It all began in 1994, when the debut demo recording by the Norwegian band THEATRE OF TRAGEDY was released. This was the moment that laid the foundations for the work of a multitude of bands built on the combination of harsh male and clean female vocals. Raymond and Liv Kristin were not actually the first to use this approach, but their band was the first to achieve significant success using it as the exclusive performance style. Soon a true boom of "Beauty and the Beast" bands began. Many of them subsequently abandoned the harsh vocals, retaining only the female voice. A little later it became fashionable to incorporate this combination in just a few album tracks, specifically inviting a male or female vocalist for the purpose.
In 1997, a collective called TRISTANIA emerged in Norway. The first albums released by the band brought it very considerable fame; the departure of the band's founder, guitarist and (harsh) vocalist Morten Veland, was rather strange. To round off the TRISTANIA story: the band released albums in 2001 and 2005, both received considerably more coolly than the first two. The reasons may lie in the fact that the sound became much less heavy, while simultaneously more dynamic, and the harsh male vocals were gradually displaced by clean male singing. The most recent album — the band's fifth — appeared in January 2007 and in many ways returns to the traditions of early TRISTANIA, albeit in a contemporary interpretation, with more clean male vocals than ever. On 27 February 2007 the band's official website announced that Vibeke Stene, the collective's vocalist since its very founding, had left for personal reasons.
Now let us return to the founder who left: Morten Veland. I dwelt at such length on TRISTANIA's history for good reason — it is impossible to speak of SIRENIA without it. Morten launched his new project in 2001 and released his first album in 2002. At Sixes And Sevens proved quite successful, especially set against the disappointment of TRISTANIA's 2001 album. Two years later Morten consolidated that success with a new record — An Elixir For Existence. On both albums the overwhelming majority of vocal parts are performed as growling. The second album features considerably more choral vocals compared to the first, with solo female vocals appearing less frequently and more often as the top voice in the choir; keyboards are more prominent. The instrumental parts on both albums were recorded almost entirely by the multi-instrumentalist Veland himself. In that same year 2004 came the band's third release — an EP, "Sirenian Shoes": one new song, two songs in new arrangements, one cover, and an instrumental with choir that very strongly resembles the famous cantata by Carl Orff. A prolonged studio silence from the band was broken by rumours of a new album in preparation during the second half of 2006. The album appeared on 23 February 2007, and on the 24th the band was playing in moscow. moscow audiences thus became the first in the world to be able to purchase the officially licensed edition of the new album. To describe the atmosphere prevailing at the concert, I must state an objective fact: the album had been available on the internet more than two months before the official release. As a result, most conversations centred on assessments of Nine Destinies and a Downfall and exchanges of opinions. Essentially, cries of disappointment had been heard almost immediately after the album appeared online. And indeed, the album bears no resemblance to anything Morten Veland had done over the previous decade. Gone is the growling (except in precisely one song — "Sundown"); gone is a certain contemplative solemnity. In their place: a specific female vocal style strongly reminiscent of THE GATHERING's albums, except that Anneke is incomparably more talented. This latest album is the first in SIRENIA's history in which the drums were not recorded by Morten himself (drummer Jonathan Perez had played in TRAIL OF TEARS from the band's founding through the most recent album); on the first album a guitarist had assisted, also performing the clean male vocals; the second album, as noted, was created entirely by Morten alone; this time there is again a guitarist — one Bjørn Landa. There is still no bassist in the lineup; to be honest, I personally had hoped the band would arrive with a session bassist. There is also no keyboardist.
The SIRENIA concert began on 24 February 2007 in moscow, at the Tochka club, shortly after half past eight in the evening. The sounds of the intro from the aforementioned EP rang out. And then on stage appeared two guitarists — of whom Veland naturally received the most enthusiastic welcome — the drummer already in position, and now approaching the microphone: the figure of vocalist Monica Pedersen. I won't conceal it — her appearance produced a great many smiles. And this was due primarily to her appearance. It wasn't even that Monica is not a model of slimness — Sarah Jezebel Deva is probably twice her size. But the combination of rather generous proportions with exceptionally tight clothing, compounded by fishnet stockings, provoked outright laughter from a number of people in the hall.
Well then — it is time to speak about the music that those who came to Tochka that evening were able to hear. Dreaming of a session keyboardist was impossible even before the concert; reason dictated that the band could not afford to tour with a choir — but seeing a bassist with the collective was something I very much wanted. I won't conceal that I was genuinely searching the stage for a four or five-string bass. But no: all bass parts were pre-recorded, as were all keyboards, the entire choir, and — most surprisingly of all — even the acoustic passages were played back from tape. The situation is then quite straightforward. THERION always tour with recorded keyboards and orchestra — entirely logical; imagining them without a choir is already difficult for me, but with a pre-recorded bass guitar it would be simply impossible. Moreover, the Niemann brothers and Christopher Johnsson create such extraordinary things on stage that one immediately forgets such a minor detail as backing tracks. In SIRENIA's case, however, there was a constant feeling of attending not a concert but a rehearsal, with a studio disc playing to assist the musicians. Unfortunately that was indeed the case, and it severely damaged the impression of the concert.
Monica's vocals overall cannot really be faulted — if we set aside the fact that her voice is not particularly strong, somewhat faceless and unoriginal — she handled the songs from the first two albums quite adequately, which had been a significant cause for concern. The sound was actually quite decent; all solos were perfectly audible, and the drums didn't swamp the overall sound. Now in more detail about the evening's programme. As expected, the absolute emphasis was on the latest album — six songs from it were performed; the most warmly received was "Sundown," for the simple reason that its slow verse with an extended female vocal line gives way to a fast, aggressive chorus with growling (though honestly the song too strongly resembles THERION's "Typhon"). From the first two albums, five songs were performed in total. Strangely, the entire concert consisted of eleven numbers excluding the intro and lasted just over an hour including the encore. From the second album, "Euphoria" and "Star-crossed" were performed, along with one of the band's most successful songs, "Lithium And A Lover," as the first encore number. From the first album: two opening hits from the disc — the monumental and majestic "Meridian" in the middle of the main set, and "Sister Nightfall" — in my view the band's strongest song — played toward the very end.
What can I say about the concert? I must be honest: I didn't enjoy it. And the reason is not excessive fastidiousness, but the fact that this band in a live context is simply not as interesting as in the studio — and the current programme was disappointing. Though I won't deny: I would happily attend a SIRENIA concert even with an identical programme, provided the bass and keyboards were live. Best of luck to the band for the rest of the tour.
Report by Alan
Special thanks to IROND and personally to Alexei Kuzovlev for the accreditation provided
Setlist: Intro: Obire Mortem The Last Call Euphoria The Other Side Sundown One By One Meridian Seven Keys And Nine Doors Star-Crossed My Mind's Eye Encore: Lithium And A Lover Sister Nightfall
Photo report (photos by Alan)
