Sirens

Astarte | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 15, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Cleopatra
• ASIN: B0007GP66K
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #233,758 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #81 in Music > World Music > Europe > Continental Europe > Greece

Track Listings

1. Dark Infected Circles (Outbreak)

2. Black Mighty Gods

3. Lloth

4. Bitterness of Mortality (Mecoman)

5. Deviate

6. Oceanus Procellarum (Liquid Tomb)

7. The Ring (Of Sorrow)

8. Twist, Nail, Torture

9. Sirens

10. Underwater Persephone

11. Black Mighty Gods [*][Multimedia Track]

Editorial Reviews

Review

The she-devils of grinding black metal continue their mesmerizing assault with this fiery, ambitious new album!

Check out the headspinning lead off track Dark Infected Circles (Outbreak), the gorgeous acoustic and piano-based instrumental Lloth and the devastating The Ring (Of Sorrow)!

Special guest appearances by Shagrath, vocalist of the hottest death metal band around Dimmu Borgir, and Sakis, vocalist for Rotting Christ!

One of the very few all-girl black metal bands, Astarte has been conquering the scene with an intoxicating mixture of hate, aggression and pioneering musicality!

This female trio started back in 1995 under the name Lloth, with Nemesis (guitars), Kinthia (vocals/guitars), Tristessa (bass and acoustic guitars) and Psychoslaughter from the death/doom band Invocation as a session drummer. In May 1997, they recorded their first official demo entitled Dancing In The Dark Lakes Of Evil. The music was fast and aggressive with a nightmarish atmosphere and mystical sound. Meanwhile the band chaged its name to Astarte. In 1998, the band enetered in the extreme black metal scene with their release of the album Doomed Dark Years. After two years of extensive work, the band gained recognition and respect of the fans in major European countries. It was time to record their second opus entitled Rise From Within. Their music became more complex and atmospheric but at the same time aggressive and violent! Rise From Within is a piece of work dedicated to the esoteric doctrine full of black metal rage and hatred. In February 2002, Astarte attacked back with a third album entitled Quod Superious, Sicut Inferius. This time the music status is open and portrays pure aggression mixed with poetic melodies. One year later, the band participates in a tribute to Celtic Frost with the song Sorrows Of The Moon. At that time, the contract with Black Lotus Records expired. Shortly after, the band went through some drastic changes and put up an entirely new line-up still focused around the leading Mistress Tristessa and her new companions in darkness KATHARSIS (keyboards) and HYPRIS (guitars). Astarte signed a contract with Avant Garde Music. The result of this is their fourth album entitled SIRENS. This was again recorded at Praxis (Athens) but mixed and mastered at worldwide known Finnish studio Tico Tico. The new album presents a sound more based on aggression and hatred, to open a new chapter of black/death fear. Shagrath and Sakis (from Dimmu Borgir and Rotting Christ, respectively) also contributed with a few guest appearances, and the entire layout is made by worldwide famous artist Graal (Enslaved, Enthroned, Behemoth etc). The She-Devils shall mesmerize your minds... --Cleopatra Records

Product Description

1. Dark Infected Circles (Outbreak)
2. Black Mighty Gods
3. Lloth
4. Bitterness Of Mortality (Mecoman) feat. Nicolas S.I.C. Maiis
5. Deviate
6. Oceanus Procellarum (Liquid Tomb) feat. Sakis
7. The Ring (Of Sorrow) feat. Shagrath
8. Twist, Nail, Torture
9. Sirens
10. Underwater Persephone

BONUS VIDEO
Black Mighty Gods

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars , September 4, 2005

By 

Douglas Hernandez "varathron1" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sirens (Audio CD)

On Astarte's debut album "Dark doomed years", they succeeded in creating a record full of primal darkness. They were even dubbed as a female version of Darkthrone. On "Sirens" we find them playing a more abstruse and polished style of black metal. I would compare their current direction with the one of Dimmu Borgir, the difference being that the songs here do not contain unnecessary complicated arrangements for the sake of showing off. Instead, the compositions hit you directly without totally being straightforward. Nice progress, and though I prefer the cold spirituality of their debut this release offers enough dynamics and complexity to make it a challenging and memorable listen.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Black metal isn't just from Scandinavia, August 4, 2006

By 

herohammer "black metal fan" (New Mexico, U.S.A.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sirens (Audio CD)

Female fronted black or death metal bands are quite rare, and often it doesn't really matter what gender the vocalist of an extreme metal band is given that some female vocalists can growl like the cookie monster and there is always Dani Filth who can sing... eeer screech or whatever he does, higher than most female vocalists can...

This is my first Astarte album and I enjoy it. It incorporates some interesting pagan themes unusuall for a non-scandinavian band. This album is great for those tired of listening to the word "OOOOOOOODDDDDDDHHHHHHIIIIIINNNN!!!!" to much...Given that the band is from Greece, one would think that these mythological referances would be quite familiar like their Norse contemporaries. This is not correct however as Astarte make frequent references to comparatively obscure elements of their region's ancient myths, rather like Cradle of Filth do on occasion. Musically there is some repition of themes such as in the tracks Black Mighty Gods and Lloth(which is bassicaly an acoustic interlude version of Black Mighty Gods) The acoustic and keybourd parts are well done, if not highly integrated into the metal parts of the album. In this way the cd reminds of Burzum's pre-filosofem works in that black metal tracks are divided by softer interlude tracks that sound just as good as their metal counterparts. The guitar work, drumming, and bass are all up to par for a black metal band. The mix is quite good and the production, while clear does not soften the impact of the album significantly. The vocals remind me of Arch Enemy's vocalist, who is listed as an influence in the cd booklet. The vocals are brutal in an almost death metal-esque way but retain a black metal feel almost all of the time through the lyrics and the riffage. One rather humorous thing to note about the band is that the drums are played by a real person on this album, not a drum machine(which the band uses live, or so I have heard), a real person who never appears in any photo in the liner notes because the drummer is a guy and the band wants to be an all girl band, presumably to sell off of the novelty factor. This seems rather pretentious to me, but the music is good and doesn't referance this fact so I don't care.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars better-than-average black metal, April 1, 2005

By 

L Salisbury (Maryland United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sirens (Audio CD)

Once you get past the disorganized drumming (typical of black metal) you get creative & mellodic all girl metal from Greece! Imagine a riot-grrl version of Borgnagar, early Sirenia and (very) early Moonspell. Here's hoping for a second CD from these lovely ladies!