First
of all, what is it with these number titles? At sixes and sevens, Nine destinies and a downfall, The 13th
floor? And what is it with this ridiculous obsession with the number
“seven”? (no, I’m not going to start listing all their seven-containing titles, that would take more time than I care to invest)
Second,
how is it possible that the number thing is one of the few bad things I have to
say about a Sirenia album? This cannot be! I mean sure, they still a have a
problem with slamming a choir every other minute (choirs which aren’t always
perfectly integrated in the song), the lyrics reach a hilarious level of
melodrama with gems like “I cut my veins wide open” and they still have some work
to do concerning the use of the metal instruments (the bass, drums and guitar
are rather simplistic, which is an old problem of Morten, going back to his
Tristania days), but the classical instruments (especially the violins) are
used beautifully and the Sirenia syndrome is finally gone and things actually
fit in. The transitions are smoother, the grunts and the choirs usually seem
part of the same story and it doesn’t sound half bad. In fact, with their
creepiness and etherealness they reminded me why I used to be so obsessed with
this genre. I love how weird the atmosphere is and I appreciate they don’t
follow the typical verse-chorus structure in most of the songs. The bridges
especially are longer, more varied and more complex and there is definitely a
huge evolution compared to the previous albums. They do sound a lot like
Therion, but if you *really* need some sources of inspiration, Therion is not a
bad place to look.
However,
my favourite part of it all is how free they seem to be now. Creepy children
speaking, interesting harmonies between the vocals and the instruments, some
black and thrash influences here and there, a chansonette-like instrumental
bridge, an Insania with an unusually
alert rhythm for the oh so gothic Sirenia and a generally ominous atmosphere
during the rest of the songs... what is this Sirenia and why did it take them
seven albums to reach this level? Did I say *seven* albums? Hm... never mind.
So
great, they remembered they have a good song writer, now all they have to do is
find a good singer (whether that means changing her yet again or making better
use of the one they already have). I don’t want to be mean regarding Ailyn, she
does have her (rare) good moments, especially when she’s singing with a lower
airy voice that fits the eerie atmosphere of the songs so well, but sadly, for
the most part, she uses more of that shrill and irritating child-like voice of
hers. She has a very squeaky timbre and asking her to sing so high isn’t doing
her any favours, it just draws more attention to how strident her voice is (no,
that high note at the end of Tragedienne
is not singing, it’s screaming). And that’s not her only problem. I have no
idea if Morten suggested her to sing like that, if she chose to do it or if
that’s all she is capable of, but sometimes she glides in a way that makes it
sound like she’s off tune. Now I can’t believe that in an era where Mishka the
dog and Akon the human can pass off as singers, Sirenia is not able to auto-tune
Ailyn’s mistakes, so I’m going to go for intentional, but I really don’t like
it.
And
still, that’s not the biggest of her issues. She doesn’t seem to keep up with
the rest of the music, the instrumental and even the grunts sound so well for
the most part and when she starts singing, everything has to be toned down in
order to make room for her. She doesn’t adjust to the music, the music adjusts
to her, which I’m pretty positive is not the way it should be. I guess it’s not
100% her problem since a good songwriter should be able to dance around her
sweet whiny voice and drape it in the instruments, but that doesn’t change the fact
that she has a sweet whiny voice to begin with. And yes, I do have an even
bigger issue with her singing, in case you were wondering, which is the fact
that she lacks conviction. This is especially obvious in Tragedienne, which is such a pretty song with such a nice
instrumental and then Ailyn comes in and everything goes to shit. She sounds
like she’s reading the cooking book; no passion, no emotion, just... hollow.
But if after criticising Ailyn so much, I still have a generally positive
opinion about this album, you can imagine how surprisingly good the rest of it
is. Maybe the good impression is mostly due to how surprised I was, being
prepared for an hour of yawning and eye-rolling, but still, props are in order.
Let’s
be very clear, this is not the height of creativity/complexity and their mandatory
choir-ex-machina malady is still not fully cured, but I am very pleased to hear
them experimenting so much and finally toning down of those unbearable
obsessions of theirs. Morten created two of my all-time favourite albums with
Tristania and I always felt a huge disappointment concerning how he chose to
use (or rather not use) his evident talent once he founded Sirenia. To now see
him released from the artificial constraints of the genre makes me truly happy.
And you can always tell when the music flows freely and naturally, as opposed
to following a recipe. Finally Sirenia are what they tried their whole life to
be (and failed miserably at), which is dark and ominous. And the irony is that
they achieved that exactly when they stopped trying so hard. Maybe seven really
is their lucky number...
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