[.ca] At Sixes and Sevens

great songwriting obliterated by too much "death" growling:
One reviewer remarked that Morten Veland had "done it again." Yup, he shot himself in the foot again, just like he did on Tristania's "Beyond the Veil." Veland has an obvious talent in songwriting and building arrangements, and he definitely has a knack for surrounding himself with quality musicians. His problem is that rather than using his death metal growling for proper effect, where it's appropriate, he just plasters it everywhere, and again lessens what would otherwise have been an incredible CD. With all of the talent that is present in this band, it would certainly have been better to let them come out of the background a little more. The songs where Veland does that (which are all too few), like "On the Wane," are easily the CD's best moments. To the band's credit, the songs are more varied than on BOTV, with some of the guitar parts sounding like more traditional heavy metal riffs (especially at the beginning of the opening track). It's definitely still melodic goth-metal, but shows some new directions for Veland, which I find promising. Now, if he would just cut back on the growling...say to 50% of the CD...Sirenia's next CD will be a sure winner.

sixes and sevens? More like twos and threes:
OK so it's not that bad. It's just not good. Tristania's Beyod the Veil is much better. This album just didn't do it for me. Seriously, all the songs sound too similar to hear any major differences between the songs. Also, this album is why people these days think that goths are melodramatic.

seixes and sevens? More like twos and threes:
OK so it's not that bad. It's just not good. Tristania's Beyod the Veil is much better. This album just didn;t do it for me. Seriously, all the songs sound too similar to hear any major difference. This album is why people these days think that goths are melodramatic.

Surprising:
This is a surprise for me on so many levels I don't really know where to begin. I'll be honest here: usually I hate a lot of male death growls. Yet, oddly enough, that's partly what makes this very enjoyable. The Good: Male growls are one thing, as I already said. They're more clean then most male growls. This is nice because I would rather be able to understand what is being sung, then hear random shouting to the beat. (It's a pet peeve of mine when it comes to music. I can't help it.) The Female vocals are excellent: Fabienne Gondamin is a very talented singer in her own right. It's a real shame that she lives so far away from the rest of the band, or she would have been a permanent member (as Morten stated in an interview). She sings very well, shifting from multiple registers and even manages to bring out that haunting sound that fans love (ie. Manic Aeon) Instrumentals: Here is where the main strong point is. The instrumentals work together very well; but the most important thing is that they are very powerful. Not powerful as in loud, even though they are, but powerful in terms of drawing you into the music. (ie. Meridan) Soon, much like a Siren's song, you're pretty much caught in the song's spell. It probably helps that you have multiple melodies rolled into a song, which is a nice touch. It keeps the music feeling fresh. Plus, the mostly well written lyrics (I will discuss this soon), vocals, and especially instrumentals add a very mystical feel to the music. It seems to take you to another world, it's very etheral in a sense. (In Sumerian Haze) Now, how can growls, loud guitars etc., make for etheral music? Well, this is something I actually can't explain. You'll have to listen to the music for yourself to understand this. The Bad: As with any CD there is usually a negative. On this CD there are two negatives I would like to point out. Now bear in mind that I do like the CD overall, so these negatives are minor; but I feel I have to state them if I want to be objective. It's only fair to mention both the good and bad. The first negative relates to the lyrics. Now, as I said, for the most part the lyrics are very well written. I enjoy them. But there are some great songs that suffer from a few, how should I say, cliche/cheesy sort of lyrics. A few examples: "Don't deny your life's a living hell/you're a shadow of your own self", "We're all living a lie", or the ending line mentioning the slitting of the wrists in Sumerian Haze. (Which is actually a great song.) Now my problem with the cliche/cheesy lyrics is that it seems to detract from the song somewhat. So, I could be immersed in the music; but I found once a cliche/cheesy line would come around, it would pull me right out of the song. It kind of made it seem like Morten was just writing a typical "goth" line to make the songs darker, but couldn't really think of anything, so he added the cliche ones. Now, this may not be the case; but this is how I interpreted it. It's one negative that does affect my listening experience. I realize I may be flamed for saying this; but I have to state it to be honest. Bear in mind that this is my opinion on the subject and that I do consider this a minor negative. The CD as a whole is very well done. The final negative relates to the title track. Unfortunately, the title track is rather weak in comparison to the other songs on the disk. The song, At Sixes and Sevens, seems to be mellow to the point where it sinks below all the other songs on the album. It just doesn't really have much power to it. Overall though, the CD is a nice surprise if you like metal with a combination of doom, symphonic, goth, death, etc. elements within it. If you're unsure listen to some sound samples and see if you enjoy what I've described. 4/5

Some of the best music I've heard!!!:
There aren't many CDs out there that are written better than this one. Have you heard of Tristania? Sirenia features 2 members from that band. To me, that was like an OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!, because Tristania's my 2nd favorite doom metal band behind Nightwish. The keyboards in both bands are about as atmospheric as it can get. All you hear is sheer perfection. The difference between the 2 is that Sirenia is a smidge more gothic than Tristania and that Sirenia is flat out a bit heavier and faster. Expect to hear some darn awesome music whenever you put this CD in!!! Violins? Yep - I'm listening to some right now in my favorite on the album, In a Manica. One of my friends who has borrowed about 20 of my CDs ranging from Stratovarius to Rotting Christ to Iced Earth said that this is the best he's ever borrowed. Another one of my friends complained because she got a sore throat for trying to sing along to In a Manica, but that's a different story. Not one song on this album is bad. All of them except for the last song are full songs over 5 minutes. The last song is about 4:30 and is much softer and violin-filled, more like a Tristania song. Operatic vocals are almost non-existant. Most of the vocals are grunts and growls. You do even hear the Moonspell-like, non-growl or grunt style of singing that I love. I'd go as far to say that this band out-atmospheres (you know what I mean) even the great Samael, and they are VERY atmospheric. (sorry about this paragraph being so all over the place) I find that I can love this album no matter what kind of music I'm listening to. The first 2 bangs at the 0:01 second mark on the first track will attract ANY respecter of true metal. This is one of the best openers I've ever heard that DOESN'T stand alone as a wonder. It is a great preview to what you are about to hear and fits in with the other songs. Does Eagleheart do that? I don't think so. I'm not sure about this yet, but I've been very interested in purchasing a Penumbra CD. They sound like a very good comparison to Sirenia. I just can't emphasize enough how I love this band. Their sounds blow me away. The variety isn't as good as on Beyond the Veil (Tristania), but its up there with the greats. To a certain degree, if you like true metal and don't fall in love this album, I would recommend you to never step near doom metal again. This is about as good as it gets. The violins are perfectly woven in, the keyboards are so good for not being the stand-out instrument, the singers do a superior job and are very confident in their voices, and the drums set the tone better than Trail of Tears, Theatre of Tragedy, and The Sins of Thy Beloved. (Why do so many of these doom metal bands have names starting with the letter "t"?) So what if the cover art doesn't set an atmosphere? Lately, I've noticed that as long as you've seen AN atmospheric cover art AND have once been taken to dreamland / outer space by a cover art, then you indeed CAN go to dreamland with ANY album, as long as the music can do it. So, all I have to say is to save up $15.00! This CD is an absolute must. This is the Mirror of Madness of doom metal. Buy it!!! When you get the time, go read some of my other reviews and say if they helped you or not.

• Meridian
• Sister Nightfall
• On the Wane
• In a Manica
• At Sixes and Sevens
• Lethargica
• Manic Aeon
• Shadow of Your Own Self
• In Sumerian Haze