Leaves' Eyes unleashes a sprawling metal sea monster with Njord
Written: Sep 12 '09
Product Rating:
Pros: A bigger, more defined, heavier sound. Great vocals and guitars.
Cons: A couple songs which aren't as strong, but it's nothing exasperatingly significant.
The Bottom Line: Njord is the best Leaves' Eyes release so far. With this album, Leaves' Eyes has demonstrated a step up in songwriting, in creativity, and in versatility.
The German/Norwegian melodic metal band has consistently proven over the years to be one of the most unique of the 'female-fronted' crowd. To be more precise, I believe they're one of the very few genuinely original and innovative ones left. There's the great interplay between vocalists Liv Kristine Espenæs Krull and Alex Krull, the shimmering transitions between soft acoustic pieces and hammering metal anthems, and the lyrics, which are centered around nature (the ocean; Norwegian landscapes) and historical themes (Vikings; journeys; treacherous odysseys). All of these things have always set Leaves' Eyes apart from other bands people tend to unfairly categorize them with.
And with their third full-length studio album Njord, Leaves' Eyes has really impressed me with how they've taken their musicianship to an entirely new, intense level. While previous releases Lovelorn and Vinland Saga were highly consistent with plenty of special, admirable moments, those albums occasionally indicated to me that the band was holding something back -- maybe keeping the songwriting a bit too simple. The songs on those Leaves' Eyes albums, though unquestionably good, were usually really short and didn't often branch into different territories, progressions and structures.
Well, all of that changes with Njord, an album with a really full, epic sound throughout its entire duration. Each listen to Njord brings a new discovery, as these songs contain multiple layers and are remarkably produced. The dynamic sound of Njord will take listeners by storm.
"Njord" initiates this new musical journey boldly and creatively, with adventurous sound effects and the gentle sound of rolling waves at sea. The suspense builds with Liv Kristine's first delicate vocals: "The god of storms, will you hear me? The shore is close, but I fear it..." At this point, "Njord" becomes truly bombastic in all the right ways, mixing in the growling vocals of Alex Krull, backed by a wall of chanting choirs and thundering, heavy guitar riffs. Njord's first single, the uptempo and punchy "My Destiny," is extremely catchy, seeming like an edgier sequel to Vinland Saga's "Elegy." This song is one that really seems to get better with each listen; the sharp, low guitars are so memorable here and the verses and chorus both contain really effective alternations of Liv and Alex's vocals.
"Emerald Island" showcases some of Liv's most amazing singing to date in its haunting opening passage. She really seems to be transmitting emotions rather strongly throughout Njord. Things get especially good during this song's absolutely great chorus, loaded with frenetic double-bass crunching by new drummer Seven Antonopolous. And one lesson to be learned with Njord is to not to judge a song by its title: read the booklet and see the title, and you may think "Take the Devil in Me" will be one of the most aggressive, raucous songs from the album, but it's an easygoing song with a medium pace, pleasant flow and a really nice melody. Liv's soft soprano voice is complemented by light, clean backing vocals from Alex, which provides a subtle but striking effect in the towering chorus.
Njord is quite a broad and varied offering, with numerous musical moods and atmospheres. One example of the unexpected changes in tempo to be found here comes with "Irish Rain," a slow number with lovely, exotic acoustic guitars and a melancholy, heartfelt, fantastic vocal performance from Liv. On the other hand, everything is taken to a level of maximum power and magnitude with my favorite song from Njord,"Ragnarok," which has the sound of an epic film score. This is the darkest, most ominous Leaves' Eyes song to date -- Thorsten Bauer and Mathias Röderer's guitar attacks are delightfully monolithic, capped off by a monstrously cool solo; Liv's voice is simultaneously operatic and gentle, limitlessly powerful but also with incredible control in her delivery, nothing over-the-top. Alex punctuates the song with some excellent screams, also of a drastic variation for dramatic effect.
Gods awaiting the end of the world The end of all Ragnarok
"Froya's Theme" finishes things out with a gigantic bang, progressing quickly and in unexpected ways. Setting the tone with a humming bass line and a dainty keyboard melody, "Froya's Theme" ultimately erupts into a grand, eight-minute metal epic, complete with soaring vocals, a spoken-word interlude, and rapid fluctuations of guitar sounds which manage to be both tremendously melodic and raw, menacing and harshly metallic.
Njord is a great album to listen to and I don't find that there are any songs that are 100% weak. Occasionally, I find myself skipping over "Through Our Veins" and "The Holy Bond," but strangely enough, there aren't any specific reasons to do so; nothing sounds bad there, I just find that they aren't as captivating as many of the other Njord selections. Perhaps they lack the build-up and exciting twists and turns that make most of this release so instantaneous, hard-impacting and memorable.
I recommend Njord highly to anyone who's a fan of metal, especially those who are drawn to melodic, symphonic sounds with folk influence. I think people who have enjoyed Leaves' Eyes albums in the past will be very happy with Njord because it's really a progression for the band; their sound is much fuller as a band, much more explosive. This album isn't as easy and catchy as the previous LE releases, so, people who are used to simplicity may need a little while to process these longer, heavier, more energetic and vibrant songs. To me, it's a fantastic thing that Njord is an expansion of this talented band's sound and is showing more of what they are capable of as songwriters. It's one of my favorite albums to be released in 2009 -- I believe many different types of rock and metal fans would benefit by listening to Njord.
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