Directionless but properly executed - A review of Sirenia's Riddles, Ruins & Revelations

There is a game my best friend and I are playing from time to time. He will make me listen to groups from his Spotify playlists and recommendations and I have to guess their names. Usually, I'm quite good at this but when it comes to female-fronted symphonic, power and gothic metal bands, things start to get challenging. When I have no clue which band it could be, I usually take a guess and say Sirenia. Why do I always choose this band? It's because Sirenia has no distinctive style and plays a mixture of symphonic metal elements, power metal melodies and gothic metal atmosphere. The group has also gone through numerous changes as only founder Morten Veland has been on board since the beginning. The most recent drummer only joined two years ago, the new lead guitarist has been in the group for only three years and the lead singer has been around for five years now. As a matter of fact, Emmanuelle Zoldan is already the group's fourth female lead singer and the first record featured another invited guest singer.

The band's current line-up seems promising however and one can only hope that Morten Veland will keep it going. Riddles, Ruins & Revelations is the band's tenth studio album in twenty years and once again combines the genres mentioned above.

''Addiction No. 1'' is a catchy, melodic and uplifting power metal song that makes for the record's most memorable tune. ''Towards an Early Grave'' features sinister harsh vocals by the band leader and aims for traditional gothic metal territories. ''Downward Spiral'' is on the melodic and symphonic side and features harmonious clean guest vocals by Joakim Næss. The ambitious, epic and progressive ''December Snow'' features a few lyrics in French that provide a melancholy tone. A special shoutout goes out to the potent cover version of French pop song ''Voyage, Voyage'' by Desireless that was all the rage in Europe in the mid-eighties as the band manages to make the song its own and especially Emmanuelle Zoldan's passionate vocals shine in this pop classic.

At times, Sirenia's Riddles, Ruins & Revelations still feels like a compilation without a proper guideline. However, that isn't a bad thing in this case since the songwriting is strong throughout, Morten Veland handles the instrumental work very well and Emmanuelle Zoldan might be the best vocalist this band has ever had. If the band opted for a more unique style in the future, I could perhaps finally be able to distinguish this band from others and might change my random guess from Sirenia to Tristania. Based upon the excellent bonus track, the band could opt for a symphonic power metal album with French lyrics that would bring some fresh air into the genre.

Final rating: 80%