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Morten Veland’s musical tangents aren’t always to everyone’s liking. Mortemia was an acquired taste and Sirenia got flak for flirting with Europop but this, their sixth studio album, pulls out all the stops.

Serene opener Ducere Me In Lucem combines Ailyn’s entrancing vocals with delicate keys and brooding Nightwish-esque choral harmonies before exploding into the bombastic symphonic metal of Seven Widows Weep.

When Morten’s death growls weave in and out of densely packed gothic metal, punctuated by Ailyn’s elegant warbles – the Spanish singer is said to have joined a choir to get some practice – the result is huge. The epic gothic folk metal of Stille Kom Døden shows off her diversity while fans of her poppier vocals will rejoice in the goth club-friendly Decadence and My Destiny Coming To Pass.

Morten’s former band Tristania have just released the best album of their recent career, yet Perils Of The Deep Blue is right up there in Sirenia’s greatest moments.

Contributing to Prog since the very first issue, writer and broadcaster Natasha Scharf was the magazine’s News Editor before she took up her current role of Deputy Editor, and has interviewed some of the best-known acts in the progressive music world from ELP, Yes and Marillion to Nightwish, Dream Theater and TesseracT. Starting young, she set up her first music fanzine in the late 80s and became a regular contributor to local newspapers and magazines over the next decade. The 00s would see her running the dark music magazine, Meltdown, as well as contributing to Metal Hammer, Classic Rock, Terrorizer and Artrocker. Author of music subculture books The Art Of Gothic and Worldwide Gothic, she’s since written album sleeve notes for Cherry Red, and also co-wrote Tarja Turunen’s memoirs, Singing In My Blood. Beyond the written word, Natasha has spent several decades as a club DJ, spinning tunes at aftershow parties for Metallica, Motörhead and Nine Inch Nails. She’s currently the only member of the Prog team to have appeared on the magazine’s cover.