Metal Shock Finland (World Assault )

BAND: Leaves’ Eyes
TITLE: Vinland Saga
YEAR: 2005
MAJOR: Napalm Records

LINE UP:
Liv Kristine Espenæs Krull – voice
Alexander Krull – growl
Thorsten Bauer – guitar
Mathias Röderer – guitar
Alla Fedynitch – bass
Seven Antonopolous – drum

VOTE: 9/10

Tracklist:
1. Vinland Saga
2. Farewell Proud Men
3. Elegy
4. Solemn Sea
5. Leaves’ Eyes
6. The Thorn
7. Misseri (Turn Green Meadows into Grey)
8. Amhrán (Song of the Winds)
9. New Found Land
10. Mourning Tree
11. Twilight Sun
12. Ankomst

The second album for the band of Liv Kristine and her husband Alexander Krull, where she seems not at all to regret the achieved popularity by the Theatre of Tragedy, indeed this band has many chances to grow despite the proliferation of symphonic metal bands.
Vinland Saga brings us into a much discussed source angle in Scandinavian history, when the Viking equipage led by Lief Erikson (son of the legendary Erik the Red) came to the lands of Vinland, today called Canada. This story is presented by a woman waiting for her husband’s return from this ambitious expedition, as can be clearly heard in the passages of the chorus of Elegy “(…) Will I hold you in my arms again? (…)” Or in the recitative of Twilight Sun “(…) If you do not return, I will leave a message for you carved in stone (…)” and many other steps within the 13 tracks that make this CD very different from song to song, however, without resulting an “already-heard-product” or recycled from the first job.

The theme of the trip, the melancholy of separation from homeland and from the loved ones, fear for the approach with an unknown land, mysticism and respect for nature, for the sea in this particular case that may determine the life or death of sailors. Solemn Sea is a hymn to the solemnity of the sea, where the intro, in Norwegian, asks the sea to have mercy on those who wish to discover an unknown land. These are the central themes that are found listening Vinland Saga.

The album opens with the song Vinland Saga that immediately transports the listener in a traveling vision accompanied by subtly melancholy choir in which Liv is absolutely at her ease, with her ethereal lightly voice that we have already appreciated in Theatre of Tragedy. But in this album she also brings out a vocal power of all respect as we hear already in the second song, Farewell Proud Men, which opens with a more marked female vocal as a ship that defies the storms of the ocean. Very catchy, surprising even in the chorus where you notice the vocal ability of Liv.

One of the most beautiful songs is the sublime Elegy. A song that starts softly, with just a little piano intro in the distance, and then explodes in a very amazing guitar solo and then taken up in the chorus. Again, the vocal talent of Liv is in the foreground, with ethereal verses and bridge that explode into a chorus based almost entirely on well managed high notes. Elegy deserves the first podium with the following song Solemn Sea, where for the first time in this album we can enjoy the contrast between the voice of Liv and the scratchy, almost growling one, of her husband. Do not expect a heavy growl like Mark Jansen of Epica in this song, although an attempt to more “bad” we will find in The Thorn, Alexander is still at more relaxed and less dirty levels. The result is however very nice, these two voices blend well together in the bridge and prepare the listener to a chorus of great impact.

Similar in content and form to Elegy and Solemn Sea is Twilight Sun, very catchy and evocative, perhaps more rhythmic than the other two songs, but surely this one has a high-impact, with a purely solemn lyrical chorus. And there are also semi-acoustic ballads, like Leaves’Eyes, where Liv is accompanied only by acoustic guitar and light strings on which glide gently. A very evocative track, that gives a melancholy sense of its title, the detachment. We will find similar feelings with the following Amhran (Song of the Winds) and Mourning Tree where the voice of Liv  ranges from opera to pop, like Celtic Gaelic folk.

With The Thorn we return instead to the very metal sound, where the lyrical and growl voice combination is very good, so hard, with a very catchy, almost Celtic-Gaelic folk chorus line. Always characterized by the double voices is New Found Land, the darkest song of the album, that certainly characterizes well the fear that one feels when confronted with a unexplored land of which we can not know the dangers. The beginning choirs give a sense of desolation and inhospitality, and the voice of Liv becomes severe making us feel a sense of anxiety, which dissipates completely  with subsequent Mourning Tree and Twilight Sun. The final track takes the notes of the first song in the more epic way, with the lapping of the waves and the whistle of the north wind.

Definitely Vinland Saga is a well-made and ambitious album, where each track has its own identity and still traceable to a common theme. The aim, to keep a thread of one genre-line in these 13 songs, without falling into banality, is not easy.  Recommended for fans of symphonic metal, looking for something new in this genre, which has become so popular in these recent years that often brings us to “already-heard” stereotypes.

Review by Claudia “LaFallenAngel” Murachelli

Leaves’ Eyes – Elegy