Sirenia (band)

For other uses of Sirenia consult Sirenia (disambiguation)

Sirenia is a gothic metal and symphonic metal band, originally from the city of Stavanger, Norway. It was founded in 2001 by Morten Veland, who is also a singer, songwriter and principal instrumentalist.

Their musical style has varied significantly over the years, from highly elaborate symphonic metal to more of a gothic metal tone. Throughout its history, Sirenia has been characterized by having several female vocalists and Veland as the only permanent member.

History

Beginnings

Sirenia was formed in early 2001 in Stavanger, Norway when Morten Veland (singer and leader) parted ways with his previous band Tristania unilaterally, due to musical disagreements and personal issues. Veland enlisted Kristian Gundersen, a close friend and eminent musician who shared his musical inclinations, on this project to participate on clean male vocals and guitar.

Furthermore, he brought in French Fabienne Gondamin on female vocals. However, it was customary (as thereafter) to use other additional musicians in recording studios and concerts who are not considered permanent members.

For the drummer position, there was no official one until 2003, when Veland hired Chilean Jonathan Pérez as a touring member. Hans Henrik Varland collaborated on keyboards on the first album. Special mention goes to Pete Johansen (The Sins Of Thy Beloved, Tristania, Morgul and The Scarr), who also participated in his debut album on violin. Pete is well known in the metal world for his way of playing this instrument, with a very well defined and personal style.

They were joined by a French opera choir (the "Sirenian Choir"), and Jan Kenneth Barkved (1974-2009†), a member of the band Elusive with clean male vocals.

Roland Navratil, of the Austrian symphonic gothic metal band Edenbridge, served as concert drummer on a few occasions in the absence of Jonathan Pérez, who was officially a full-time member of Trail of Tears. Navratil actually participated in the 2004-2005 European Tour and to a lesser extent, in 2009.

Finally, the bass was played by Veland himself or by guest musicians at the live shows. None of these collaborators are credited as permanent members of the band.

With this formation they proceeded to record an album and a promotional tour in festivals in their native Norway.

At Sixes And Sevens (2001-2002)

Morten Veland soon reestablished communication with Napalm Records and with producer Terje Refsnes of Sound Suite Studios, in Marseille, France. On August 13, 2002, Sirenia released their first official album, called At Sixes And Sevens.

This musician is a great lover of classical music, and that influence is clearly reflected in this recording, in the form of baroque keyboards that provide diverse and dark atmospheres, violins and opera choirs. His band, at least on his early work, played a mix of gothic-metal (with elements of black and death metal) and rock with classical music influences.

The foundations of their sound consisted of energetic drums and bass that were enhanced and supported by aggressive 12-string guitars, accompanied by ambient keyboards, and the special touch of violin in instrumental solos.

As for the voices, a wide variety of sounds were used ranging from angelic voices, guttural voices, screams, choruses, clean male voice and even whispers.

After “At Sixes and Sevens” was released, Sirenia scheduled their first European tours in mid-spring and summer of 2003. However, prior to the start of the tour, singer Fabienne Gondamin abandoned his companions. Gomndamin lent her voice only to herself in the recording of this first album, since as she lived in France and the other members were and lived in Norway, she had to withdraw from the group because it was so complicated for her.

After a short massive audition in their country of origin, they chose the Norwegian Henriette Bordvik as a substitute and with whom they performed the live performances in the course of 2003 and 2004. Once finished, Veland began to perform a new album. He had been working on new songs since 2002 and spent the last summer perfecting them.

On the other hand, the economic results of the tour were not as expected and it was barely possible to cover the expenses derived from touring almost ten countries throughout the Old Continent.

It was at that moment that a series of problems to be reviewed became apparent: the line-up was not as solid as could be expected and the band's live show was losing credit for not being able to accurately reflect all the orchestration and arrangements of the music.

An Elixir For Existence (2003-2006)

Henriette Bordvik at the Inferno Metal Festival in 2003

Between September and October 2003, Veland and Gundersen re-entered Sound Suite Studios to record An Elixir For Existence, their second official album. The CD included everything from metal to the most atmospheric and calm; In addition, epic songs were included, with symphonic arrangements. From a conceptual point of view, this new album did not represent anything different for the group, since it follows the same thematic line.

This musical work -published on August 3, 2004- had the participation of Henriette Bordvik on vocals, who joined since the beginning of 2003 and who had a vocal tone surprisingly similar to that of her predecessor.

With the release of their second album, the results were much more discreet and the efforts to further market the band were not as good as could be expected.

This situation -together with the rest that the group took- meant that, in a period of just two months in October 2004, Sirenia launched the mini-CD Sirenian Shores.

For most fans, it contained a compilation of all the best tracks from the band's previous two albums, included with some variations and new tracks.

Jonathan Pérez joined Sirenia permanently in 2003 and made the decision to unconditionally support his friend Morten, despite having to share a job with his other band (Trail of Tears), from which he completely disassociated himself end of 2006 due to monetary problems.

With this material, the group took a long break of more than three years away from the recording studios, while they reconsidered their musical style, and at the same time, they looked for a new record label in order to achieve greater distribution. The chosen label was Nuclear Blast, with which Veland agreed.

Nine Destinies and a Downfall (2007-2008)

In 2007, Sirenia released their third official album (not counting the MCD Sirenian Shores), called Nine Destinies and a Downfall, with a new vocalist, named Monika Pedersen from Denmark, since Bordvik left the group for personal reasons in November 2005.

This album also marked the debut of Bjørnar Landa (from Norwegian industrial rock band Artifact) on guitar, following the departure of Kristian Gundersen at the end of 2004, to pursue other projects of his own, particularly with the trio elusive. There is no participation of Landa in the vocals, as his predecessor did.

The style is decidedly commercial and very different from what has been heard from the group in the past. Fresher and less dense musical currents were included. With this, he lost followers to his usual music, but gained many others.

Before the album's release, Sirenia traveled to Serbia and Montenegro and shot two music videos with the Icode Productions team. Together with "My Mind's Eye", they recorded "The Other Side". Both were the first of the band.

Despite receiving widely divided reviews on the quality of “Nine Destinies and a Downfall”, this record marked Sirenia's first major international success, in a forceful way. It reached listings in 6 countries, and received a lot of attention from specialized publications all over the world. Meanwhile, the promotional single for her & # 34; My Mind & # 39; s Eye" -taken from the same album-, led the radio charts in several countries. The video was widely broadcast in Austria, Switzerland, Australia and Germany, as well as being broadcast on MTV, according to the Norwegian newspaper Aftenbladet.

However, on November 5, 2007, it was reported on her official page that the new singer left Sirenia due to musical differences and after a very fleeting step. Monika was the third vocalist to leave Sirenia (one per album).

With this, the group had to suddenly cancel a European tour with the Swedish band Therion. It is speculated that internally, relations between Pedersen and the rest of the band were never entirely good, an aspect that led to his return to the Danish band that made him known, Sinphonia.

In the following months the group searched for a new singer and composed for their next album. Finally on April 10, 2008, Sirenia unveiled its new female vocalist, chosen from more than 500 applicants and after a tough test that lasted 2 months. The chosen one was Ailyn (Pilar Jiménez García; May 29, 1982) of Spanish nationality, born in Catalonia, who was not related in any way to the gothic world, but rather was dedicated to pop music, for which the group has received strong criticism, for its purely commercial pretensions, although, the band itself has stated: "Ailyn fits perfectly in Sirenia's new songs, so we are delighted to be able to count on her &#3. 4;. Ailyn was part of a musical group that was dedicated to covering songs in Spanish from anime series and Japanese video games. She also participated in the Spanish edition of Factor X of the Cuatroº channel, in 2007.

On May 19, 2008, Bjørnar Landa left to spend more time with his family (after almost 4 years as a member and prior to a recording session) and was replaced by Michael S. Krumins, a prominent guitarist from from the Norwegian progressive rock band Green Carnation.

On June 12, Sirenia introduced Kristian Olav Torp as the bassist, who will perform exclusively at their live shows.

The 13th Floor (2009-2010)

Sirenia at the Rock Festival in Norway, 2009

The 13th Floor, was published on January 23, 2009, following a style very similar to that of their previous album, although newer, by including some longer and denser songs, returning in some pieces to the sound that gave rise to it, although without reaching the same complexity and elaboration.

The main theme and the one with which the album opens is "The Path to Decay". It was released in advance on December 26, 2008, promoted as a music video (Sirenia's third) focused on the figure of her new vocalist. It was shot in Gothenburg, Sweden, with director Patric Ullaeus (Lacuna Coil among others). The audiovisual is inspired by the album cover itself. To this day, it remains the band's most successful music video, whose number of views on YouTube exceeds 10 million, something quite complicated for a metal group, which only few bands, like Nightwish, have achieved.

The album featured guest appearances by Jan Kenneth Barkved, who also featured on the At Sixes And Sevens album, as well as France's Stephanie Valentin on violin, along with the opera chorus that has been an important part of the band from the very beginning, elements that added the characteristic sound of the group.

In July 2009, the name of a new project by Veland was announced, called Mortemia, in which he will work without leaving aside Sirenia, which is increasingly distant from its beginnings, following a line in the style of his works in albums like Beyond the Veil by Tristania, or At Sixes and Sevens by Sirenia.

In October 2009, Jan K. Barkved, a long-time Sirenia collaborator, was found dead at the age of 35 in his apartment in Stavanger, under undisclosed circumstances.[1] His main band, Elusive, had been disbanded since April.

In February 2010, the webzine Metal Storm nominated The 13th Floor for the annual award for Best Atmospheric/Symphonic Metal Album. The award was finally won by Epica, with Design Your Universe [2].

In January 2010, Sirenia scheduled their first world concert tour with "The 13th Floor Tour". The tour included Latin America for the first time, with dates between February and March 2010. It consisted of one presentation in Mexico, two in Colombia, one in Argentina and two in Brazil [3].

Subsequently, they announced a series of three concerts in Australia with the renowned British band Paradise Lost, initially for February and later postponed to April. However, they were ultimately canceled for unknown reasons. Shows included Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. The extensive tour was rescheduled in Europe and ended in October in his native Norway.

The entrance of their vocalist Ailyn produced a great stability in the band, which seems to motivate her to continue with the Norwegians, being the first in almost ten years that she repeats in the recording of a second studio album.

The Enigma Of Life (2010-2012)

Ailyn and Morten Veland in March 2010

As of July 8, 2010, Sirenia focused on composing and recording some demos of songs for her fifth album, which was released in Europe on January 21, 2011. As reported on October 11, 2010, its name is The Enigma of Life, which is characterized by having a more alternative and softened sound.

"The Enigma of Life" offers the particularity of including two bonus tracks with titles and lyrics in Spanish: "Oscura Realidad" and two alternative versions of the album title "El Enigma De La Vida". This seems motivated by the great success of the band before the Latin American public, after their tour the previous year, and by the Hispanic origin of their singer.

The download of the sole single and the album's opening track, titled "The End of It All", was released on December 21, 2010. The promotional music video was released on January 5, 2011 and has been directed by renowned Swedish director Patric Ullaeus of Revolver Film Company, who is collaborating with Sirenia for the second time in a row.

On April 19, 2011, Michael S. Krumins left Sirenia to devote more time to his own bands and personal projects [4].

On July 16, 2011, and as one of their most important performances of the year, Sirenia's second performance was held at the famous Masters of Rock heavy metal festival, which takes place annually in the city of Vizovice, Czech Republic. His first and only participation dates back to 2008.

At the end of July and beginning of August 2011, Sirenia made a second tour of Latin America, which took them again to countries like Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and for the first time to Peru and Chile in October.

Michael S. Krumins at the Global East Rock Festival in September 2010

On October 24, 2011, the band officially incorporated their new guitarist Jan Erik Soltvedt, who accompanied them on their various American and European tours, including the Gallus Sonorus Musicallis (GSM Fest) performed in June in Barcelos, Portugal, and the Wacken Festival, Germany, held in August.

Perils Of The Deep Blue (2013-2014)

In January 2013, the band began recording sessions for what will be the successor to The Enigma Of Life. It was released in early 2013, once again via Nuclear Blast Records.

As stated by the band: "The festival season is over and it feels good to be back in the studio again. The progress of the new album is going very well, we feel confident that Sirenia's sixth album will bring some nice surprises up its sleeve, as we have decided to make this record something different from the previous two albums. We have finished some recording sessions at Sound Suite studios in France, we were able to record the choirs and some acoustic parts. Now we continue to work in Morten Veland's studio, Audio Avenue".

On April 13, 2013, Sirenia announced via her Facebook page that the title of her next album is Perils of the Deep Blue, to be officially released on June 28, 2013 on Europe. On May 12, 2013, their single "Seven Widows Weep" was released, through Nuclear Blast. On June 3, 2013, the official video clip for "Seven Widows Weep" was released. It was filmed in April of the same year in Serbia by the icode Productions team.

This album represented Sirenia's first entry on US charts, such as the US Hard Rock Albums and US Heatseeker Albums.

The Seventh Life Path (2015-2016)

On April 3, 2014, the band announced that they had returned to the Napalm Records label to record a new album, which would be officially released on various dates in April 2015. On February 10 of that same year, they revealed that the title of his seventh studio album is The Seventh Life Path. It represented the first album under said Austrian label since An Elixir For Existence (2004). On March 12, 2015, Sirenia announced on their Facebook page that Nightwatcher Films has signed with them to include their song & #34;Ducere Me In Lucem" from their previous album Perils of the Deep Blue for their respective soundtrack. The theme was used in the opening title sequence of a film called Abandoned Dead released in January 2016.

On April 8, 2015, the official video for the single "Once My Light", directed by Icode Team and filmed inside a mansion in Serbia, was released.

Dim Days of Pain (2016 - 2018)

Emmanuelle Zoldan in concert in Jerson, Ukraine in June 2016

On July 5, 2016, Sirenia announced that the group and its vocalist Ailyn decided to go their own way, after the Spaniard suffered some personal problems. However, the band continued the recording sessions for their eighth album as normal, without yet having a replacement. Ailyn, for her part, assured that the decision to leave Sirenia (to which she belonged for 8 years) was not hers., but by Morten Veland without going into further details about the reasons.

On August 29, 2016, it was announced that the new album is titled Dim Days of Dolor. which was released on November 11 of that year, for the second consecutive time published under Napalm Records. The album was mixed at Hansen's studios in Denmark. The cover art was once created by Gyula Havancsák of Hjules Illustration And Design.

On September 8, 2016, Sirenia announced that its new singer is Emmanuelle Zoldan, a French mezzo-soprano singer from Aix-en-Provence. Zoldan had previously worked with Sirenia for 13 years and was a regular part of the Sirenian Choir. She contributed lead vocals to Leonard Cohen's cover of 'First We Take Manhattan', included on the 2004 EP Sirenian Shores.

Sirenia toured with Arkona and MindMaze in May 2017 for their debut in the United States and Canada.

In October 2017, before a tour of Europe, French guitarist Nils Courbaron was unexpectedly invited to take part, replacing Jan Erik Soltvedt. In November, long-time drummer Jonathan Pérez left the band and officially joined Green Carnation. Consequently, Austrian drummer Roland Navratil, a member of Sirenia live in 2004-2005 and 2009, was temporarily included again.

The band returned to North America to join various bands at the heavy metal festival 70000 Tons of Metal, for two shows on February 2 and 3, 2018.

Sirenia toured the north of the continent for the second time with Canadian death metal band Threat Signal in April 2018, supported by Valinor Excelsior, Graveshadow, Niviane and Dire Peril.

Arcane Astral Aeons (2018 - present)

On August 14, 2018, Sirenia revealed the title of their ninth full-length album, Arcane Astral Aeons along with a European tour in the fall. The album was released on October 26 of the same year.

Members

Current members

• 

  Morten Veland

• Morten Veland – Gutural Voice, Clean Voice (in study), Guitar, Low (in study), Keyboard (in study), Programming (in study), Battery (in study) (2001 – present)
• Emmanuelle Zoldan - Voice (2016 - present)

Live Members

• Jan Erik Soltvedt - Guitar (2011 – present)
• Nils Courbaron - Guitar (2017 - present)

Former Members

• Ailyn – Voice (2008 – 2016)
• Henriette Bordvik - Voice (2003 - 2005)
• Monika Pedersen – Voice (2006 - 2007)
• Kristian Gundersen – Guitar (only in concerts) and Clean Voice (2001 – 2004)
• Bjørnar Landa – Guitar (in concerts) (2004 – 2008)
• Michael S. Krumins - Guitar and Gutural Voice (both in concerts) (2008 - 2011)
• Kristian Olav Torp – Low (only in concerts) (2008)
• Roland Navratil – Battery (only in concerts) (2004 – 2005, 2009, 2017)
• Jonathan Pérez – Battery (2003 – 2017)

Session musicians

• Fabienne Gondamin – Voz (2001–2002)
• Jan Kenneth Barkved † – Clean Voice (2001–2002, 2008)
• Pete Johansen – Violin (2001–2002)
• Anne Verdot – Violin (2003, 2004)
• Stephanie Valentin – Violin (2008, 2010)

"The Sirenian Choir"

Current

• Damien Surian (2001–present)
• Mathieu Landry (2003–present)
• Emilie Bernou (2012–present)
• Emmanuelle Zoldan (2003-present)

Former Members

• Johanna Giraud (2001–2004)
• Hubert Piazzola (2001–2004)
• Emilie Lesbros (2001–2010)
• Sandrine Gouttebel (2003–2010)
• Aylin (2008–2016)

Timeline

Discography

• Annex:Syrenia Discography

Studio Albums

EP

• Sirenian Shores (2004)

Simple

• "My Mind's Eye" (2007)
• "The Path to Decay" (2008)
• "The End of It All" (2010)
• "Seven Widows Weep" (2013)
• "Once My Light" (2015)
• "The 12th Hour" (2016)
• "Dim Days of Dolor" (2016)
• "Love Like Cyanide" (2018)
• "Into the Night" (2018)
• "Addiction No. 1" (2020)

" "We Come to Ruins" (2021)

• Voyage, Voyage (2021)

Music Videos

• "My Mind's Eye" (2007)
• "The Other Side" (2007)
• "The Path to Decay" (2008)
• "The End of It All" (2011)
• "Seven Widows Weep" (2013)
• "Once My Ligh" (2015)
• "Dim Days of Dolor" (2016)
• "Into the Night" (2018)
• "Addiction No. 1" (2020)
• Voyage, Voyage (2021)