Norway has an extremely restrictive immigration policy, yet that hasn’t prevented Morten Veland and Sirenia from drafting a Spanish senorita, Ailyn to take over the long established femme vox role. Apparently they believe in numerology, as apart from the album’s title, a trio of songs all sport the number seven (‘The Seventh Summer’, ‘Winterborn 77’ and the concluding ‘Siren Of The Seven Seas’). Lightheartedness has replaced the inherently depressive Norwegian overtone. Lacking the distinctive voice biggest names, Sirenia now aligns themselves with cooing continental artists like Leave Eyes,  After Forever (RIP) and latter day The Gathering. Keyboard/piano remain a dominate instrument throughout. With a nod (the only one) to Cristina Scabbia (Lacuna Coil), the infectious opener ‘The Path To Decay’ employs backing male orchestral choir. Minus a black metal inspired break, the remainder of ‘The Mind Maelstrom’ is a violin and multi-voiced ballad. Actually one of these two effects is employed with alternate frequency, if not a sneering sinister lyric, it’s a band of male voices. Plenty of orchestral accents crop up too, from strings, to brass fanfares and percussion.

German version features three additional bonuses!