Sirenia - Nine Destinies And A Downfall

Published Feb. 19 2007

*=Staff's pick	The Last Call My Mind's Eye* One By One Sundown* Absent Without Leave The Other Side Seven Keys And Nine Doors* Downfall* Glades Of Summer

Genre	Gothic Metal	M. Pedersen/M. Veland	Vocals
Tracks	9	Morten Veland	Guitar
Runningtime	43 Min.	Björn Landa	Guitar
Label	Nuclear Blast	Morten Veland	Bass
Release	23 Feb. 2007	Jonathan A Perez	Drums
Country	Norway	Morten Veland	Keyboard
Similar artists	Tristania, Nightwish

Six years ago, Morten Veland decided to part ways with his former band Tristania, to pursue a career of his own in Sirenia. While the two first albums with his new band didn't stray too far away from the Tristania-formula, Veland has this time taken a much softer approach. To sum things up, this is gothic metal meets Easy Listening FM - and it's actually better than you'd think.

During the first couple of tracks, my impressions are only of the positive kind. The arrangements are thoroughly well made, the melodies have been carefully polished and the new singer Monika Pedersen's voice is pleasing to the ears. The single My Mind's Eye is especially successful, and should have the potential of becoming a radio-hit. Then the problems with this release start to surface, and it's actually the aforementioned things that I spoke well of that is the concern.

Firstly, the arrangements are too similar to distinguish from each other, while the melancholic layers of melodies soon become rather predictable. And after spending some time with Pedersen's brittle vocals, you just want her to scream her lungs out for the very sake of it. Veland's harsh vocals are a redeeming feature, which maybe could have been used even more.

Quite unexpectedly the standout song of the album makes an appearance towards the end of the album, right out of the blue. It's a shame that Veland waits so long to unveil a track as great as Seven Keys And Nine Doors, which has a magnificent chorus sung by a choir, since many listeners might already have lost interest by then. Sirenia's third album is an enjoyable listen from beginning to end, and there are no particular songs to dislike, but I believe we should have the right to demand even more from one of Norway's absolute finest.