Dim Days of Dolor

I will admit that I was a bit hesitant with this album following the departure of Ailyn, who was drastically improving with the band. I'll even admit that I previewed the singles on YouTube and wasn't totally sold. However, I decided to give "Dim Days of Dolor" a second chance, and I am so glad I did! First off, Emmanuelle Zoldan has a very strong and beautiful voice, with incredible range. She can go from high operatic vocals to softer cleans. Overall, her voice works really well for Sirenia, and I really like the sound they are going for with her voice. Which brings me to...

The harsh vocals. Remember "The Seventh Life Path"? That album was chock full of Veland's harsh vocals, and was reminiscent of early Sirenia and even early Tristania. Here, the harsh, growling vocals are only present on three tracks, and they are only used to a large extent on one song. This album also brings back more clean male vocals, which I am not totally a fan of with Sirenia, but they work nonetheless. But that just goes to show how proud Sirenia is with Zoldan's voice. Veland seemed to be transitioning back to his doom metal roots with the previous album, but he seemingly abandons that with "Dim Days of Dolor."

Another notable aspect of this album is the song structure and the different elements being experimented with here. For example, "Cloud Nine" has strong electronic influences, with an interesting bass drop used like 3 or 4 times. The guitar work on that particular song is superb, and the electronic parts aren't actually bad. A lot of hardcore metal fans would be turned off because of electronic elements on a metal album, but Sirenia pulls it off. But when listening to "Cloud Nine", it is hard to imagine that it is the same band that produced the song "Meridian" only 14 years prior.

My favorite song on the album is probably "Fifth Column". It's a 6 minute long piece that showcases Zoldan's beautiful vocals contrasted with Veland's snarly growls on top of top notch instrumental work composed by Veland, himself (as on every other Sirenia release). I would not say I dislike any of the songs on the album, but my least favorite is probably the title track. It's still an alright song, though.

Overall, if you are a fan of Sirenia or beautiful female-fronted metal, definitely pick this one up. If you are a fan of just Sirenia's early releases, you might want to pass on this one. Overall, I'm a major fan of the band, so I really enjoyed it.

The Sirenia train keeps chugging along with Dim Days of Dolor, the first effort with new singer Emmanuelle Zoldan. While Veland is obviously the creative driving force behind the project, the loss of Ailyn was a potentially-crippling blow. Her mouse-like voice really grew on me over the years, and there is perhaps a touch of nostalgia as well, since she was with the band from their mediocre years (The 13th Floor) to the more recent, very impressive material. Emmanuelle is less distinctive, sounding more like a professionally trained singer in the vein of Tarja and the like. Obviously, Dim Days of Dolor still works, but is it on the level of The Seventh Life Path?

Not quite, but there is a lot to like here. Veland cranks out a capable set of crunchy riffs that give the band an identity many of these symphonic acts simply lack. Usually, it's all orchestration without any real bottom end to it - this is a complaint I can level against countless Nightwish clone bands that currently clog the scene, and why I generally appreciate Sirenia more in contrast. Cuts like "The 12th Hour" and the title track feature all of the staples we have come to expect: extensive use of vocal samples, heavier deviations and enough keyboards to fill the remaining gaps when the vocals aren't center stage.

One aspect I miss nowadays are the simple, catchy numbers like "Lost in Life." One glance at the tracklisting proved that Veland isn't aiming for that anymore - tracks are generally around five minutes and the album is an epic, hour long experience that can be a modicum draining in one sitting. The tracks simply lack much of the distinction the last two albums had. There is also a dearth of memorable vocal melodies. The entire record is washed over in dour, depressive atmosphere that while generally ideal for Sirenia and certainly a conscious decision, makes the album somewhat samey at times.

Dim Days of Dolor is still a worthy listen that keeps the band relevant, but I don't expect too many of these songs to survive in the band's setlist going forward. The record opens strongly and has some decent rippers like "Playing with Fire," but I personally don't see myself returning to most of these tracks unless pressured. "Contemptuous Quietus" and "The Silver Eye" from the last record exhibit the type of sound Sirenia should be aiming for. And to Veland's credit most of this album comes close - perhaps simply surviving after Ailyn's exit should be considered a victory.

I shouldn't be surprised. Their last album didn't seem created with intentions of a major breakthrough, but damn is there an apparent shift in gears for this release. The most obvious change is the replacement of singer Ailyn with a more refined vocalist in Emmanuelle Zoldan. There's also far less harsh vocal accompaniment by Veland, and the songs have been generally streamlined to a shorter length and a more compact, rather than sprawling, approach to composition. For a fair number of listeners, that sounds like a smart move, an improvement in skill and focus. I'm not one of those listeners. I genuinely miss what they had going on for those last two albums.

Make no mistake, Emmanuelle can sing. She can weave between the operatic and smooth approaches like a damn regal queen, and unlike Ailyn, she lacks that somewhat shrill tone that annoyed the detractors of Sirenia's prior siren. In fact, she's arguably the most professional sounding vixen the group ever possessed. Call it a step up if you wish, but I miss Ailyn and her foundation-rupturing banshee high notes combined with that alluring Spanish accent. That was a voice with character. A shitload of character. Emmanuelle, for all her assets, doesn't resound with any unique quality except for being really efficient. It reminds me of one of my favorite bars that underwent a complete makeover. The grittiness was erased, replaced by a general glossy hue. The draft options became more numerous, but at the expense of my favorite couple of beers for an assortment of obscure Vermont brews with names like Shiny Hoppy People Ale or something. The affordable cheeseburgers and hotdogs were gone, with the menu now consisting of expensive dishes like albino bison burgers, broiled pygmy rolls and other trendy weird shit. I can understand the notion that Emmanuelle is an upgrade, but fuck it, she's boring compared to Ailyn, who was actually improving in range to occasional freakish levels.

With Emmanuelle on board, there's apparently little room for Veland's goblin growls. In fact, by the time they show up during the third track, I'm thinking "Oh yeah, that guy." They seem somewhat out of place in a way since the music lacks some of the aggressive nature brandishing The Seventh Life Path's meaner tracks. They also seem slightly weaker at this point, tossed out like an obligation to keep the 'Sirenia sound' intact while the new singer gently but firmly nudges him away from the mic. Only a few songs actually utilize the gravel-voiced character, but the perpetually hostile Latin choir is still a major presence, volleying with Emmanuelle and blabbering out the bombast quite regularly.

Musically the overall sound hasn't changed a bit production-wise, a gigantic partially cooked marshmallow of gothic symphonics with a polished crunchy guitar tone doling out downtuned sluggish riffs with a few adventurous digressions here and there. There's a fair amount of recycled ideas as well, such as the four-chord chorus of opener "Goddess of the Sea" that's a rehash of so many Sirenia tunes that Veland might as well patent that sequence. The plodding verses of "Elusive Sun" also feel uncannily familiar, but at least that number veers away from complete monotony with a short fast-tempo break during its latter half. The title track is obvious single fodder with a catchy melody, and "Veil of Winter", an otherwise bland mid-tempo throwaway, features moaning male clean vocals. Unfortunately I get this impression of Emmanuelle duetting with Tommy Wiseau for some awful reason.

Thank fuck for "Fifth Column". That mini epic is about as good as anything off their last two albums with its rousing, intense chorus and a multitude of cool shifts in tone and velocity. This is Sirenia at their best, and it should have been given the opening slot even if it doesn't truly represent the album as a whole. Plopping it just before the closing ubiquitous ballad is a bit of a disservice, and I almost didn't make it to this track during my initial listen. Yet I had hope goddammit, and was rewarded with a keeper.

I wouldn't say this is a complete regression to what Veland was churning out ten years ago, as the music isn't as utterly vapid and pop-metal oriented as those dimmer days, but the impression of slicing off the fat for a leaner, more commercial direction is apparent. As for the growling registering at a low ebb, maybe Velend is just getting old and wants to phase them out, or his increased usage of them concerning the last two albums was to alleviate his eardrums from a perpetual bombardment of Ailyn's piercing wails. I don't know, but it's not as distressing as the general decline of prodigious monsters in favor of simpler song structures. At least the guitar solos excel with killer dexterity and smoothness instead of merely following the vocal melodies and little else. Man, I hated that shit. Maybe a step up for others, and I understand why, but this album is more of a step back for my tastes, but with one corker of a song, some decent offerings and maybe one or two clunkers, it's still reasonably edible. I can woof down an albino bison burger with extra cheese on occasion.

I’m going to assume anyone reading this has at least a little bit of familiarity with Morten Veland’s role and history in the gothic metal world. Given that context, the past year saw a (not totally unexpected) change of female vocalist for his band, Sirenia. This time around Morten keeps things “in house” by promoting choir vocalist Emmanuelle Zoldan to the primary vocalist role. Even with the change, Dim Days of Dolor continues along the lines of the last few releases and I now consider the band to fit firmly into the female fronted symphonic metal camp with current Xandria being a good comparison. There are also a few points on the release where it sounds like Kamelot, if they had a female vocalist as primary.

The Morten contributed components are pretty much the same as the previous few releases. Guitars are crisp, clear, and the strongest instrument most of the time. Drums and bass are used to keep things moving, especially when the guitars drop out, but theremin and synths/keys typically take the non-guitar standout parts. Morten also keeps around the occasional guitar solo, with the one on “Veil of Winter” probably being my favorite on the release.

If you’re looking for Morten’s harsh vocals your three shots are on “The 12th Hour,” “Playing With Fire,” and “Fifth Column.” Yep, that’s the entirety of harsh vocal songs on this release and honestly at some points they still seem too repetitive. The clean male vocals (again from Joakim Naess) are found on the title track, “Veil of Winter," and (I think) in the background of "Playing With Fire." For me, Joakim's performance is reminiscent of the clean male vocal style on the early Sirenia releases. Outside of some additional (and uncredited, unless it’s Morten) vocal samples that I could have done without and the usual choirs (which she's still part of), the rest of the vocals are Emmanuelle's.

I’ve seen a fair amount of comments online from people against the switch, but I think that’s because of how popular Ailyn was more than anything else. Morten admitted in an interview that the album was written more with Ailyn in mind than Emmanuelle and while there are some points where I can hear it, I don’t feel like it’s a big factor. I personally like what Emmanuelle brings to this record and wonder what might have been if things had aligned for her to have had the same role earlier in the band’s career (in the same interview she admits the change happened at a good time in her life).

My favorite track is "Treasure N' Treason," especially because it has some of the most interesting lyrics on the release plus some nice lead guitar work and keys/piano behind the vocals. Other highlights include the tracks with Joakim’s lead vocals (especially when there are points of limited interplay between him and Emmanuelle) plus "Ashes to Ashes" and "Elusive Sun," with the exception of the latter's short blast beat part. “Goddess of the Sea” is a break from the short string (last two releases) of a mostly instrumental opening track and lets us know quickly that the choir is still around. "Aeon’s Embrace" is a gentle closing track that mixes the vocal focus of “In Sumerian Haze” (from At Sixes and Sevens) or “Glades of Summer” (from Nine Destinies and a Downfall) with the piano/keys driven music of “Seven Sirens and a Silver Tear” (from An Elixir for Existence). If you have the bonus track version of the release you also get a second version of the song with lyrics translated to French by Emmanuelle (which is a similar approach as the bonus tracks with Ailyn's Spanish translations on the previous few releases).

"Cloud Nine," with its clunky intro and annoying vocal samples throughout, would be a skip candidate for me if not for the strong performances from Emmanuelle and the choir to balance out those negatives. "Fifth Column" is the next weakest track for me and feels like one Morten may have intended for a Mortemia release and re-purposed. “Playing With Fire” features what I consider the least interesting lyrics on the release and as a result kind of wastes the interesting parts of it.

In summary, if you liked the last couple releases this will be right there with them. If you’re a fan of only the early releases, the female vocalist change probably won’t be enough to get you back on board.