''An Elixir for Existence'' is the second studio album by the Norwegian

gothic metal Gothic metal (or goth metal) is a fusion genre combining the aggression of heavy metal music, heavy metal with the dark atmospheres of gothic rock. The music of gothic metal is diverse with bands known to adopt the gothic approach to different ...

band

Sirenia The Sirenia (), commonly referred to as sea cows or sirenians, are an order of fully aquatic, herbivorous mammals that inhabit swamps, rivers, estuaries, marine wetlands, and coastal marine waters. The extant Sirenia comprise two distinct famili ...

, released in 2004. The album follows in the same vein as the previous ''

At Sixes and Sevens "At sixes and sevens" is an English idiom used to describe a condition of confusion or disarray. Origin and early history It is not known for certain, but the most likely origin of the phrase is the dice game "hazard", a more complicated versio ...

'', but includes a new female vocalist, Henriette Bordvik. From this album, Sirenia has been presented as a 4-piece band, with

Morten Veland Morten Veland (born 4 December 1977) is a Norwegian musician. He is one of the founding members of the gothic metal band Tristania and the founding member of Sirenia and Mortemia. Background At the age of 14, Veland began saving to buy his ...

as the only permanent member.

Musical style

Like its predecessor album ''

'' (2002), the musical style in ''An Elixir for Existence'' corresponds to the more classic Sirenia's gothic metal of their origins, with some elements of symphonic

death-doom Death-doom (also known as death-doom metal or doom-death) is a fusion genre of death metal and doom metal. It combines the slow tempos and pessimistic or depressive mood of doom metal with the deep death growl, growling vocals and double bass dr ...

. A large number of the songs are concerned with mental conditions, be it depression (''"Voices Within"''), drug use (''"Euphoria"'') or thoughts of

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

(''"The Fall Within"''); of course, the meanings of all of these songs are subject to further conjecture.

Track listing

All songs written by

Personnel

Credits for ''An Elixir for Existence'' adapted from liner notes.(2004). "''An Elixir for Existence'' liner notes". In ''An Elixir for Existence''

D booklet D, or d, is the fourth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''dee'' (pronounced ), plural ''dees''. History Th ...

Napalm. Sirenia *

–

harsh vocals Vocalists are capable of producing a variety of extended technique sounds. These alternative singing techniques have been used extensively in the 20th century, especially in art song and opera. Particularly famous examples of extended vocal techniq ...

(tracks 1–5, 7, 8), guitars, bass, keyboards, drum programming, mixing * Henriette Bordvik – female vocals (tracks 1–8) Additional personnel * Kristian Gundersen – clean male vocals (tracks 3, 4, 7) * Anne Verdot –

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

(tracks 2–4, 6) * Damien Surian, Mathieu Landry,

Emmanuelle Zoldan Emmanuelle Zoldan (born 18 June 1977) is a French singer, best known for her work as a session musician in heavy metal bands as Sirenia, Trail of Tears and Turisas, among others. She is currently the vocalist of Sirenia. Career Zoldan is an ...

, Sandrine Gouttebel, Emilie Lesbros –

choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

(tracks 1–5, 7–9) Production * Joachim Luetke – cover art, artwork * Terje Refsnes – mixing, engineering * Emile M.E. Ashley – photography * Ulf Horbelt – mastering * Wolfgang Voglhuber – photography

References

External links

Metallum Archives

An Elixir for Existence
at discogs.com 2004 albums Sirenia (band) albums Napalm Records albums {{2000s-metal-album-stub