Product Description

With their latest masterpiece "Njord", Leaves' Eyes embarks on yet another enthralling journey through the myths and sagas of the North. The strong and sonorous compositions familiar to the band's fanbase have been further developed. Their passion for both heavy and opulent sounds harmonizes perfectly with memorable melodies, while surprises like heavy double bass passages are counterattacked by Liv Kristine's haunting vocals. "Njord" impressively defends the sextet's claim as the leading force in symphonic Gothic Rock and Metal. Limited edition digipack includes 2 bonus tracks.

Track Listing

1. Njord
2. My Destiny
3. Emerald Island
4. Take The Devil In Me
5. Scarborough Fair
6. Through Our Veins
7. Irish Rain
8. Northbound
9. Ragnarok
10. Morgenland
11. The Holy Bond
12. Frøya's Theme
13. Landscape of the Dead (Bonus Track)
14. Les Champs de Lavande (Bonus Track)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2349 in Music
• Released on: 2009-10-13
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Limited Edition
• Dimensions: .16 pounds

Customer Reviews

THE BAND'S STRONGEST EFFORT SO FAR
When Liv Kristine was in Theatre Of Tragedy, they were one of the first bands to use classical female vocals and gruff male vocals, the so-called "Beauty And The Beast" genre. Kristine started Leaves Eyes a few years ago, and "Njord" is their third full-length. Her husband Alexander Krull is the male vocalist and producer, and his band Atrocity is also Leaves Eyes' backing band.

It's been four years since their last studio album "Vinland Saga," and Leaves Eyes has made a nice progression on "Njord." The songs are intricately composed, combining delicate classical influences with powerful metal guitars. The songs run the gamut from loud, bombastic and symphonic to quiet and fragile.

The album kicks off with the title track, which builds slowly into a cinematic and diverse song with Kristine's singing offset by Krull's growls. "Emerald Island" is a strong song, ebbing and flowing in tempo and intensity. "Through Your Veins" is one of the most accessible and mainstream leaning songs on "Njord," with all melodic vocals and a nice combination of heaviness and melody.

"Irish Rain" is more subdued with acoustic guitars, a prominent flute, reserved vocals and more of a folk metal vibe. "Morgenland" is also in that vein, with piano and Kristine's vocals in the forefront. Leaves Eyes tackles the traditional English ballad "Scarborough Fair," popularized by Simon and Garfunkel in the mid 1960s. It's given a symphonic arrangement with plenty of guitars and atmosphere, and is well-done.

The lyrical concept of "Njord" covers Nordic mythology. Kristine's vocal performance on this album is outstanding. Her voice runs the gamut from quiet and emotional to "regular" singing to belting it out in a powerful classical style. She also sings in an astounding eight languages on the album, including English, Norwegian, Gaelic, and even a made up language for one brief sequence.

Sometimes symphonic/gothic metal albums get too caught up in the orchestral arrangements and forget about things like choruses and melody. "Njord" has both painstakingly composed and arranged songs along with memorable hooks and choruses. It's hands down the band's strongest effort thus far.

Good Release
We waited all this time and what did we get? A good release.
Vinland Saga blew my mind. It was unexpectedly catchy and spectacular, at the same time new and original. This release is none of that. It's basically in a similar style as Vinland Saga but just lacks the character of before. It sounds more refined and like a more experienced band, but there is not as much experimenting with classical or emotional themes.

Firstly there are no good soft emotional songs. The soft songs they did just sound like crappier versions of their previous work (like Ankomst, Lovelorn etc. but not as good). The mixing sounds as bit muddy in places like I can't make out the words or individual instruments and I keep turning it up and I still have trouble making out certain parts. For the first time some of the songs on the album seem a bit boring almost like filler songs. Some songs could have been amazing but they screwed them up. Emerald Island sounds beautiful but then for no reason they have screaming growls over top of it which messes up the song. In some songs like on Vinland Saga the growls worked but here you have a perfectly good song ruined by grunts and screams. So most of the album isn't bad but fairly lame.

then you have a few really amazing songs. They sound more refined. They are radio friendly but still have that symphonic metal taste. The album overall sounds more like Nightwish or even modern Theatre of Tragedy. Through Our Veins is really good and Take the Devil in Me is really catchy and amazing song. Other than a few "hits" the album is the weakest release of Leaves Eyes to date.

Also the new drummer sounds great but they need a better guitar player who can write some good solos and some more interesting riffs. I'd say that is really what is holding them back. The guy wrote a couple good riffs then keeps reusing them because he can't come up with anything else. The same riff in the first album on Norwegian lovesong is then reused on Vinland Saga in the song Ankommst. Okay I can handle that, but then on Legend Land they did a song that sounded very similar. Okay. Now on this album they are playing the exact same thing again. That's like unheard of how can you keep playing the exact same riffs on different songs? then anytime he plays a solo he sounds like an amature or someone that should be the opening act or at a local bar or something. He's good but not big league good. I could probably write a better solo. Get somebody who can write some good guitar riffs and solos. Its starting to become a joke at this point. I think they just keep this guy in the band because he is a friend or something. Keep the lame guitar player but get at least one guy who can play guitar who is superstar material. You can't keep reusing the same riffs in every album or else people are going to stop buying it. Not to mention you become a laughing stock of the music community.

Something New
A good album no doubt but not what leaves eyes used to be. My fav album was lovelorn and vinland was epic beyond measurement, but this new album doesnt feel like leaves eyes. It sounds more pop, something like delain or sirenia. The vocals are still amazing, the title track my destiny is spot light of this album and feels the closest to the leaves eyes i know. My personal favorite track is scarboroough fair, the acoustics and vocals are very well done. This album wont disappoint, but im sure anyone looking for more of the "epic" and viking style music from leaves eyes will not find much here.