Album review: Sirenia - The Seventh Life Path - 2015

Genre: Symphonic Gothic Metal
Counntry: Norway
Year: 2015

Tracklist:

1. Seti
2. Serpent
3. Once My Light
4. Elixir
5. Sons Of The North
6. Earendel
7. Concealed Disdain
8. Insania
9. Contemptuous Quitus
10. The Silver Eye
11. Tragedienne
12. Tragica" (Tragedienne Spanish Version- Bonus Track)

“The Seventh Life Path”, is, well… the seventh Sirenia’s studio album, and the one we are going to review right now, in its Limited Edition format. 

It is priced today at $11.99 at Amazon.com and at 13,99 € at Napalm Records. This seem to be a fair price for an album just released and more than ok if you consider its content. 

The compilation is extraordinary lengthy. It has twelve songs (included a bonus track), where one of them is an intro, but a total play time of more than one hour and ten minutes. That’s a big amount of content for any LP album. That would be great if it also were of acceptable quality or more than acceptable… And it is! Indeed, it is superb. Behold one of the best albums this band has ever conceived! 

For better or worse, the band’s style has changed, of course, since their debut album in 2002. Strangely (not really), the biggest change coincided with the same album which Sirenia debuted in Nuclear Blast Records. “Nine Destinies And A Downfall” is a good album but a very different one from its two predecessors. It has a closer approach to the pop genre and so it dropped most of the Death Metal elements. Strangely again (seriously, not really), with “The Seventh Life Path”, the band has returned to its birthplace, Napalm Records, and, at the same time, to its old style, at least partially. So, it’s great to have them back to where they can do what they like, the way they like. 

By listening to the album firsts minutes, this change I’m talking about, is perceived right away. Back are the Death Metal vocals, back are the heavy riffs, back is the dark atmosphere, and back is Sirenia. This release is very close to the Gothic Death Metal the band exhibited in their first albums, but it also retains some of the essence of the last ones. Thus, this work blends the best of two different styles. Being fair, we can say that this album has some of the best of Sirenia. 

As said before, the harsh vocals are back, and the riffs that come with them. It’s good to have them back with more relevance and not as a bridge-only-instrument. In a couple of songs they don’t appear at all, but in the others they have, more or less, the same importance as the female clean vocals. However, they are used in the riffs only, being the choruses reserved for Ailyn. 

The novelty is also a big positive part. The band has maintained its particular style almost intact. Since “Nine Destinies And A Downfall”, it has suffered some variation obviously, but not at its core. Fortunately for us, this work brings some original elements. Which ones? I won’t tell you! But, besides the inclusion for the first time of an intro piece, they seem obvious in songs like “Elixir”, “The Silver Eye”, and throughout the album. The composition now feels richer than ever and entertaining. 

About the audio, I have to say it’s a refined version of the one used in the previous release. Still it is flat enough to let every instrument be heard, but this time it gives also the right and due relevance to some instruments, at the right time. As a consequence, the drums now sound deeper and more defined, the guitars more powerful and the vocals clearer.

In sum, a great work. Let’s hope the group stays in this path.

Rating: 8/10

The best of: The Kovenant

Genre: Melodic Death Metal/Industrial Metal

Country: Norway

This great Norwegian band has shined early in its life as a Death Metal band, and then as a avant-garde metal band, adding and multiplying instruments and effects of electronic and industrial music. It's almost obligatory to listen to this band albums to anyone who likes metal music, because of the big contribution to the genre in each album, thanks to the many new and amazing elements incorporated, especially in their album "Animatronic". Its lineup, as well as its style and name have changed through the years, having paraded members of Dimmu Borgir, Cradle Of Filth and Ram-Zet, among others. However, The Kovenant style has never reassembled to any of them or of any other band.

With their first album "In Times Before The Light", released in 1997, the group quickly gained fame in Norway and parts of Europe, presenting a style that would end up being the closest one to Black Metal in its discography; double pedal, high pitched harsh vocals, overcharged treble, and an overwhelming atmosphere. In 2002, it was released a remix edition, with songs re-recorded, and a new and better mixing and mastering process, that clearly approaches Nexus Polaris. Trying to earn some money, surely, in 2007 they released the original album, remastered, and with some bonus tracks from their early 90's demo.

In 1998 the second album, "Nexus Polaris", the group jumps into another style by leaving the Black, and approaching to a much more melodic sound and improving significantly. Only a year later, it was launched "Animatronic", which is maybe their best album, with an original avant-garde death metal, an enviable sound for any band, great variety within the songs themselves and throughout the album, great strength in riffs and choruses; from the beginning to the end, a beautiful work.

After a number of adjustments to its lineup, the band launches "S.E.T.I.", in 2003, almost completely forgetting what was before, leaping once again, this time, to a straight forward industrial metal... and betraying all his followers! Double pedal.. Goodbye! Harsh vocals... Goodbye! Two guitars play... Goodbye!! (wtf !!), goodbye to the guitar solos too! (wtf !!!!!!!) Goodbye to The Kovenant?

Many fans hated this work but, in fact, it's one of the best industrial metal albums ever made. The Kovenant remains today a spectacular band until the last of their albums; proof of this is that the band has been keeping all of their fans expectant, for more than seven years now, for their next album "Aria Galactica", that we may never see.

In sum, The Kovenant musical style has traveled a long way, and in every milestone, they have created a different masterpiece for every genre. From a melodic blackened death to a melodic industrial metal, every single disk stands out in its own ground.

There are quite different but excellent songs to choose from. We are not gonna try to choose the best ones for each style but the best ones overall.

1. Monarch Of The Mighty Darkness (In Time Before The Light - 1997)

2. Bringer Of The Sixth Sun (Nexus Polaris - 1998)

3. The Last Of Dragons (Nexus Polaris - 1998)

4. Chariots Of Thunder (Nexus Polaris - 1998)

5. Mirror’s Paradise (Animatronic - 1999)

6. Mannequin (Animatronic - 1999)

7. Jihad (Animatronic - 1999)

8. Star By Star (S.E.T.I. - 2003)

9. Still Born Universe (S.E.T.I. - 2003)

10. Hollow Earth (S.E.T.I. - 2003)