Review Summary: The dark times of gothic/symphonic metal, part 6
Sirenia is the band that Morten Veland formed after he left Tristania, and it's pretty much his solo project with a revolving door of musicians. Their first 4 albums all had a different singer and the third one, "Nine Destinies and a Downfall", is when fans began to have serious doubts about Sirenia's potential.
Let's just get one thing out of the way. I don't think this album is that bad, just not as good as its predecessors. And your enjoyment of it will depend on whether or not you think it sounds too commercial or not, whether or not you like Monika Pedersen's voice and think she's a good fit for Sirenia, and most of all, your tolerance for the kind of albums where most songs has the same melody, only with different lyrics.
This album has a formula: some simple synths, some simple chugging riff, verses where Monika sings softly but still shows that her voice has some power, a chorus with her louder singing and a choir somewhere in the middle, and a last chorus. There's very little variation on that formula, so let's mention the tracks that stand out first. "My Mind's Eye" has gently sinister verses and catchy but eerie choruses, where Monika plays the evil temptress, assuring you that "you'll never realize what darkness lies inside, inside my mind". I love this one, because it's all about having fun playing the villain. "The Other Side" shows the strength in her voice in the second pre-chorus when she yells "I hear you coming from the other side!". The other side here means death, or the afterlife, and it's a pretty nice track about the usual gothic themes. "Seven Keys and Nine Doors" uses similar references to the other side, when Morten sings "sail on, my love, to the other side" other heavy riffs.
"Sundown" is the heaviest song on the album, beginning with a heavy riff that finally dares to break the formula, a verse that doesn't use the same melody as the others, a choir part that sounds different from the others and even some growls from our goth metal king. On the complete opposite end, "Glades of Summer" is a long and contemplative ballad. Monika proves she can handle quieter songs, because although she has a strong voice, she never over-sings, and her voice has a very nice, clear sound that works pretty well on ballads.
As for the other songs? Unfortunately, they all sound like "The Other Side". Of course, that doesn't mean they have no individual merits. I like "Absent Without Leave", and its "I've been wasting away, I've been living in vain, living insane" chorus. However, "One by One" feels just like an inferior version of "Side". "Downfall" is similar, with very dramatic verses but a much less intense or interesting chorus.
I'm a little torn about "Nine Destinies". It's another album that soundtracked my teenage years, but even then, I was aware all the songs sounded the same, and I knew this was the most divisive part of the album. Well, that and the fact that the music feels like a simplified, more pop metal version of Sirenia's usual style. And to me, Sirenia at their best are pretty good, but they're not as good as Tristania in their glory days. I have a lot of love and respect for Morten Veland, but I'll admit he tends to keep writing the same song over and over. And while this album was not the worst thing he ever wrote, this was the moment where his weaknesses became more apparent.
That said, I don't think there's anything truly bad about this album. It has some pretty good songs, and Sirenia's mysterious and melancholic, almost magical atmosphere, with siren-like vocals, is still definitely there. This album simply proves that there are many different flavors of bad to be found on my "dark times of gothic metal" series. This one is not a terrible embarrassment, a sell-out moment or a failed experiment, it's more like an easy to enjoy but not exceptional guilty pleasure whose only real flaw is being repetitive and not as good as its predecessors. I gave it a 3 out of 5, but it's not a high recommendation. Let's say it's the kind of album you can check out if you need to hear all of Sirenia's discography, or if you need something not challenging, not exceptional but nice. What about Sirenia's other albums? We'll see.
