Band
Sirenia

Sirenia is a gothic metal band from Stavanger, Norway which incorporates a mixture of gothic metal and symphonic metal, as well as extreme metal and death metal elements. The lyrics, written by Morten Veland, tell a loose conceptual story that began at Widow's Weeds, while he was still a member of Tristania. The band uses melodic instrumentals, synthesizers, and distorted guitars with female vocals, male death vocals, clean male vocals, a choir ... and violins. The lyrics are concerned with human existence, emotion, and mental states. Sirenia came together in early 2001, when Morten parted ways with his former band Tristania due to musical disagreements and personal differences. The band failed to find a suitable singer prior to recording in France, so they conducted auditions and found Fabienne Gondamin for the recording of their debut album At Sixes and Sevens. On the subsequent tour Fabienne Gondamin was replaced by Henriette Bordvik, with whom the band recorded the album An Elixir for Existence and the EP Sirenian Shores. On November 2005 Henriette Bordvik left the band for personal reasons. In 2007 they released a third album – Nine Destinies and a Downfall. The album features new singer, Monika Pedersen from Denmark, who joined the band in April 2006, and new guitarist Bjørnar Landa (from Artifact), who joined the band during the recording. On November 5, 2007, Monika Pedersen quit the band over musical disagreements. Her departure caused Sirenia to pull out of a planned European tour with Therion. On April 9, 2008, Sirenia announced Spanish X Factor contestant Ailyn as their new female vocalist. On May 19, 2008, it was announced that Bjørnar Landa left the band in order to have more time for his family and studies. He was replaced by Michael S. Krumins (Green Carnation). On June 12, 2008, Sirenia announced that for the first time in their career, they had decided to work with a bassplayer for their live shows. The session bass player will be Kristian Olav Torp. Sirenia started recording their fourth album in July 2008. It was recorded in Sound Suite Studios, France and Stargoth Studios, Norway. The mixing and mastering took place in Antfarm Studios, Denmark with Tue Madsen. The album, called The 13th Floor, was completed on September and the release date was 23 January 2009. The album features guest appearances by Jan Kenneth Barkved. The first single, "The Path To Decay", was released on December 26, 2008 as a digital download. On 8 July 2010, Sirenia announced that they started recording a new album. It was finished in November, and will be titled The Enigma of Life. The release date is 21 January 2011. The first single, "The End Of It All", was released on December 21, 2010 as a digital download. On 19 April 2011, Michael left Sirenia to put in more time on his own bands and projects. In April 2011, Jan Erik Soltvedt joined the band and will fill in as the lead guitarist. See more [+]