Sirenia - The Enigma Of Life review
| Band: | Sirenia |
| Album: | The Enigma Of Life |
| Style: | Symphonic gothic metal |
| Release date: | January 21, 2011 |
| A review by: | KwonVerge |
01. The End Of It All
02. Fallen Angel
03. All My Dreams
04. This Darkness
05. The Twilight In Your Eyes
06. Winter Land
07. A Seaside Serenade
08. Darkened Days To Come
09. Coming Down
10. This Lonely Lake
11. Fading Star
12. The Enigma Of Life
13. Oscura Realidad [bonus]
14. The Enigma Of Life [acoustic version] [bonus]
Morten Veland doesn't require any introduction, anyone interested in gothic metal has a special place in his heart concerning this Norwegian musician whose love for gothic rock and metal at the same time inspired him to walk upon his own path in the scene. The years have passed though and inspiration doesn't last forever, even if your role on early Tristania was crucial and you hold aces in the pack just like At Sixes And Sevens and An Elixir For Existence.
The problem with Mr. Veland is that he's stuck in the same recipe, he doesn't seem to be moving forward, on the contrary, after Nine Destinies And A Downfall he got obsessed with more appealing soundscapes and aspects of his talent. I'm not saying that it's bad to make your sound more commercial, the thing is, even commercial music requires some skill so as to keep quality to a welcome extent and at the same time strengthen it with tunes that will stick to your mind. The greatest enemy of commercialism is repetition, well, Morten succeeds in it and fails at composing an album that is decent and has potential to make time be kind at it.
Well, The Enigma Of Life is the 5th album of Sirenia and follows exactly the footsteps of its predecessor. You know exactly what to expect: enough distortion so as to sound light and metal at the same time, atmospheric semi-pompous orchestrations and fragile keyboards, inspired operatic vocal lines, some grunts, another bittersweet interpretation from the charismatic Ailyn and a few clean male ones from Morten himself. 65 minutes are too many for Sirenia to handle, it's not a band that will do them justice with compositions that will keep your mind busy so as to keep on listening for so long. From a moment and on you will start searching for standout tracks to separate them from the others and add them to your Sirenia playlist. The album lacks variety and tends to sound monotonous, there are generic parts you've heard a thousand times before in female-fronted bands and inspiration's not strong enough to rescue the band neither from itself nor the generic amorphous sea of sound-alike bands. Some songs that break the ice and come to the surface out of the pits of mediocrity have to be the emotional "Fallen Angel", "All My Dreams" that sounds like a "My Mind's Eye" sequel, the gothic rock grandeur of "Darkened Days To Come" and the sweetness of "This Lonely Lake" and the title-track.
In the end, there's not that much to recall and being on the thin red line of just good and mediocre doesn't really help. Post Nine Destinies And A Downfall fans might enjoy it, The Enigma Of Life probably has a lot to say to an audience that doesn't have a problem with easy-going albums, but it's nothing more but a tough whisper in general. If this is The Enigma Of Life, Sirenia doesn't seem to solve it, Morten Veland needs a break or something to put the pieces together in his mind and stop repeating himself, we all know he can.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 8 |
| Songwriting: | 6 |
| Originality: | 6 |
| Production: | 9 |
 | Written on 20.06.2011 by "It is myself I have never met, whose face is pasted on the underside of my mind." |
Rating:
5.9
5.9
|
Rating: 5.9 |
Sirenia have returned to us almost exactly two years after their fourth album, The 13th Floor. I'll be honest, back in June 2010 when I first heard that Sirenia was making a new album, I was shocked for a few reasons. 1) The 13th Floor still felt new to me. 2) The songs on the new album would feel rushed because of the short wait, and 3) It's with the same singer! Holy Jesus! 2012 is coming! Yes, they have the same singer for this album. Anyway, so I was very excited when previews for The Enigma of Life were available. The previews were very good and I really did think this would be the best Sirenia record. Let's just say I was a little off. Read more ›› |
Comments
Comments: 25
Visited by: 319 users
| WorpeX Made of Metal Posts: 1352  |
Good review, you're spot on with how I feel about the album. I liked 'The 13th Floor' because it was something fresh from the band with a new singer whom I enjoyed. The song writing wasn't amazing, but there were some great stand-out tracks from it. On 'The Enigma of LIfe' I feel they just took their last album and did it again exactly... with even worse song writing. I remember there being one or two songs on here which I liked, but for the life of me, I can't remember which ones they were anymore. I guess that just further solidifies the point of the album being mediocre and uninspired.
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| cluster53 Posts: 23 |
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| Cyroth Posts: 274  |
Agree with the review although I rated it higher, but that's just because I'm a fan and it appeals to me more than to one who is a occasional listener to Sirenia.
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| Opethian Posts: 1757  |
What turns me off about this band in particular. is the fact that every single 'Sirenia' album features a new vocalist .. 
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| bluegreengod Account deleted |
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| Franchu Posts: 3 |
I completely agree with the review. Actually, I'm unable to listen to any Sirenia album after Nine Destinies and a Downfall. I think of Ailyn to be the worst choice Sirenia has ever made. Her voice is just too fragile and doesn't transmit anything. 
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| NocturnalStalker Metal Addict Posts: 889  |
I also agree with the review. Morten Veland definitely seems to lack an inspiration for some years and the only good album he's released lately is of his side project Mortemia.
---- "And we are not who we think we are We are who we're afraid to be" - Lux Occulta "The Opening of Eleventh Sephirah"
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| Merchant of Doom Posts: 702  |
A couple of songs could easily win the European Song Contest...
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| musicalkaratekid Posts: 1506 |
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| Ernis 狼獾 Posts: 6815  |
Good review Rozz... although I've only heard the title track (and forgot it immediately after listening) I have the impression that this album is not a catchy one. The title track didn't possess anything that would've made it special. Indeed it is so that Veland has been milking the same cow for too long time and seems there ain't any milk coming out. Instead of starting new side projects he should just concentrate on one thing and try to make something innovative out of it... The previous album was bit more fresh, probably due to Ailyn's presence... this album seems repetitive and diluted...
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| Vonpire Posts: 471  |
Written by Merchant of Doom on 20.06.2011 at 11:13 Hahahahahaha That's so true!
---- Beware the Shadows of Dusk
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| Yavanna Posts: 616  |
Do you people think it's worth listening to this album? 
---- Carry me to the shoreline Bury me in the sand Walk me across the water And maybe you'll understand
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| NocturnalStalker Metal Addict Posts: 889 |
Written by Yavanna on 20.06.2011 at 16:36 Well, if you have nothing else to do. 
---- "And we are not who we think we are We are who we're afraid to be" - Lux Occulta "The Opening of Eleventh Sephirah"
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| Yavanna Posts: 616 |
Written by NocturnalStalker on 20.06.2011 at 17:08 Thanks for the advice 
---- Carry me to the shoreline Bury me in the sand Walk me across the water And maybe you'll understand
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| beyondtehdarksun Posts: 186  |
Written by Yavanna on 20.06.2011 at 16:36 I'd say, better spend your time listening to "The 13th Floor" again... or even watch the movie 
---- "We are blind to the world within us, waiting to be born"
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| Enissa Posts: 816  |
A very well written review, good job! completely my thoughts on the originality side, so much similar to The 13th Floor, but not as good as that...still has some good songs!
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| shadowdragonfly1 Posts: 72 |
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| ravendeath Posts: 240  |
"All My Dreams" that sounds like a "My Mind's Eye" What are you joking or what? That song had a great flow and energy, nice lyrics and was really haunting, on the other side "All My Dreams" is boring with nothing of before mentioned...
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| KwonVerge Odysseus Elite Posts: 5068  |
Written by ravendeath on 20.06.2011 at 23:57 "Grow up" a bit and stop throwing your bullets at me, if you wanna throw any bullet throw it at Morten Veland. And the phrase was: " "All My Dreams" that sounds like a "My Mind's Eye" sequel", sequel doesn't mean that it sounds the same all the way, read between the lines or just don't comment at all. And if the sentence begins with "Some songs that break the ice and come to the surface out of the pits of mediocrity" doesn't mean that the songs are that great or whatever, it refers to a generic form of standout tracks that save the whole situation a bit. I guess you can't please everyone and i guess i'm not always in the mood to deal with misread opinions or whatever. Go drink some beer, it's always more expressive.
---- Dec. 30, 1334. ...And the whiskey and wine entered our veins when blood was too weak to carry on.
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| ravendeath Posts: 240 |
Written by KwonVerge on 21.06.2011 at 01:14 I'm not throwing any bullets at you. In general I like the review and I also agree with the standout songs you mentioned, I only disagreed with that sole statement and that's all. If you would like to know what I think about your reviews than read my comment on Primordial review of yours...
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| KwonVerge Odysseus Elite Posts: 5068 |
Written by ravendeath on 21.06.2011 at 01:41 I'm a bit drunk at the moment and a negative vibe is omnipresent in my mind, bad day + alcohol, i won't read the primordial comment, i read it once and i don't want to prove anything or whatever and thanks a lot on your opinion on my reviews, i was only negative on this specific part  sorry if i sounded bad or something
---- Dec. 30, 1334. ...And the whiskey and wine entered our veins when blood was too weak to carry on.
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| Merchant of Doom Posts: 702 |
Congratulations for not making any spelling mistakes when drunk, although your punctuation needs a bit of attention... 
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| mariano Posts: 372 |
"...From a moment and on you will start searching for standout tracks to separate them from the others and add them to your Sirenia playlist." ...it looks like I'm not the only one doing that I'm afraid though I've been doing it with every new the Gothic / Symphonic album lately.  The last album I enjoyed from beginning to end was Epica's "Design Your Universe"
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| theloneDrow Posts: 4 |
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