"Arcane Astral Aeons" by Sirenia: A Review
A Track-By-Track Review of Arcane Astral Aeons by Sirenia
1. In Styx Embrace: What a way to open the album. There's a wonderful contrast in the production between the thunderous guitars, crashing bass, impactful drums, and ferocious growling and the soaring strings, lovely piano, delicate acoustic guitar, heavenly backing choir, and angelic clean singing. But what's really dazzling about this song is the lyrics. They wonderfully describe feelings of despair, self-hatred, and painful memories. There's some great imagery here, too, like describing crushing sadness as drowning in the River Styx.
Rating: 9/10
2. Into the Night: Beautiful song, this one. The backing choir adds power while soaring strings, sharp electric guitars, and strong drumming are carefully balanced by otherworldly synths and delicate piano. The lyrics are also well-written. The song is about journeying to the underworld, and the lyrics appropriately grandiose. Bonus points for comparing the moon to "a bright silver spoon" and describing the sky as "a dying maroon" and having it not be silly, but poetic instead. That's impressive songwriting.
Rating: 7/10
3. Love Like Cyanide: This song features great vocal performances and a powerful melody. The electric guitar part is heavy, the drumming is sparse yet strong and perfectly backs up the guitars, the synths are otherworldly, and the beautiful piano and strings complement everything. The lyrics do a fantastic job of painting the picture of being in a romantic relationship with someone who is emotionally cold because of some unknown sadness. Also, "Love to you is like cyanide" is such a great way of describing someone.
Rating: 9/10
4. Desire: A dazzling song about wild love. The lyrics wonderfully describe all-consuming passion with a good mix of romantic images and declarations. The instrumentation is gloriously varied: Dreamy flanged guitar, powerful drums, ferocious electric bass, and otherworldly synth with an eerie melody line. Most interesting of all is a carnivalesque organ and piano interlude in the bridge. Who saw that coming? But it works perfectly.
Rating: 7/10
5. Asphyxia: The melody of this song has a romantic sweep. The instrumentation is also good, with ghostly flanged guitar, fast and crunchy supporting guitar , ethereal keyboard, sparse yet strong drumming, and an electrifying guitar solo in the bridge. The lyrics are tragic and poetic, providing an oddly romantic description of the feeling of drowning in sadness. Simply lovely.
Rating: 8/10
6. Queen of Lies: This song does a wonderful job of using male growling and female clean singing for maximum impact. The male growling conveys pure hatred, while the female clean singing rings with righteous outrage. These two emotional modes both bring life to the lyrics, which condemn a deceitful and manipulative woman as the "queen of lies". The anger at malice and manipulation is complemented by the production: Crashing guitars, icy synths, frenetic drumming, and industrial-style accents and effects (including eerie recordings of a man speaking at the beginning and end of the track - perhaps one of the queen of lies's victims?).
Rating: 7/10
7. Nos Heures Sombres: This song is in French, but there's no need to worry, as you can easily run the lyrics through a translator. Doing so will show that the lyrics tell a story of dark romance and passion. The speaker asks her lover to be the “king of [her] kingdom of shadows” (translated from the French), because their love is the only comfort they have in their dark times. The production is excellent as well, with romantic goth-rock guitars, stomping bass, powerful percussion, and otherworldly backing vocals all perfectly complementing lead singer Emmanuelle Zoldan's impassioned performance. This one is an instant goth-club classic.
Rating: 8/10
8. The Voyage: This song has a wonderful grandeur, with crushing guitars, eerie synths, thunderous percussion, a stomping beat, and shrieking guitar notes sometimes piercing through the mix. The lyrics are a poetic description of voyaging into darkness, and do a very good job of both describing a literal journey and a metaphorical descent into despair. Interestingly, the lyrics indicate that this song is being sung to someone who abandoned the speaker to the darkness. But who the person who abandoned them is, I don't know.
Rating: 8/10
9. Aerodyne: The lyrics of this song paint an image of a psychedelic experience. The verses describe flying through space and the chorus depicts the feeling of cosmic transcendence. However, the bridge shows the dark side of the psychedelic experience: Coming to the edge of insanity. This duality is captured in the production, with romantic strings, ethereal flanged guitar, and bold drums balanced against heavily distorted bass and industrial-style keyboards.
Rating: 7/10
10. The Twilight Hours: The melody of this song is bouncy and forceful. Excellent guitar riffs and sweeping violins are in the front of the mix, and are complemented by strong bass and drums as well as piano flourishes in the background. The backing choir is also a great finishing touch. The lyrics describe a witches' night, and while listening to the song you can easily imagine the witches wildly dancing and chanting around the bonfire.
Rating: 7/10
11. Glowing Embers: This song combines two beautiful lyrics themes: Nostalgia and transcendent love. Specifically, it balances longing for the glorious past with the hope and inspiration that the most divine of romances bring. The song is also well-constructed, with a quiet intro leading into a majestic song with strong electric guitar, dramatic backing choir, romantic strings, and stomping drums.
Rating: 8/10
12. Love Like Cyanide (Edit): There's not really much to say about this song. It's just a trimmed-down version of "Love Like Cyanide". It's still good, but unfortunately, cutting the song down takes away quite a bit of its glory.
Rating: 6/10
Overall average rating: 7.4167; rounds to 7/10 or three and one half stars
Best lines:
10. Onwards and on, and on did I go/You left me behind where only God knows
9. There's a summoning at night/Around a bonfire, fierce and burning bright
8. Into the night. so cold and dire/Into the night, the moon rise higher/Here at the end of all things
7. Dying emotions and dreams/All led a drift on the Stygian stream
6. Your angel eyes make a flawless facade/A pure smile conceals your every fraud
5. Hold on to me, I'm left adrift in deceitful seas/My limbs turn numb as the waves subdue me
4. The depth of your eyes draws me in/To thrills and to sin
3. You are the light that conquers darkness/You are the dream that transcends
2. You, come with me,/You will be king of my kingdom of shadows/You, drink with me the cup to the dregs
1. Your heart bleeds, you're dead inside/Love to you is like cyanide
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Rating: 9/10
2. Into the Night: Beautiful song, this one. The backing choir adds power while soaring strings, sharp electric guitars, and strong drumming are carefully balanced by otherworldly synths and delicate piano. The lyrics are also well-written. The song is about journeying to the underworld, and the lyrics appropriately grandiose. Bonus points for comparing the moon to "a bright silver spoon" and describing the sky as "a dying maroon" and having it not be silly, but poetic instead. That's impressive songwriting.
Rating: 7/10
3. Love Like Cyanide: This song features great vocal performances and a powerful melody. The electric guitar part is heavy, the drumming is sparse yet strong and perfectly backs up the guitars, the synths are otherworldly, and the beautiful piano and strings complement everything. The lyrics do a fantastic job of painting the picture of being in a romantic relationship with someone who is emotionally cold because of some unknown sadness. Also, "Love to you is like cyanide" is such a great way of describing someone.
Rating: 9/10
4. Desire: A dazzling song about wild love. The lyrics wonderfully describe all-consuming passion with a good mix of romantic images and declarations. The instrumentation is gloriously varied: Dreamy flanged guitar, powerful drums, ferocious electric bass, and otherworldly synth with an eerie melody line. Most interesting of all is a carnivalesque organ and piano interlude in the bridge. Who saw that coming? But it works perfectly.
Rating: 7/10
5. Asphyxia: The melody of this song has a romantic sweep. The instrumentation is also good, with ghostly flanged guitar, fast and crunchy supporting guitar , ethereal keyboard, sparse yet strong drumming, and an electrifying guitar solo in the bridge. The lyrics are tragic and poetic, providing an oddly romantic description of the feeling of drowning in sadness. Simply lovely.
Rating: 8/10
6. Queen of Lies: This song does a wonderful job of using male growling and female clean singing for maximum impact. The male growling conveys pure hatred, while the female clean singing rings with righteous outrage. These two emotional modes both bring life to the lyrics, which condemn a deceitful and manipulative woman as the "queen of lies". The anger at malice and manipulation is complemented by the production: Crashing guitars, icy synths, frenetic drumming, and industrial-style accents and effects (including eerie recordings of a man speaking at the beginning and end of the track - perhaps one of the queen of lies's victims?).
Rating: 7/10
7. Nos Heures Sombres: This song is in French, but there's no need to worry, as you can easily run the lyrics through a translator. Doing so will show that the lyrics tell a story of dark romance and passion. The speaker asks her lover to be the “king of [her] kingdom of shadows” (translated from the French), because their love is the only comfort they have in their dark times. The production is excellent as well, with romantic goth-rock guitars, stomping bass, powerful percussion, and otherworldly backing vocals all perfectly complementing lead singer Emmanuelle Zoldan's impassioned performance. This one is an instant goth-club classic.
Rating: 8/10
8. The Voyage: This song has a wonderful grandeur, with crushing guitars, eerie synths, thunderous percussion, a stomping beat, and shrieking guitar notes sometimes piercing through the mix. The lyrics are a poetic description of voyaging into darkness, and do a very good job of both describing a literal journey and a metaphorical descent into despair. Interestingly, the lyrics indicate that this song is being sung to someone who abandoned the speaker to the darkness. But who the person who abandoned them is, I don't know.
Rating: 8/10
9. Aerodyne: The lyrics of this song paint an image of a psychedelic experience. The verses describe flying through space and the chorus depicts the feeling of cosmic transcendence. However, the bridge shows the dark side of the psychedelic experience: Coming to the edge of insanity. This duality is captured in the production, with romantic strings, ethereal flanged guitar, and bold drums balanced against heavily distorted bass and industrial-style keyboards.
Rating: 7/10
10. The Twilight Hours: The melody of this song is bouncy and forceful. Excellent guitar riffs and sweeping violins are in the front of the mix, and are complemented by strong bass and drums as well as piano flourishes in the background. The backing choir is also a great finishing touch. The lyrics describe a witches' night, and while listening to the song you can easily imagine the witches wildly dancing and chanting around the bonfire.
Rating: 7/10
11. Glowing Embers: This song combines two beautiful lyrics themes: Nostalgia and transcendent love. Specifically, it balances longing for the glorious past with the hope and inspiration that the most divine of romances bring. The song is also well-constructed, with a quiet intro leading into a majestic song with strong electric guitar, dramatic backing choir, romantic strings, and stomping drums.
Rating: 8/10
12. Love Like Cyanide (Edit): There's not really much to say about this song. It's just a trimmed-down version of "Love Like Cyanide". It's still good, but unfortunately, cutting the song down takes away quite a bit of its glory.
Rating: 6/10
Overall average rating: 7.4167; rounds to 7/10 or three and one half stars
Best lines:
10. Onwards and on, and on did I go/You left me behind where only God knows
9. There's a summoning at night/Around a bonfire, fierce and burning bright
8. Into the night. so cold and dire/Into the night, the moon rise higher/Here at the end of all things
7. Dying emotions and dreams/All led a drift on the Stygian stream
6. Your angel eyes make a flawless facade/A pure smile conceals your every fraud
5. Hold on to me, I'm left adrift in deceitful seas/My limbs turn numb as the waves subdue me
4. The depth of your eyes draws me in/To thrills and to sin
3. You are the light that conquers darkness/You are the dream that transcends
2. You, come with me,/You will be king of my kingdom of shadows/You, drink with me the cup to the dregs
1. Your heart bleeds, you're dead inside/Love to you is like cyanide