Sirenia (band)

Infobox musical artist
Name = Sirenia


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Origin = Stavanger, Norway
Genre = Gothic metal
Death metal
Symphonic metal
Extreme metal
Progressive metal
Years_active = 2001 – present
Label = Napalm Records
Nuclear Blast
Associated_acts = Artifact
Tristania
Sinphonia
URL =
Current_members = Morten Veland
Ailyn
Michael S. Krumins
Jonathan A. Perez
Past_members = Henriette Bordvik
Kristian Gundersen
Monika Pedersen
Bjørnar Landa
Notable_instruments =

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 vocals consist of death grunts, operatic female vocals and a clean male singer. 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.

Background

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 "At Sixes and Sevens". After recording one album with Sirenia ("At Sixes and Sevens"), Fabienne Gondamin was replaced by Henriette Bordvik with whom the band recorded two albums ("An Elixir For Existence" and an EP "Sirenian Shores").

On November 2005 Henriette Bordvik left the band for personal reasons.

Recently, 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. Bjørnar Landa (from Artifact) joined the band during the recording of "Nine Destinies and a Downfall".

The former vocalist, guitar player, main songwriter and text composer of Tristania, Morten Veland, laid the foundation for a new contribution to the gothic metal community several years ago. Those contributions were brought along when he formed Sirenia.

On November 5, 2007, Monika Pedersen quit the band due to musical disagreements. Her departure caused Sirenia to pull out of a planned European tour with Therion.

On April 9th, 2008, Sirenia 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 will be replaced by Michael S. Krumins.

On June 12th, 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 the new album in July. 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 new album, called "The 13th Floor", was completed on September and the release date is set to the 23rd of January 2009. The album features guest appearances by Jan Kenneth Barkved.

Discography

Albums

* "At Sixes and Sevens" (2002)
* "An Elixir for Existence" (2004)
* "Sirenian Shores" (EP) (2004)
* "Nine Destinies and a Downfall" (2007)
* "The 13th Floor" (2009)

ingles & Promo Singles

* My Mind's Eye

Videos

* My Mind's Eye
* The Other Side

Members

Current members

* Morten Veland - Programming, Growling, Clean Vocals, Guitar, Bass, keyboards
* Ailyn - Female Vocals
* Jonathan A. Perez - drums
* Michael S. Krumins - Guitar

With:
* Kristian Olav Torp - Bass (live)

Former members

* Henriette Bordvik - Female Vocals (2002-2005)
* Kristian Gundersen - Clean Vocals, Guitar (2001-2004)
* Monika Pedersen - Female Vocals (2006-2007)
* Bjørnar Landa - Guitar (2002-2007)

ession members

* Fabienne Gondamin - Female Vocals (2001)
* Jan Kenneth Barkved - Clean Vocals
* Pete Johansen - Violin
* Hans Henrik Varland - keyboards
* Anne Verdot - Violin
* Roland Navratil - drums

Related bands

* Tristania
* Tiamat
* The Gathering
* Theatre of Tragedy
* Leaves' Eyes
* The Sins of Thy Beloved
* Artifact
* Echoes Of Eternity
* Xandria
* Epica
* After Forever
* Nightwish
* Within Temptation

External links

* [http://www.sirenia.no Sirenia - official website]
* [http://www.nuclearblast.de Nuclear Blast - official website]
* [http://www.myspace.com/sirenia Official MySpace]
* [http://www.zanzana.net/artistes.asp?NID=1494/Sirenia.asp Audio interview of Morten Veland]
* [http://www.ailyn-fanclub.net Ailyn - official fanclub]
* [http://www.sirenia-france.fr Sirenia- French website]