Sirenia - Arcane Astral Aeons (2018)

Morten Veland and company have been quite busy since their last release and now presents us with another master class of Symphonic/Gothic Metal with “Arcane Astral Aeons”. Featuring nearly one hour of music, this release continues the band’s exploration of highly atmospheric and energetic music through 12 excellent songs.

The band kicks off with the lush “In Styx Embrace” in typical Sirenia style with a heavy hitting super catchy tune filled with dramatic choir arrangements and piercing distorted guitars. Continuing with the hectic pace and dramatic orchestral arrangements, “Into the Night” is perfectly led by Emmanuelle Zoldan’s charismatic vocals. The way that the band’s music envelops the listener in over the top atmospheric elements is brilliant and one of the reasons we love the band’s music.

Bringing catchiness to a whole new level, “Love like Cyanide” is one hell of a song that mixes vocal duets and intense drumming to create a very intoxicating tune that gets stuck in your head for days. Another personal favorite is the playful “Desire”, which features killer sultry vocals and funky atmospheric elements. On an album filled with superb tracks like “Queen of Lies”, the masterful “Nos Heures Sombres” and the mellow “Aerodyne”, it is quite hard to pick favorites and decide which one is the best.

In terms of the guitar work, we have always appreciated the cadence of the band’s riffs, allowing all other elements to take the lead, but always present and keeping things nice and heavy. An interesting piece in this release is the epic “The Twilight Hour”, a song that reminded us a bit of Ensiferum. Saving some of the best for last, “Glowing Embers” perfectly combines everything that we love about the band in one song: dramatic choral arrangements, lush symphonic atmospherics and pounding distorted guitars.

Overall, “Arcane Astral Aeons” is one of the better albums in Sirenia’s discography and each song will instantly demonstrate it. We are huge fans of the genre but everytime that Sirenia releases something it commands attention and tons of repeat plays, thanks to their musical quality and excellent ideas. If you are looking for the best (so far) female vocals led release of 2018, this is exactly what you want.

Label: Napalm Records

Release: October 26th, 2018

Genre: Symphonic/Gothic Metal

Country: Norway