Sirenia sound like a female-fronted Goth band, and indeed are. This band has roots in Tristania, Green Carnation and Trail of Tears, and as seems to be the tradition of Norwegian bands, they have been through copious line-up changes since their inception in 2001.
Musically, the first song “The End of It All” sums up the whole album. It’s fairly catchy, and the singer has a pure and sweet voice, and there’s a sparkly feel, but it’s not especially strong. There’s a metal rhythm to give it a dark sound and there are orchestral parts. Basically it, and what follows, is a “nice” song. An operatic chorus is added on “Fallen Angel” and elsewhere on the album. “All My Dreams” reinforced my impression that it is perfectly produced, indeed it is a faultless template of Goth Rock/Metal musicianship, but nothing more. At no stage does this album break into anything different or exciting. The operatic choir and the sad violins on “All My Dreams” are good but temporary moments we pass through only. “This Darkness” pumps along limply and in spite of the growled vocals which interrupt the pleasant warbling, there’s no real sense of darkness as promised in the title or the lyrics. Trite lyrics don’t help the cause. “She moves in certain ways that I can’t comprehend …. She takes me by the hand and leads me to the dark”, we’re told on “Darkened Days to Come”. Tristanian male clean vocals feature on this one before giving way to the female singer and the customary mediocre song. “This Lonely Lake” isn’t bad with its punchy rhythm but I’ve heard it before. “Winter Land” is soapy and sugary while “Fading Star” is just dreary. The best is saved until last. “The Enigma of Life” is a nicely sung and nicely balanced track. I quite liked the orchestral parts on the album, and the choir on “The Twilight in Your Eye”, on which a rare atmosphere of pathos was generated, but the good moments were fleeting and went away all too quickly.
There an attempt to be epic on “The Enigma of Life” but it doesn’t really work. Dark themes mix incongruously with an air of jollity and flatness. There are some good orchestral touches but in the main this album rarely rises above a standard template.
http://www.sirenia.no
http://www.myspace.com/sirenia
