Label : Napalm Records
Review By Erwin Van Dijk
“Njord” is the new album from Leaves’Eyes, one of the most successful female fronted bands in Europe. In short, Leaves’ Eyes is the sum of ex Theatre of Tragedy singer Liv Kristine and the German band Atrocity. She also has a sister, Carmen Elise who sings in German based folk metal band Midnattsol. Well, they are family after all. I did an interview with Liv Kristine some time ago, just before the release of “Njord”. “Njord” is the logic next step from “Vinland Saga”, their last album but with more choirs and more bombastic music. If you are a fan then you can buy/download this album without doubt. The limited edition will feature a model of a Viking boat (a Drakkar), follow here the Liv Kristine’s comment about the Drakkar: “This is a way for us saying thank you to our fans and friends. Remember, many of them are collectors. I used to collect Madonna and Black Sabbath/Ozzy special merchendise objects”. A highlight for me is the Simon & Garfunkel cover (I never imaged to feature those two in a metal review!). The song gives room to Liv’s beautiful voice without being masked with all the goth bombast. Overall quality of the songs is high but it lacks the spontaneous feeling “Lovelorn” – the debut album – had. Thorsten Bauer, the guitar player and mastermind behind the music did a good job composing the songs and husband and supplier of the grunt vocals on the album Alex Krull did a solid job recording and mixing “Njord” at the Mastersound Studio – which is Liv and Alex‘ own studio. This album is for a romantic evening with your girlfriend in a log cabin somewhere deep in the forests of Norway. And do not forget to bring some good wine and fire wood.
Rating – 85/100
Tracklist
- Njord
- My Destiny
- Emerald Island
- Dagon
- Take the Devil in Me
- Scarborough Fair (Simon and Garfunkel cover)
- Through Our Veins
- Irish Rain
- Northbound
- Ragnarock
- Morgenland
- The Holy Bond
- Frøya’s Theme
Line Up
- Liv Kristine Espenæs Krull – Vocals & Bass
- Alexander Krull – Vocals, Keyboards, Programming
- Thorsten Bauer – Guitars
- Mathias Röderer – Guitars
- Alla Fedynitch – Bass
- Seven Antonopolous – Drums
Links