Strong duets, crescendos, character themes and phrase repetition abound. Most importantly, it follows the structure of a musical. It's darkly campy and incredibly fun – never so aggressive that it gets lost in itself, yet never so light or poppy that it threatens to alienate its audience. Overall, the music here is remarkably well written, so long as you never dare to take it seriously. It can only be surmised that the rest of the album will take on an entirely new life and gain greater depth once you've seen the entire narrative in all its bloody gory (or glory, as it were). The music is inspired and aggressive – the content strange and singular – yet the tracks are diverse enough never to feel repetitive. You don't have to be anxiously awaiting the release of the film in theaters in order to rock out or bob your heads to songs such as "At the Opera Tonight", "Infected" or "Genetic Emancipation". Thankfully, the other half of the disc – while still furthering the narrative – consists of tracks which can sustain themselves individually. Yet despite this most of the songs are strong enough that they will likely keep you from skipping wildly from track to track. So if you've yet to see the film, much of the content may be lost on you. Story through music and operatic dialogue are at the very heart of what Repo! is trying to accomplish. But then that's the nature of the medium. Almost half of this disc – no matter how well sung or composed – essentially feels like listening to a production which demands nearly double the involvement it's kind of like sitting blindly in a theatre only able to process half the experience. Given the intrinsic nature of the music to the story it's remarkably difficult to review the accompanying soundtrack out of context of the film itself. The catch is that if you fail to make one of the payments said organs are repossessed. This gory, stylized musical presents a snapshot into a future where organ failure is commonplace and the monolithic Geneco has carved out a niche in which they sell new organs to the populace. As for the story? Well let's just say that it lends itself to this hodge-podge medium quite well. The bizarre brilliance of Repo! The Genetic Opera's premise takes the most basic elements of traditional musicals, tosses in the grandiose emotions found in most opera, and then tops it off with grinding rock and roll ambiance, building upon the core tenets of the established rock opera, as it were. If neither of these genres appeal to you, then you may wish to stop reading here. What does the above self-revelation have to do with Repo! The Genetic Opera, you ask? Well suffice it to say that Darren Bousman's cinematic take on Darren Smith and Terrance Zdunich's sci-fi musical combines two very specific styles of expression (Broadway musicals-by-way-of-classic opera and industrial-tinged rock, to be more exact).