Yes, yes, yes. It’s time to travel up north and pillage familiar territories with Leaves’ Eyes. One of the very few bands that really make the listener feel you truly are in a land of the Vikings and of rich historical stature. A little surprised, I was not expecting any new albums, let alone an EP from Leaves’ Eyes, considering the deboggle that’s been looming in the air for months now. We know Liv Kristine and her now former husband, Alexander Krull, separated at the beginning of the year in January. Eventually there was an announcement the band and Liv Kristine went their own ways. This caused their fans to explode and start hating on the band, hating on Alexander Krull, and not giving the new singer, Elina Siirala, a chance to prove herself. Currently, you can’t find someone complaining about the situation whenever a new piece of news from the band arrives. As a fan of the band for many years, it was hard to accept this myself but of course this is the music industry and bands are a business, it’s time to move on. It was also pleasing to hear that Liv herself wanted to also be a part of picking the new singer as well so she didn’t want to leave on bad terms or whatever it is that happened. Regardless, we will most likely hear more stories of what happened or claimed happened, fans claiming they know what happened, the usual bits of industry chatter.
Whether their new album is a contractual obligatory expected from their record label or not, the new EP titled, Fires In The North, is a familiar, yet somewhat new escape that the group is known for. At this point I don’t think the band was planning on releasing any albums had this situation not arrised, so the EP contains one brand new track with Elina Siirala, as well as four, re-recorded tracks off of King of Kings, in which Elina, takes the reigns. Fans will continue to compare the singers, especially with the tracks redone from their last album so luckily for the band there is one track where Elina, can prove herself. Let’s not be stubborn as a southern mule or however the saying goes and just automatically dismiss the new front for the band. Filling these big shoes is pressure enough for her as it is, so I would like to congratulate Elina on being chosen as the new singer.
Fires In The North, is the only completely brand new track and it’s extremely addicting. There’s the backing epic gang vocals, signature growls from Alexander Krull with an unfathomable mighty and anthemic atmosphere to the track overall. Aside from the vocals, this is typical Leaves’ Eyes, so I think most will be appeased with this one, easily. The track comes back again, this time in a more intimate and almost Folk metal finishing. Less metal, less riffs and more acoustics, Fires In The North, comes in an acoustic version. I envisioned sitting around a fire with metal brothers and sisters just having a good time, with some ale of course.
The remainder of the album comes in with Edge of Steel, Sacred Vow, and Swords In Rock. There’s really not much to say here at this point. The instrumentals are identical to the original song, in fact it’s all original instrumentals just with Elina, singing over Liv’s parts. In comparison to one another, Elina, currently cannot hit the same high notes as Liv, but is that really a disadvantage? It would have been better all together to have solely brand new tracks than redoing what’s been mastered in the past, but of course that’s just personal preference. The band also released the music video to Edge of Steel, with some pretty epic visuals and fire, if you are curious what the comparison is all about.
The past is passed and while it’s major loss that Liv left, she didn’t totally disappear from the planet. Personally, it’s not our business poking around their relationship as I would not want people in mine. That said, I am glad Leaves’ Eyes is still around making more metal especially as the metal industry will always be the underdog in this world. Are we to fight amongst ourselves within the metal community when the metal is clearly superior to the mainstream radio crap that is out there? Just as their new song says, “We Stand As One. Our Time Has Come to Rise Up High.” It doesn’t get any more metal than that! Normally I tend to be neutral when it comes to voicing my opinion but really, we need as much metal and diversity within metal as possible. It’s what makes this genre the best out there. Nonetheless, I am sure we will be on top of the next album the group releases. But if you’re already a fan, there’s really no denying their musicianship hasn’t really changed. Vocals aside, they are still the same band and it’s the music we should care about. I am pleased with the new track and I have a feeling the new album is going to be on par with their reputation. Stay Metal m/
Fires In The North: 9.5/10
Official Website: http://www.leaveseyes.de/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leaveseyesofficial/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/leaves_eyes
The Metal Alchemy 