, a lesbian couple is shown and they’re once again looking identical just like in the music video of ‘T.N.T. for the brain’. They don’t have any mask and they’re in a complete separate room from the others, where a lady dressed in bright white is watching over them. They engage intimately until the lady leaves and disappears.

The inclusion of a lesbian couple doesn’t have intent of using them as sexual objects in any way. It is intended to showcase sensual, soft, loving and nurturing side of feminine energy. There’s a reason why these two couples we’ve seen so far look identical in faces and in their physicality, because it intends to show how two identical souls can merge together, not with lust, but with love.

One of the biggest ‘admirers’, if you could call it that, of lesbian love was French poet Charles Baudelaire. Him and Marquis de Sade are twins when it came to exploration of taboo topics but these were formulated in their own ways.

Contrary to de Sade who died in prison, Baudelaire was deeply depressed, melancholic and had sympathy for marginalized groups whom society casted aside and he treated them as his equals. This melancholia and sadness is clearly reflected in his most famous work “Flowers of Evil” which was published in 1857 and censored in the same year, as it caused a huge scandal in France.

Baudelaire mostly used the example of lesbian love to explain that nobody should use moral judgment to look down upon these people who are experiencing something beautiful such as love even if society deem it a sin. At the end of the day, they’re spiritually fulfilled in this kind of love.

Besides, this unconventional form of love fascinated Baudelaire, who was himself a rebel and rejected traditionalist expression of love. He saw his rebellious soul in lesbian women because they all longed for a different expression of love that wasn’t boring but consuming and full of life. But because this kind of love tends to be short-lived, it leaves a profound feeling of emptiness and sadness. It’s not fulfilled. You always think you could’ve lived and experienced it more.

Smell of Desire

To learn from the experience of love is very constant in Enigma. It’s also made clear with the line “the eternal flame will always burn”, which shows that no matter the circumstances or how life goes on, you needn’t worry because love is always there and never disappears. Even in the person which somebody thought became too cold.

But you need to experience love to be able to put it into words. You need to decide what to do with it, because no matter where you turn, you’ll still be burned by this flame. You welcome to be burned by the flame, but you also don’t want it to burn it too brightly.

If you don’t learn the lesson, you’ll get caught in a trap. You’ll be haunted by the smell of your lover and it won’t let you escape and do the right choice. The idea is not to escape love and your lover, but to learn from the mistakes and let it serve as a lesson. Once again, to learn to love properly.

The idea also is that the smell of your lover will always remain there but it shouldn’t let you cloud your judgment. “Reason is lasting, passion is living”

Modern Crusaders

Another track in the album which uses sample from O Fortuna. It is indirectly tied with “Push the Limits” and the words here are formed in such a way that represent the speech of someone who has faced or who would face judgment, hatred and oppression for being different than the crowd or what society deems ‘right’.

After all it’s told very clear how this society is so empty and so boring that they all live by the rules, by indoctrination and by brainwashing, and they still have the guts to tell and judge everyone how to live, how to think and what to do. How can someone who has welcomed to be subjugated teach others what is right and what is wrong? They’ve already been devoid of recognizing them themselves.

It is an important rebellion against all those who can’t think and against all those who judge and hate because they’ve been told to. Because they’ve been raised in such a way where hatred and arrogance are tolerated. Where anybody different have to be treated like outcasts. How difficult it is to survive a society of bullies and aggressors. It is also why the “outcasts” retreat into silence and solitude.

The world outside is noisy and too violent. They either find peace in themself, or they find peace in someone who’s just like them.

Traces (Light & Weight)

From the 3rd album, we had “Shadows in Silence”, here we have ‘Traces’, a very short and calming track. But while shadows are ghosts of the past, they haunt you and they don’t let you move on.

On the other hand, the traces are physical evidence of something that happened in the past. This means that the narrator has finally stopped being haunted by the ghosts of the past, and has decided to analyze the imprints that left a mark on him and his life.

He’s decided not to be afraid by the past nor by his mistakes, and face the reality. Anything that happened might either hold too much or too little weight. But it means that he’s still decided to follow the track up until the beginning. He’s decided to reminisce. To remember. And to return to the past without fear.

The Screen behind the Mirror

This track contains the same lyrics as the ones from ‘Gravity of Love’. There’s not much to explain here except the fact that it’s made clear what the actual title of the album could really mean, despite its several implications. Which could still be accurate anyway.

A screen and a mirror are two ways you can use to your advantage. A mirror helps you recognize yourself. While the screen is technically a prison you’ve created for yourself, but you need to open the door to leave the prison or the wall you’ve created around yourself.

You will need to set yourself free.

Endless Quest

The track contains no lyrics, but it clearly means the never ending journey of man to finding himself. To find yourself is a quest itself. One quick Google search and something like this appears: “A quest is a long, difficult search or journey to find or achieve something important”

Camera Obscura

‘Camera Obscura’, or translated into English ‘dark room’, is the world’s first ever camera in the history of humanity. Physicians and scholars like Ibn al-Haytham used this device to observe how the light of an object took an inverted shape when it entered through the small hole of the device. So for example, the image of a building with its light entering the hole would create an upside-down image of the building inside the dark room.

This track just like many from the album uses sample from “O Fortuna”, and the lyrics are directly taken from ‘Modern Crusaders’ but in reverse. The usage of this camera and the audio being in reverse create a great analogy for reversal. A camera obscura in itself here symbolizes a return to the beginning, of the word ‘camera’ that would later be used to create photographic memories. A memory itself is something from the past.

Between Mind and Heart

From the third album we’ve already seen hints on the duality between human logic and emotion. We saw that in the video-clip of ‘Beyond the Invisible’ as well as the imagery inside the album.

The lyrics of this song are told on your face immediately. We go back to the album ‘Cross of Changes’ which as we said, is the difficult decision someone had to take and which changed everything. And this song explains the feeling of ‘being at crossroads’ perfectly. It proves what we said before, that it was about a difficult decision in matters of love.

The narrator admits that it was very difficult to take this decision… Because when you’re in love, you have to decide whether you should follow your brain or your heart. You should decide whether you should pursue a passion that burned too brightly, or pursue the path not anyone was willing to take. The logical path that would only be taken by someone with the mental strength, as strong as steel. Yes, the heart and the passion make you feel alive, but the brain should help ground you back to earth. And there still shouldn’t be too much warmth nor too much cold.

But it’s the love itself that will always make you choose heart, that’s why the decision is always difficult. A human in love is always inclined to follow the heart. When in love your heart flutters and beats steadily when it feels safe. But when a love becomes destructive, you leave, you choose the logical path.

Silence Must Be Heard

The last track of the album is one of the very few ones if not the only one where it is explicitly expressed that people should understand why all of this is happening and done. There are millions of people who are too shallow to understand things and only consume the art or the music to show off their collection to the others or to simply keep it on the shelf until dust covers it.

Sometimes artists also do not wish to be understood, but there are some who can’t hold what’s inside them for long enough or it would eat them out completely. They need an outlet to express themselves to burn off steam and release the anger, the pain and the passion somewhere. Yes, there are people who suffer in silence, and there are also such people who use music and art to express what’s inside them.

“Silence speaks louder than words” is a famous saying which means that sometimes you don’t need words to explain something so clear in front of you. This song tells you not to be shallow and listen to the words and to the music carefully. It teaches you that these songs are not things to be consumed but things to understand. The narrator wants to be understood.

This could also serve as a message to someone who doesn’t seem to understand why all of “this” is happening. The narrator wishes to be understood especially by that one who seems probably oblivious. He wants them to understand why this silence is very important. There is an inner fear that if this is not understood, love will disappear. As you can see, even a logical person can feel emotions when it matters.

Diamonds don’t burn, because they’re the strongest stone on earth, but this is how fragile love can be that it might even burn something so lasting and powerful like a diamond. When you’re also a believer of Tarot cards, you’ll also be scared to draw one from the deck, because you’re scared that instead of love cards, “friendly cards will turn” instead.

Conclusion

Despite the ambiguity of the album’s title, the message has been conveyed very well and a lot of the implications fit well with Enigma’s core message from the previous albums.

In the first album, sins and vices were critiqued in a very scandalous manner, which almost looked like it was condoning lust and giving in to those selfish pleasures. Of course, anyone who didn’t give much thought to it, thought as such.

But in this album, these problems are critiqued directly: Michael conveys the message straight-on, that you MUST reject these habits and don’t become like the others, otherwise you’re going to lose yourself and become fully unrecognizable.

Not just to yourself, but the people who love you, and the person you love.

So, that’s why a mirror helps. And that’s why you shouldn’t build a fortress around yourself.

People embrace these habits not just because they are never satisfied, but also to fill a void, an emptiness inside themselves. And so they are divided into two groups: There are people who are never satiated, selfish and egoist. And there are people who are constantly living in existential dread, trying to find something that could fill the void in them.

And so, the second group of individuals spiral and become their worst enemies. Try to imagine a loved one who spirals into addiction, depression and lust. This person was once the most innocent and the most pure one you’ve ever known, and now you don’t recognize them anymore. It hurts to see so much.

And so, you think that the only way to make them see, is to leave. A long and difficult journey begins.

The journey of a voyager.