Showing posts with label Leave's Eyes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Leave's Eyes. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Some More Info on Leaves Eyes 'Meredead'



Last month I posted about the cover art and new album title for Leaves Eyes new album 'Meredead' due out on April 22nd. Today on their Facebook page they revealed the track listing.

01. Spirits' Masquerade
02. Étaín
03. Velvet Heart
04. Kråkevisa *
05. To France (MIKE OLDFIELD cover)
06. Meredead
07. Sigrlinn
08. Mine Tåror er ei Grimme
09. Empty Horizon
10. Veritas
11. Nystev *
12. Tell-Tale Eyes
13. Sorhleod (bonus track)

Due to some lyrics written in Old English and Norwegian I think this album may actually take them a step back from the mainstream territory they were heading to on Njord. I'm not sure that's a good thing for anybody not from the regions in question. We shall see soon enough when the songs start being released.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Leaves Eyes Issues New Album Info.





Mark your calenders for April 22nd. That's when Leaves Eyes will release their 4th album 'Meredead'. And from the press release it sounds like the identity crisis of a German and Norwegian band singing songs about Ireland will continue. I just hope it's better then Njord which was a bit of a disappointment for me. Read Liv Kristine's press release after the jump.

"As we began composing the first song ideas for our fourth full-length album, all of us were very eager to take another step in strengthening both the individual sound and concept of Leaves' Eyes, like we have done album by album. Along with the song-writing process, I made up my mind about the songs' themes, and drowned myself in different sources of literature. Some songs clearly needed lyrics rooted in northern history and culture, as well as having mystical themes. Being an Old-English fan, I decided to write some of the lyrics in Old-English, which of course included further studies of grammatical and phonetic knowledge, which I really enjoyed doing. Next to modern English and Old-English, some songs are sung in traditional Norwegian, to keep their strong individuality and focus on certain themes from special genres in Norwegian traditional singing. The album is given the title "Meredead", as one of the songs on the album. It is my own word-creation (at least I haven't found it in a dictionary yet), and it may mean both "dead by/in the sea", or "the mortal or killing sea". In my lyrics you will find traditional themes from Viking literature and Norwegian song tradition, moreover, tales from the Irish isles, some from already existing sources, some made up myself. Sometimes you will hear about men going on adventures, some ending up drowing in the sea, their wives, evil witches, three-headed trolls, or spell-bound princesses, as well as marble halls and blood-thirsty creatures. I allowed myself more freedom for the concept of "Meredead", telling a number of different stories, real, mystical or sometimes maybe even both."

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Happy St. Patrick's Reason to get Drunk Day

In honor of corn beef, cabbage,clovers, and leprechauns here is Norway's Leaves Eyes playing "Irish Rain" live from the Njord album.The sound quality kind of ruins the song a bit but you should be drunk off your ass by now anyways.





Monday, September 07, 2009

Real Time Review: Njord



I'm going to interrupt my boring drivel from previous posts and make an attempt at a album review. I guess I'll do it track by track as I listen to it.

1. " Njord" This song begins with drums reminicent of Viking drums from long boats. Liv starts singing and she's got a lovely voice as usual. All hell breaks loose with Alexanders roar and Liv's operatic voice then the tempo goes back to slow tempo. The song is is much like previous albums with symphonic backgrounds and alot of double bass. Well rounded song thus far. About 3 minutes in Alexander starts vocalizing. And it's horrible. He sounds like the Tasmanian devil. Shut it dude you're distracting from the feel of the song. I give the song a 7 out of 10 because of this.

2. " My Destiny" the first single release from this album. This will be my first real listen to it. Atmospheric background with Liv's vocals primarily and some piano in the back. Then it kicks into overdrive. Pretty rockin track. A bit of a departure for them as they going for the straight metal. Godammit Alexander now you sound like that Ferro douche in Lacuna Coil. Ok if you keep your vocals (lower register)like that it's not to bad. But the shouting repeat of "My Destiny!" has got to go. So far I'm loving these songs except for him. 6 out of 10 because Alex screwed that song up more then the first.

3. "Emerald Island" Seeing a pattern here. Again Liv starts singing slow and then build up to ass kicking in the background. This song reminds me of some old Nightwish and a bit of Epica. Tasmanian Devil in the background again. Yeah this song is alot like Epica moreso then Nightwish. Near the end Alex is doing a baritone speaking thing and it's cool then starts howling like a werewolf. SHUT the fuck up Alex.7 out of 10 due to less originality. Still a decent song.

4. "Take the Devil in Me" Catchy intro with mid temp drums and strings. Liv starts singing. Again nice song. Waiting for Alex to start in with his bullshit because we're on the chorus. Wow, awesome chorus. This is shaping up to be my favorite so far. No Alex, catchy song. 9 out of 10. Not too original but a very good song nonetheless.

5. "Scarborough Fair" This will be interesting to see how they tackle this cover. I've heard the original from Simon and Garfunkel, Loreena Mckennitt, and Blackmore's Night. This is pretty heavy. Hard for me to decide if it works with the heavy guitars, bass and double bass drumming in the back. Alex isn't barking in the back, that's good.Slows down near the end and is more traditional then picks back up again. Yeah it's a cool spin on it. 7 of 10. I've heard better but it's cool.

6. "Through our Veins" Heavy start to this song.The rythmn guitar player is pretty kick ass I must say.Slow down with Liv's vocals. She's singing in a more normal octave here. No Alex but the song is not really standing out.Musically it's good but somethings missing. 6 out of 10.

7. "Irish Rain" What's with the Celtic stuff on this album? No one is Irish. Oh well continuing on. Cool acoustic intro. I guess this is the "ballad" on the album. It's a pretty tune so far. Music interlude with Celt pipes, bongos,acoustic guitars and drums. Nice ambient song. 8 out of 10.

8. "Northbound" Kick ass intro. This band loves to grab you in with that then slow it down highlighting Liv's vocals then the chorus goes all out again. This song in it's softer passages reminds me of the Corrs if the Corrs actually kicked ass.Uh oh epic bridge.Strings, synth, and the sounds like a army marching. This song has more of a pop feel then previous stuff. Intermixed in with epic stuff. It shouldn't be interesting but it is. 8 of 10.

9. "Ragnarok" Ah here we go. Viking metal Leaves Eyes way. I'm expecting Alex to fuck this up up...er I mean finally reemerge. Choral intro leading to something forboding. Band kicks in too. I'm getting tense and scared. And then slows way the hell down with piano and Liv. Dammit. Stop doing that shit. There's Alex, shouting in the softer areas. Ok choir and Liv and Taz (Yes I'm going to start calling him Taz). Very uneven song. 6 out of 10.

10. "Morgenland" Very soft intro including Liv's vocals.I'm tense waiting for the explosion of ROCK! Still very slow 2 minutes in and its a 2:45 long track. Wow. Ummm I don't know what to give this. 7 out of 10?

11. "The Holy Bond" Wierd guitar intro. Mid tempo pop metal. It's not bad. No Taz yet. Choir kicking in and I don't know why because it's back to the regular passages again. It's catchy and interesting in a odd way. 7 out of 10.

12. "Froyas Theme" Slow intro again.Some wierd instrumentation in the background. Can't tell what it is. It's cool though. Slow build up with Liv hitting high registers.I guess this is a nod to some opera. It's supposed to be over 8 minutes long.Mid tempo passage and having a epic feel. Song kicks ass so far, uh oh....guitar break. Waiting for Taz to fuck this up. There he is. Ok not too bad. For once his part is fitting in place much like previous albums. Slow down again about halfway through. Liv speaking now. This song is bad ass. Keeps you on your toes.Taz speaking. In German it seems. A minute to go. Come on don't end it with Taz. Go out with a bang. I guess the bang is how high Liv can go with vocal scales. 8out of 10 because I think the song was about a minute too long. Had me till the end.

13. "Landscape of the Dead" Bonus track time.Liv's doing a sing song intro. This is what a song from her early Theatre of Tragedy days would sound like if it was upbeat.Kind of cool. 7 out of 10.

14. "Les Champs de Levande" Last song. Whew...this takes some work. Liv singing softly in French. Makes sense based on the song title. Now she's singing in English. Short song. This is more interesting then Morgenland. 8 out of 10.

Ok. Overall I liked it. It's not one of my favorites mainly because Taz's vocals were mixed in better on previous releases and hid the flaws of his vocals. In fact most of his parts were unnecessary. There are parts of this album that fall into the trap of the band founder feeling it necessary to include his evil voice where it doesn't belong.Like a reminder that this is his band.Musically very good and Liv really showcases her voice with Leaves Eyes more then she ever did with ToT. I'd recommend this to fans of their previous works and fans of other gothic female fronted bands. I'll close out with video of "My Destiny". It's cheesy but fun and violent.

U.S. release date is September 22nd.