Title: King of Kings
Artiste: Leaves' Eyes
Year 2015
Nationality: German
Genre: Symphonic Metal/Gothic Metal
Rank: Apprentice
6
Expectations: I've heard some of their material, liked pretty much what I heard. The addition of Epica's Simone Simons can only be good. Having just listened to Gloryhammer fighting in space, it seems this is also based on warriors, but grounded more firmly on this planet, and presumably in the past, history or legend.
1. Sweven: There's a lovely soft folky violin to introduce the song, then an acoustic guitar joins and as the percussion rolls heavily in, almost tribally so, the vocals also make themselves apparent, Liv Kristine always sounding to me like our own Maire Breannan of Clannad. If you don't know who she is, rememeber “Harry's Game”? No. Then **** you.
Warrior chorus building now behind what appear to be pipes of some sort --- I see uileann pipes are credited, so I guess that's them. A choir now comes in (according to Batty's least favourite reference source, Wiki, the same one that performed on both
The Lord of the Rings and
Star Wars, as well as others). The song then begins to get going before it's pulled back by the solo vocal of Liv, with chiming bells or something behind her, and then continues into
2. King of kings: The tune more or less carries on from the short opener, making me wonder if this is a concept album? Nothing I've read so far supports or rejects that idea, but I kind of think it might be. Liv is in fine form as ever, the choir providing some great support for her, and the pace still pretty sedate though powerful. Some strong male vocals coming in now from Alex Krull (brilliant name for someone with a real growler of a voice!) and th song ends on a triumphant note.
3. Halvdan the Black: Discordant horns and then the sound of battle take this in, military drums slowly punching out the beat before the choir soars above it all and guitar riffs begin to blast off left, right, and, you know, centre. The first time the album takes flight really, and justifies the “metal” part of their genre tag. Another great vocal from Liv, and it rocks along nicely.
4. The waking eye: Guest piano from Kamelot's Oliver Palatoi opens this and then it powers along at a fine pace, a soulful vocal from Liv, with great cutting guitar work throughout.
5. Feast of the year: Twenty-odd seconds of uileann pipes and flutes with celtic drumming. Go on ya boy ya!
Runs directly into
6. Vengeance venom: Good rocker but perhaps a little generic, though the uileann pipes and other celtic instruments do give it a certain individuality.
7. Sacred vow: Another good rocker, but I can't really pick out anything special about it.
8. Edge of steel: Simone pops in for her guest slot, and, as they say, kills it. Superb. The melody sounds very familiar though. Great chorus, real symphonic metal and Simone's operatic voice contrasts nicely with Liv's more gentle one on the other tracks.
9. Haraldskvæði : Very much more low-key, almost
acapella at times, very moving.
10. Blazing waters: Another guest vocalist, this time Lindy-Fay Hella: don't know her, but she has the same sort of operatic voice that Simone has. Good song; the male vocals from Krull add the finishing touches. Powerful dramatic ending. Excellent. Oh wait: no it isn't. Well, it is, but then there's some nonsense chanting at the end. Bit silly but it doesn't ruin a great track.
11. Swords in rock: And we're off to the ceili again (Irish traditional dance): not sure what the link to the celtic music is here, but it's quite infectious. This sounds like something off aforementioned Clannad or maybe Planxty's albums. Rocks nicely once it gets going, has something different about it certainly.
Final result: Let's give Leaves' Eyes credit for avoiding falling into the trap much of their fellows do, which is to write long, epic songs that go nowhere and are extended just for the sake of extending them. The longest song here is just over seven minutes, and most come in around the three or four minute mark. No, it's not a classic of symphonic metal --- though if you hate that genre be warned: this is VERY typical of this type of music --- but it's another good Leaves' Eyes album, and that's good enough for me.
Rating: 
