SIRENIA “An Elixir For Existence” /CD/

The debut full-length studio album by cult Norwegian Symphonic Gothic Death/Doom Metal band.
New Band of Morten Veland (ex-Tristania). On this release, he is moving on along the path he was walking with Tristania's "Beyond The Veil". This is Sirenia's only album featuring the vocals of French singer Fabienne Gondamin.
Sirenia's debut album is a continuation of Veland's compositional work with Tristania, a band that he had left only two years before, so it corresponds to the most classical Gothic/Symphonic Metal style of his catalogue. The band made use of contrasting vocals – male bass vocals (making some use of clean vocals and Death grunts) and female whispering vocals, with interludes of a symphonic choir. As is the usual in all Sirenia albums, Veland is the sole author of all the tracks, to which he gave a very introspective and personal character. Also, he played most of the instruments that were used.
Lyrically, it has dark and long songs, with gothic and human existence themes (especially related to death and mental decline), in a complex structure of very similar metre and tempo among all, except the last one. It is something probable that the album title and its main track reflected Morten Veland's mood in that time. Similarly, numerous of the songs on this album and the next one of Sirenia refer to the disturbed mental conditions, a topic in which its writer was particularly interested. "At sixes and sevens" is an English idiom very common in the United Kingdom. Used to describe a condition of confusion or disarray. The similar phrase "to set the world on six and seven", used by Geoffrey Chaucer, seems -in its context-, to mean "to hazard the world" or "to risk one's life".
The woman on the cover is a Norwegian model, picked by the designer to represent a Siren.
The Orchestral Gothic Metal of Morten Veland's Sirenia is more than ambitious on the band's debut, "At Sixes And Sevens" - it's almost cosmic in scope and epic by any standard. A cadre of operatic vocalists and classical musicians wrap Veland's songs in a composite sheen that's rare even within a genre known for grand soundscapes. When highlights like the anthemic "Shadow of Your Own Self" get into gear, "At Sixes And Sevens" rolls like thunder and flows like the bitter tears of Veland's less-accomplished Goth/Doom colleagues!
Napalm Records Handels GmbH, 2002 (NPR 105). Made in Germany.


Tracklist:
1. Meridian 6:20
2. Sister Nightfall 5:38
3. On The Wane 6:37
4. In A Manica 6:03
5. At Sixes And Sevens 6:46
6. Lethargica 5:30
7. Manic Aeon 6:26
8. A Shadow Of Your Own Self 5:58
9. In Sumerian Haze 4:39
Total playing time: 53:57 min.