Before I write my reviews, I like to look at what other reviewers are saying, and the reviews for this new album are overwhelmingly, well… bad. Quite bad. The general consensus seems to be that Sirenia has not only gone a bit too far into mainstream territory, but have done so by following the same generic formula for each song, offering little to no variety on this album. Now, I don’t consider myself one of those angry anti-mainstream metal traditionalists who only listen to "true" metal, nor would I call this album a complete flop, but nearly every review I’ve read says the same thing, and I can’t help but agree just a little bit. The Enigma of Life is made up of 12 songs, about two thirds of which sound essentially the same. Sirenia seems to have found a formula and stuck with it. The real problem here is that not only do many of the songs on this album sound similar to each other, but the whole album is rather similar to Sirenia’s last effort, The 13th Floor. I’m afraid poor Ailyn might get a little confused on stage as to which song she is singing.

I’m not going to spend the rest of this review tearing apart the album, however, and if the whole sounding-the-same thing doesn’t bother you too much, The Enigma of Life is really not a bad listen. I stand by what I said in my review of The 13th Floor: Ailyn is an amazing choice for a singer, especially for the sound Sirenia aims at. She is fairly talented and I enjoy the sound of her voice very much. And though many of the songs sound the same, they aren’t necessarily all bad. Many of them are hit-or-miss, however, and though there are some misses, namely "The Twilight in Your Eyes," "A Seaside Serenade," and "This Lonely Lake," there are certainly some rather good songs on this album. The opener "End of it All" is catchy and bombastic, "Fallen Angel" is especially good, and I can’t really explain why, but "All My Dreams," with its interesting industrial intro, is among my favorites. "Darkened Days to Come," and "Coming Down," both featuring Morten’s clean vocals, have a nice gothic air to them and are some of the better (and heavier) tracks on this album. The best song on this record, however, is the final track "The Enigma of Life." Here we finally see a tempo change, and the song really shows of Ailyn’s voice. It’s a beautiful song and a worthy closer. The album also comes with some bonus tracks, Spanish versions of "This Darkness" and "The Enigma of Life", which are actually kind of better than the originals. Or maybe that’s just my inner language geek talking.

The tracks that miss the target suffer from a few elements, mainly seeming as if they’re being forced into the Sirenia formula instead of growing and taking shape the way they were meant to. Every track features choirs, which sometimes sound as if they were randomly thrown in just to be there and don’t really fit in with the songs. Same with some of Morten’s growls, which seem to have been added merely for the illusion of heaviness. The overall thing Sirenia should really improve on is adding variety to the songs, letting them take their own shapes and not forcing them into a formula. Main lesson to be learned: if a choir part doesn’t fit, don’t put it in.

7 / 10

Standout tracks: "Fallen Angel" "All My Dreams" "Coming Down" "Fading Star" "The Enigma of Life" and the bonus tracks "El Enigma de la Vida" and "Obscura Realidad."