Artist: Leaves Eyes 
   Title: Njord
   Label: Napalm Records

When it comes to power Gothic Metal with a symphonic edge you will be hard come by to find a band more respected than Leaves Eyes. The band led by Liv Kristine have been a beacon of light in the genre and now the band are certainly pushing the boundaries of the genre with the excellent new opus “Njord’.  Once again heavily influenced by the tales of Vikings and their Mythology, and with Liv singing in not one but eight different languages on the album(!), this is without a doubt their best and most adventurous release to date.

The album opens up in quite spectacular style with the title track ‘Njord’.  As the oars of the Norsemen hit the waters sailing towards the siren vocals of Kristine, the album's titanic wave of drums and guitars with Alexander Krull’s menacing growling vocals powers through the mist, and so it begins! This bombastic opener really shows the band at its best.  Big orchestrations mixed with traditional metal guitars and drums all wrapped around the superb Kristine vocals, you can almost smell the fjords.

The titanic sounds continue with the first single off the album ‘My Destiny’, a more sedate opening here with Kristine’s vocals getting things underway before the power of the rest of the band comes thundering through, and this magical mix of heady bass and drums, soaring guitars and Krull’s angst fill backing vocals, the beast to Kristine’s beauty, this song is without a doubt one of the highlights on the album for me.

The orchestration for the album comes from the Lingua Mortis Orchestra and they drive this album far beyond anything the band has done before and can be felt on great tracks like ‘Emerald Island’ and the magnificent ‘Take The Devil In Me’. The surprise package of the album has to be the bands phenomenal cover of ‘Scarborough Fair’, never before has this song sounded so good. It’s back to the original material with ‘Through Our Veins’, another power mix of traditional metal guitars and orchestration.  Once again it's Kristine’s vocals that dominate the song as the heavenly vocals sail along like a bird, soaring high above the heavy metal clouds to avoid the on coming storm of drums and bass.

It’s all change once more with the acoustic ballad ‘Irish Rain’, this is yet another highlight from this tremendous album as Kristine takes you on a wondrous vocal journey to the emerald isle, before returning ‘Northbound’ with a great haunting vocal from Kristine once again.  What Leaves Eyes album wouldn’t be complete without a Nordic overture and ‘Ragnarok’ is a real epic piece that swoops and flows between titanic metal moments and more gentle poetic vibes, and is real testament to how the band have developed their sound since their debut release ‘Lovelorn’.  A touch of sheer class.

‘Morgenland’ again brings in a more orchestral feel to proceedings as this gentle ballad brings out the best in Kristine’s vocals.  This is very different to ‘The Holy Bond’, a more rockier piece but retaining that haunting effect that Kristine’s vocals have, all of which leads to another epic and the album closer ‘Frøyas Theme’, which rounds off the bands best album to date.  

 
Tracklisting:

01. Njord
02. My Destiny
03. Emerald Island
04. Take The Devil In Me
05. Scarborough Fair
06. Through Our Veins
07.Irish Rain
08. Northbound
09.Ragnarok
10. Morgenland
11. The Holy Bond
12. Frøyas Theme 

 

                   

 

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