Sirenia came… Read Full Bio ↴Sirenia is a gothic metal band from Stavanger, Norway.
Sirenia came together in early 2001, when Morten Veland parted ways with his former band Tristania due to musical disagreements and personal differences.
Sirenia combines strong melodic instrumentals, keyboard synthesis, and guitar works with light, female vocals (Fabienne Gondamin, Henriette Bordvik, Monika Pedersen, Ailyn), and currently Emmanuelle Zoldan, male death vocals, and a choir. Current band members are Morten Veland (programming, growling, clean vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards), Emmanuelle Zoldan (female vocals), Jan Erik Soltvedt (guitars) and Jonathan Perez (drums). Most of Sirenia's songs are atmospheric, yet intense with melodic backgrounds and interludes. The lyrics are concerned with human existence, emotion, and mental states.
Sirenia (at first called "Masters of Sirenia"), named after the Sirens of Greek mythology, was founded in 2001 after Morten Veland left Tristania. The band failed to find a suitable singer prior to recording in France, so they conducted auditions and found Fabienne Gondamin for the recording session of At Sixes and Sevens.
On the subsequent tour and follow-up album, An Elixir for Existence, Gondamin was replaced by Henriette Bordvik.
On September 13, 2005, it was announced that Bordvik would be leaving the band, and the search for a new singer commenced. Bordvik's replacement, Monika Pedersen of the band Sinphonia, was introduced on April 10, 2006. In the same year, Bjørnar Landa (from Artifact) joined the band as a guitarist.
Nine Destinies and a Downfall came out in February 2007. This album features more down-tuned guitars that chug and growl, with a texture not previously heard on Sirenia albums. Moreover, the male grunting and harsh vocals have been greatly reduced, with grunts only appearing on three songs: Sundown, Seven Keys and Nine Doors, and Downfall. There are occasionally clean male vocals as well, but they are used very rarely. Thus, fans who enjoyed the delicate balance between Morten Veland's harsh vocals and the female voice will likely be disappointed. On this album, the new female vocalist is front and center. Choirs are sprinkled throughout the songs, giving the music the feel familiar to Sirenia fans. This album marks a significant departure from Morten Veland's work in Tristania.
On April 9, 2008, Morten Veland announced Spanish X Factor contestant Ailyn as their new female vocalist.
On May 19th, 2008, it was announced that Bjørnar Landa left the band in order to have more time for his family and studies. He is replaced by Michael Krumins from Green Carnation.
'The 13th Floor' is the title of the new album. The release date is set to the 23rd of january 2009. Expect a melodic and powerful album in the typical Sirenia vein. The brand new single: 'The Path To Decay' will be released on December 26th and the new video from SIRENIA, will receive its online premiere on January 5, 2009 via MySpace.
The bands fifth studio album, 'The Enigma of Life' was released on January 29, 2011. Less than two months after the release of the album, Michael Krumins departed from the group to spend more time on other projects, he was replaced by Jan Erik Soltvedt.
On April 13, 2013, Sirenia announced the title of their next album on their Facebook page: Perils of the Deep Blue.
2016–2018: Dim Days of Dolor
On 29 August 2016 Sirenia revealed eighth full-length album Dim Days of Dolor before their official announcement of their new singer Emmanuelle Zoldan, a French mezzo-soprano singer from Aix-en-Provence who has worked with Sirenia for 13 years and is part of The Sirenian Choir. She has contributed to lead vocals before on the Sirenian Shores EP cover of "First We Take Manhattan" by Leonard Cohen.
In November 2017, longtime drummer Jonathan Pérez left the band and joined Green Carnation. Consequently, Sirenia temporarily again included Austrian drummer Roland Navratil, a live member who had performed with the band before.
2018–2020: Arcane Astral Aeons
On 14 August 2018, Sirenia had revealed the title of their ninth studio album Arcane Astral Aeons, along with a European tour in the fall. The album was released 26 October of the same year. A lyric video was made for the single "Love Like Cyanide" released on 21 September 2018. The song features a guest appearance by Yannis Papadopoulos from Finnish band Beast in Black.
2020–present: Riddles, Ruins & Revelations and 1977
On 8 December 2020, Sirenia announced the title of their tenth studio album Riddles, Ruins & Revelations, with the release of their first single off of the album, "Addiction No. 1". The album was released on 12 February 2021.
On 22 March 2023, the band simultaneously announced the first single which is a cover of British singer Tanita Tikaram's "Twist in My Sobriety". It is the first single that will be featured on the upcoming eleventh studio album, 1977, which is set to be released on 26 May 2023
Official site: www.sirenia.no
Absent Without Leave
Sirenia Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Even where you're not here
I can feel your pain within myself
It's still keeping me down here
Life keeps on growing colder year by year
With a winter heart and my frozen tears
I stand lone to face my darkest fears
I've been drifting away from the lights in my life
I've been living in vain, living insane
I've been tripping down all the darkest of lanes
There's a shadow that dwells inside your head
Within mine as well
Turns our lives into a living hell
Like a curse and a spell
I've been drifting away from days of light
I've been swept away far into the night
I guess I'll never ever make it back
On a morning, a summer dawn
You speak in riddles and rhymes
From a distance your life it seems
Like a frozen heart in neon dreams
In Sirenia's song Absent Without Leave, the lyrics express the intense emotions of pain and despair caused by a sense of isolation and the resulting feelings of being lost and hopeless. The singer of the song suggests that he or she can sense the despair and pain of his or her loved one, even when they are not physically present. This internal connectedness with their loved one's distress causes the singer to feel the effects of the pain personally, pulling them down into an emotional abyss.
The lyrics describe a life that is growing colder year by year as the singer's heart begins to freeze and their tears become frozen. Despite standing alone in the face of their darkest fears, the singer is still unable to escape the grip of painful memories, causing them to waste away on the inside. They have been drifting away from the light of their life, and feeling like they are trapped in vain, living insane, and traveling down the darkest of roads.
The song's theme connects with anyone who has ever experienced intense feelings of loneliness and abandonment, leading them to feel lost or detached from their life. The song leaves a melancholic and melancholy feeling as it conveys the sense of hopelessness that accompanies such feelings.
Line by Line Meaning
I can feel the eyes of your despair
I sense the deep pain and hopelessness in your eyes
Even where you're not here
Your presence is always felt even when you are not physically present
I can feel your pain within myself
Your agony is affecting me greatly and I can experience it as if it were my own
It's still keeping me down here
Your suffering is bringing me down and I cannot escape it
Life keeps on growing colder year by year
Every year, life becomes more bleak and unforgiving
With a winter heart and my frozen tears
I am emotionally numb and my tears have turned to ice due to the harshness of life
I stand lone to face my darkest fears
I am alone in confronting and overcoming my deepest fears
I've been wasting away, I' ve been fading inside
I have been deteriorating and losing myself internally
I've been drifting away from the lights in my life
I have been gradually distancing myself from the joys and positivity in my life
I've been living in vain, living insane
I have been living without purpose and in a state of madness
I've been tripping down all the darkest of lanes
I have been wandering down the most dismal and hopeless paths
There's a shadow that dwells inside your head
Your mind is burdened by a dark and ominous presence
Within mine as well
I too am plagued by the same shadow in my mind
Turns our lives into a living hell
The shadow within us brings torment and agony to our lives
Like a curse and a spell
It feels like a cursed enchantment with no escape
I've been drifting away from days of light
I have been moving away from the times of happiness and brightness
I've been swept away far into the night
I have been taken far from anything resembling peace and tranquility
I guess I'll never ever make it back
I accept that I may never find a way out of this darkness
On a morning, a summer dawn
One summer morning
You speak in riddles and rhymes
Your words are cryptic and unclear
From a distance your life it seems
When viewed from afar, your existence appears
Like a frozen heart in neon dreams
Your life is akin to a heart of ice within vivid neon fantasies
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: MORTEN VELAND
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind