The Enigma Of Life (NEW album!!)

Nice review. But if I was unknown to the band, it wouldn't had given me enough feedback to check them out. But as someone who knows the band, I understand where she is coming from.

Morten Veland on the new songs

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The end of it all:
Our first single from the album. A very melodic song with a simple arrangement. One of very few Sirenia songs that actually do not have a choir part. It is a catchy song that easily gets stuck in your head. Good as a single, but not necessarily the most representative Sirenia song on the album.

Fallen angel:
Very catchy song as well, in my opinion a better option as a single. The song reminds me a little bit of ‘Lost in life’ from the previous album. A definitive live song.

All my dreams:
This song has a very industrial vibe to it, with some dirty loops and stuff. A bit untypical for Sirenia this song, but in the same time it has all the typical Sirenia elements. Again a song with very strong melodies in my opinion.

This Darkness:
A very heavy songs with a massive guitar riff. Maybe a bit eighties metal inspired and also quite different to what we have done earlier with Sirenia.

The twilight in your eyes:
An epic song that would be perfect as a soundtrack of a cool movie. Dark and powerful in the same time, a really intense atmosphere in this one.

Winter land:
A pretty simple and melodic song that has a very haunting and catchy melody. Ailyn sings the entire song. Easily gets stuck in your head this one.

A seaside serenade:
A heavy and groovy song that flirts with some progressive elements. A rather diverse and orchestral song. Epic and powerful.

Darkened days to come:
A very gothic rock oriented song. Clean male vocals on the verse and Ailyn singing the choruses. A song that sticks out on the album being quite different from the rest.

Coming down:
This one starts with a spooky fade and a massive guitar riff. A quite intricate song with some cool orchestrations. Great variation between all kinds of vocals.

This lonely lake:
This one starts with a nice piano melody. A quite simple song with beautiful and catchy melodies. No choirs in this one either, all focused on Ailyn’s voice. Nice and dynamic song with a main theme that more or less goes throught the whole song.

Fading star:
A very powerful mid tempo song. The choir is singing all the choruses in this song. It starts with a wahwah guitar and explodes when the band comes in. A diverse song with all the typical Sirenia elements.

The enigma of life:
The title track of the album. A beautiful ballad with great dynamics and emotions. A very slow and melodic song, different from all previous Sirenia songs. I especially love the vocal melodies and the guitar solos in this song.

Give thanks to Labirinthya for sharing this.

This is my modest review of Enigma of Life music-album.
( I am really sorry about my terrible mistakes )
Well, I want to say I was not impressed by two last releases from the band. But in spite of this fact I was looking forward new album all the same.
My first impression was not very good because many composes seem to be not very interesting.

But Ailyn voice makes me listen to this album again. Many times, gigi. And after one week I realized this album is one of the greatest creatures by Morten Veland in particular and from all gothic-metal music in general.
Firstly, Morten composes his music in good faith. He is honest with himself and his listeners. Well, Enigma of Life has a lot of differences between At Sixs and Sevens or Beyond the Veil.
His songs are very personal as usual although now music style is called pop-metal, not gothic-metal. ( I am not a judge of poetry so I can say nothing about lyrics. )
Secondly, Ailyn. I love her, really. She is amazing.
Her voice is strong and gentle simultaneously. She is so delicate and unprotected that I want to save her from «darkness», «sad» and «sorrow», gigi. The final line of title track forced my cry.
Oh, she is not a siren , she is a mermaid, water princess or naiad.
Thirdly, I really like arrangement and chorus. Fortunately, Sirenia gained its own unique sound. Morten is a genius, of course but I am totally sure Ailyn is his muse at the moment.

I think that this album will became one of my favorite cds and I will listen to Seaside Serenade, All My Dreams, Coming Down and Fading Star many years.
Looking forward a new tour and another video-clip.

Another review
http://www.angrymetalguy.com/sirenia-the-enigma-of-life-review/
That is so funny.

Oh, wow that wasn't very kind at all. But oh well not everyone is a fan. It was funny.

I know this is not a fan-review, but that guy has a great sence of humor. Really.
We have a metal-portal named darkside.ru. Some boys write ruder riviews on it.

That is horrible. I don't understand it. If you want to express your opinion do it in a professional and mature way. Not just to diss on the band.

Oh, I see.
But many listeners think Morten must compose the second Widows Weed or invite Vebeke to band.
Russian darkside is not a thematical portal so there are a lot of trolls there. Unfortunately.

An interesting review of Enigma of Life -
7 of 7 thought this review was well written

In Sirenia’s previous album, 13th Floor, Sirenia opted for mainstream appeal by adopting elements of pop, and even introducing a new, pop-oriented vocalist into their gothic/symphonic metal formula. Basically, they did exactly what Nightwish did before recording Dark Passion Play. Sirenia was dubbed a gothic metal band, but with almost nothing of substance to back those words, they were mostly unconvincing. With two years to record The Enigma of Life, you would think the band would have spent some time on improving their formula, or at least revamping things a smidgen, but absolutely nothing has changed. The Enigma of Life, unfortunately, is a blatant continuation of their previous album’s concepts and is basically part two of 13th Floor. It’s also much worse, but this is expected.

When comparing the new Sirenia to the Sirenia of their debut album there is no comparison, the band is now made of crap. Although one could make the argument of consistency and claim that Sirenia has found their true sound, it just so happens that their new sound is abysmal. It wouldn’t seem possible, but the band has somehow delved further into the mainstream machine to the point where the album is barely even worthy of being titled a metal album. The guitars are mostly pathetically weak, and the growls, that used to be a key part of their sound, are barely ever employed. The guitars sometimes even cut out of the picture, as the unexciting vocalist is meant to fill the space with passionate vocals but always fails. Failure is always imminent with the female vocalist who can never muster enough power to sound interested in anything she sings. One could claim that she suits the gothic style well, but then again such people have probably never tainted their precious ears with real, dark, depressive gothic metal - this album is for children.

Sirenia’s downfalls in the album are nothing short of predictable, and predictably, to top it all off, the songwriting is atrocious. The symphonic elements appear as always but they can’t hold a sensible tune for the life of them, and further irritating is that they mostly all originate from the keyboard – it’s no wonder that they sound so fake. Furthering the cheeseball message is the choir, and surprise of surprises, they sing on every single track in the album. Of course, neither the keyboard sounds nor the choir are applied effectively, but rather are used just because they keep the band in the symphonic metal category. The entire album is a forgettable, weak, uninspired, average cheese-fest, and not even the (this blank would be filled if there was anything notable about the album) can save The Enigma of Life from being utter bunk.

From here - http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/41495/Sirenia-The-Enigma-Of-Life/

The review was well-written, but it got some things wrong...

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In Sirenia’s previous album, 13th Floor, Sirenia opted for mainstream appeal by adopting elements of pop, and even introducing a new, pop-oriented vocalist into their gothic/symphonic metal formula.

They made their major change in sound before releasing Nine Destinies and a Downfall.

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Basically, they did exactly what Nightwish did before recording Dark Passion Play.

No. Nightwish went from symphonic ''flower'' metal with a clasically trained vocalist to symphonic metal with a ''poppy'' vocalist. Sirenia always had a singer in this style - always!

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Furthering the cheeseball message is the choir, and surprise of surprises, they sing on every single track in the album.

Nope. They did not appear on the opening track, The End of It All.

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The symphonic elements appear as always but they can’t hold a sensible tune for the life of them, and further irritating is that they mostly all originate from the keyboard – it’s no wonder that they sound so fake.

I know this is your opinion, but it sort of bothered me. While the violin and acoustic guitars have been played by human beings, all the string arrangements and sound effects have always been done with a keyboard - even in Tristania. I jsut felt that you (the reviewer) sounded like you were surprised of this fact.

Other than that I agree for the most part. I like the album, but I get why people find it predictable.

''poppy'' vocalist. Sirenia always had a singer in this style - always!

Maybe the writer means a former singer of Tristania Vibeke Stene, who is a classical singer.

I have recently sent my own copy of Enigma of Life from my friend who lives in Germany.
Artwork is amazing, really.
And it isnt similar to previous albums at all. Great design.

Sirenia
smashed the charts with The Enigma Of Life! Germany: #73, Switzerland: #53. We would like to thank our fans for all your support. Knowing that you appreciate our work is a big inspiration and motivating factor for us. We are looking forward to seeing you all on tour soon, and to perform the songs from The enigma of life for you live in concert. A very special thanks to our ever loyal fans in Germany and Switzerland!


From Official Web-page.

On January 21, the gothic metal Norwegians known as Sirenia released their newest album. It was done so through Nuclear Blast and is entitled The Enigma of Life. Being the band’s fifth studio release, it was expected that they would have found their groove by now. If they have, they most likely should find their way out of it; The Enigma of Life is not a place this band should remain.
Gothic metal seems to be the sub-genre most welcoming of female vocalists. The Enigma of Life has a very dominant gothic sound with a strong symphonic edge. There are also numerous sections throughout the album which utilize death metal growling vocals as well as many others which employ choir chants. At all times there is a darker tone in the music (as expected from gothic music), though there are ballad parts in addition to the metal. Everything that is done in this album seems to be geared towards what is expected by gothic metal, and consequently denies The Enigma of Life any possible chance at uniqueness.

Unfortunately, the record falls on the poorer side of average. Its best parts are the generic parts where nothing goes wrong, but nothing comes remotely close to standing out. However, there are points throughout the album which actually sound wrong and misplaced. Many of these are the death growling sections, in which the vocalist is monotone and uses simplistic rhythms in an already simple passage making the growling unnecessary and even a nuisance. The guitar riffs are quite bland and feel quite shallow and forced at times (“The Twilight in Your Eyes” comes to mind). They are quite generic and lack much substance or diversity. In fact, that same statement can be made for the musicianship throughout the album. Most of the songs sound much to similar and lacking content to keep things interesting for the audience. All in all, it is merely an album with too many wrongs to be of even average quality.

There are a few good things with The Enigma of Life that should not go unsaid though. The vocalist does show sparks of inspiration and worth. For much of the album, it seems like she is there because she has to be. But in songs like “The Enigma of Life” (the one song which I somewhat like), it is as though she is there because she deserves to be. The keyboards and symphonic arrangements are quite good as well, though nothing overly spectacular. But unfortunately, the bad aspects heavily outweigh the good ones, and it cannot be said that this is a good album (or even an average one).

This is a rather poor album. It makes very little effort to be special in any way. The musicianship is basic and uninteresting, as are the instrumental performances. Even the overall style of the album is quite generic and conformist. Though the vocalist has talent, she does not show enough on this album consistently to salvage it. The Enigma of Life is an album I would recommend listeners to avoid.


Anjother one review from GoldenBird.

Goodness! The Enigma of Life has gotten rather horrible reviews.

Yeah, some reviews are horrible, but some others are very good, so...

But the horrible reviews are not objective at all, so I stop to read them, this is just people who have to spit out their anger about I don't know what... some are ridiculous. I read a french review very rude. , but I don't want to fall into their game, so I jsut do like I didn't see anything. ^^

That is true. If they feel the band is horrible, there is nothing I can say. And it would not make sense for me to waste my time being angry over the things they say. I just personally think, if you do not like a band, don't waste your time letting the world know. It makes more sense to quit listening to them and listen to something of preference.

Changed? wrote:

That is true. If they feel the band is horrible, there is nothing I can say. And it would not make sense for me to waste my time being angry over the things they say. I just personally think, if you do not like a band, don't waste your time letting the world know. It makes more sense to quit listening to them and listen to something of preference.

I completely agree!
If there's a Sirenia song I don't like I simply skip it or don't listen to it. It's not that hard a thing to do and I don't see why people have such a hard time doing so.

[I know this review is really boring, but I had fun writing it ]



Ah, Sirenia... The first time I listened to them was in late 2008. I am a fan of Tristania, so I knew then that Morten Veland had continued to make music after leaving (or being fired from) the band. The first song I listened to was Meridian on YouTube. I remember sitting there with my jaws dropped! I had just been brutalised with a six minute onslaught of harsh vocals, ''heavy-as-f*ck'' riffs, choirs, blast-beats and soothing female vocals - all at once! But this was in early 2002, when gothic metal still enjoyed some respect in the extreme branch of heavy metal. How things have changed...

The Enigma of Life is Sirenia's 5th full-length album to date, and the second one to feature vocalist Pilar Giménez García, better known as Ailyn (thank god!). The mastermind behind this band, gothic metal legend Morten Veland, writes and performes everything you hear, with only one guest performance by Stephanie Valentin playing the violin.

The music is... mild. It definitely pushes the border on what actually counts as metal. We have riffs, even some heavy ones (This Darkness comes to mind), but for the most part they stay back in the mix to just add some heaviness to the entire sound. We get almost no leads, and the solos are short and predictable.
The keyboard is BEAUTIFUL. The gritty industrial sound of Nine Destinies... is gone. We get piano melodies, string arrangements, violins playing sombre leads in the background etc. Every song has a ''breakdown'' where the symphonic sound is able to grow and please you. It takes its time much more than on previous albums.

The production is pristine, probably the cleanest record Morten ever did. The only thing I don't like about it is that the keys, guitars, the bass and drums somehow merge into one ugly sound. An obvious example is around 0:07 on A Seaside Serenade.

The vocals are all around very good, but they (like the music) begs for variation. Ailyn has a very beautiful voice when she is ''used'' the right way. Her voice is sweet, cute and exotic, but can get a little ''whiny'' during some of the choruses. This is when she sings those long and drawn out vocal lines, so I blame this on lazy writing.
Morten Veland still opens his raspy throat to give us some ''extreme'' elements to contrast the rest. He appears to have recovered from the flu he had on The 13th Floor, as he has improved so much from that belching he gave us on that record. He also does clean vocals (!), and he sounds pretty good. On Darkened Days to Come he almost sounds like Østen Bergøy from Tristania.
The choirs sound like they always have, but I am glad they are kept even if the music goes further away from its origin.

Whether you like this album or not depends on what kind of listener you are. Do you listen to the individual parts and enjoy them, or do you always take the sum of its parts and look at the whole? There ARE beautiful moments on this record, some really sends shivers down my spine, but the wast majority is just boring filler that was borrowed from the previous album. I still think Morten can do better, he is getting good at writing those nice melodies, but it just does not hold up. I have always thought that he does metal better whenever he writes faster music, you can hear this in all his albums. He insists on continuing this slower and more melodic music, so I guess we can't expect him to revert back to what once was.

In the end, Sirenia is forever haunted by it's glorious past. I can't listen to Fallen Angel without thinking that ''why does this not sound like Star-Crossed?''. Maybe that makes me narrow-minded, but it's the truth, and I think many fans of Morten's early work feel the same way. The occacional moments of beauty, be it a guitar solo, a vocal melody or masterly played keyboards, is just not enough to hold this up to the standard set by the first albums. I am not asking Morten to write ''Beyond the Veil, part II'', but if he feels like repeating himself endlessly, then he unfortunately chose the sound I like the least.

5/10
- 3 points for being consistent and solid
- 2 points for beautiful keyboard playing

If you're a fan of Nine Destinies... and The 13th Floor, or if you just like solid symphonic metal with some beautiful moment, then definitely check this out.

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In the end, Sirenia is forever haunted by it's glorious past. I can't listen to Fallen Angel without thinking that ''why does this not sound like Star-Crossed?''. Maybe that makes me narrow-minded, but it's the truth, and I think many fans of Morten's early work feel the same way. The occacional moments of beauty - be it a guitar solo, a vocal melody or masterly played keyboards - is just not enough to hold this up to the standard set by the first albums. I am not asking Morten to write ''Beyond the Veil, part II'', but if he feels like repeating himself endlessly, then he chose the sound I like the least.

Excellent! I really like it. If you don't mind, I'm going to post this on Fuck Yeah Sirenia.

Thank you! I don't mind at all!

Great! You can view it here http://fuckyeahsirenia.tumblr.com/ And I have awarded you with 10 points for taking the time to write and share it with us.

Awesome

This album is very good!!
Al of the songs are so touching!
favorites: Enigma Of Life, A Seaside Serenade, Coming Down, This Darkness, Darkened Days To Come, This Lonely Lake