Le mariage du ciel et de l'enfer

Le Mariage du Ciel et de l'Enfer (The Wedding of Heaven and Hell) was a stage music written and performed by Art Zoyd for a ballet by Roland Petit. The band was of the premiere in Milan in late June, 1984, and participated to the production's French tour from February to May, 1985, playing live as the dancers performed. Between the Italian premiere and the French tour, Art Zoyd went in the studio to record the music, which was first released in 1985. The line-up is almost the same as on the band's 1982 landmark album Phase IV: Gérard Hourbette, Thierry Zaboïtzeff, Jean-Pierre Soarez, Didier Pietton and Patricia Dallio (who had replaced Thierry Willems on keyboards in 1983). The music is typical Art Zoyd: a dark chamber rock heavily relying on hammered piano chords and military percussion, with violin and trumpet used as contrasting elements and occasional creepy treated vocals. After the creative peak of Phase IV, Art Zoyd's music slowly solidified, the same recipe being used more and more often. But Le Mariage du Ciel et de l'Enfer shows the band at the turning point of its career. The track "Cryogenèse - Les portes du future" would have fit on Phase IV, but it also announces the band's growing use of keyboards and sense of drama that will become the backbone of their 1990s production (Faust, Haxan). The 2000 Atonal reissue includes liner notes by Roland Petit. ~ François Couture, Rovi