I first heard "The Other Side" on a metal compilation CD and was blown away immediately by the pristine vocals. This band has only recently settled on a permanent lead vocalist, so each release has had its ups and downs. But "Nine Destinies" is solid throughout. Morten may not have found his perfect female voice at this point, but the songwriting is pitch perfect. A gothic pleasure!
I really like this album even though it seems a little more "Disco" than the normal female-fronted gothic/symphonic metal. My favorite is the Other Side followed by My Mind's eye.
AndromedaRoach has already described the sound pretty well, so I'll just say this: it's an enticing mix, and every song is solid, especially in the later half of the album. Particularly noteworthy are the chocal sections, which are outstanding (See "Seven Keys and Nine Doors" for a great example, easily the best track on the album in my opinion). If you're short on downloads, skip the last track; it's as predictably useless as any other "radio edit" track.
As gothic metal goes, Sirenia delivers a moderately complex sound with prominent (but not dominant) electronic elements. They seem to be somewhere between their mother band, Tristania, and the lighter material of bands such as Lunatica or current-day Theatre of Tragedy. The composition is good, though not as hook-laden as Nightwish or Leaves' Eyes. All previously mentioned similar artists are also on eMusic, and I would encourage those new to symphonic/gothic female-fronted metal to check them out before passing judgment on the genre. Regarding how this could fit into one's metal experience, my eMusic metal journey has taken me through excellent artists in thrash (Tourniquet), death (Mortification), and black metal (Evroklidon) before parabolically leading to the fusion of metal, the female voice and my old favorite, the orchestral soundtrack. There is nothing wrong with the reverse path.
Pop princess meets metal? This is a very strange album. Imagine taking a below par female vocalist, adding simplistic lyrics sung in a pop tempo and adding metal background instrumentation. What do you call this: “Metal Lite”? Perhaps this would appeal to the young as a transition (or weaning) from pop to metal? One of the worst downloads I have experienced on emusic.
It's not easy to combine monsters with sirens, if you can't do that, well... GET RID OF THE MONSTER and keep the siren.This girl never needed a male voice to prove her skills. Here is here chance to prove sha can really sing. This album has a little twist toward nightwish with edenbridge.
this album still has the depth the previous sirenia albums do, the song writing is second to none, but i could not help to notice the lack of the extreme harsh male vocals-but i somehow was not disappointed, because this girl can sing with one of the most angelic voices out there...well worth downloading this whole album.
