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A bit flawed, but very powerful.-
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| Leaves' Eyes: Njord |
Gothic Metal, Symphonic Folk Metal
Napalm Records
August 26th, 2009
- Njord - 6:14
- My Destiny - 4:13
- Emerald Island - 5:24
- Take The Devil In Me - 3:51
- Scarborough Fair (Simon And Garfunkel cover) - 4:04
- Through Our Veins - 3:40
- Irish Rain - 4:01
- Northbound - 4:23
- Ragnarok - 5:11
- Morgenland - 2:54
- The Holy Bond - 3:41
- Frøya's Theme - 8:20
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| Review Information |
Release length: 55:56
Review posted on October 5th, 2009
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| | Original Score: 4/5 |
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| Overall Score: 8/10 |
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| Discography |
Discography covers all information available up to day of review and is updated if future albums are reviewed. |
| Full-Length(s): |
Lovelorn (2004) • Vinland Saga (2005) • Njord (2009) • Meredead (2011)
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| EP(s): |
Elegy (2005) • Legend Land (2006) • My Destiny (2009) • At Heaven's End (2010) • Melusine (2011)
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| CD Single(s): |
Into Your Light (2004) • Njord Radio Promo CD (2009)
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| Live CD(s): |
We Came with the Northern Winds / En Saga I Belgia (2009)
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| Live DVD(s): |
We Came with the Northern Winds / En Saga I Belgia (2009)
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| Review |
After two really powerful albums, Leaves' Eyes return to the spotlight once more with their third full length studio release, Njord, which took it's sweet ass time to make it over here to the States (September 29th). The interesting thing about this group was that it was essentially the band Atrocity with Liv Kristine as the vocalist due to the events in Theatre Of Tragedy and her marriage to Alexander Krull. Well, the thing is that the band had a bit of a line-up change in 2008. Knowing this, was it really worth being the last country on the long list of release dates to finally obtain this release?
Njord is easily a release that will have you cursing up a storm, but not because it's an awful CD. It seriously has the potential to be a masterpiece, but unfortunately it just doesn't quite make it there. Put simply, the band is really at their best on this release most of the time. Liv's vocals are perhaps the strongest they have ever been, which is spectacular because the music on this release reaches moments where you'll think you are listening to some sort of metal infused opera. While the album doesn't quite hit the ground running with the openning track "Njord", it starts to pick up around "Emerald Island", which is just a powerhouse of a song that destroys anything that this band has done in the past with it's beautiful operatic sounds.
Now, this is where the album starts to make you want to pull your hair out, and you'll notice it earlier one. Njord seems to really be missing some of the Nordic sound and appeal that the previous album had, with the exception of "The Holy Bond", and also is missing some of the nice, powerful guitar riffs that come in during the chorus to really tug at your emotions. That's not to say the music is bad, it just comes across as a slightly different route the band is taking, while trying to keep the same lyrical content as Vinland Saga. While this isn't enough to make you wanna pull the hair from your skull, the male vocals through the album definitely will. Instead of doing some decent gutteral in random spots, Alexander tries to vary his voice a bit, even does a failed gutteral shout during "My Destiny" and "Ragnarok, which winds up ruining them. Unfortunately this really does make and break some of the songs on the release, especially since they are absolutely pointless for this release in the first place.
The band's cover of the Simon And Garfunkel track "Scarborough Fair" is a pretty nice cover, but it just doesn't quite seem to fit in with the rest of the album. "Through Our Veins" is a great song, but about the time you hit "Irish Rain", pretty much the rest of the album sounds like your typical Leaves' Eyes, which is good considering some of the more epic-sounding tracks include some random gutteral in the background that doesn't really do much to aid the songs. If the band had made more epic operatic opuses like "Emerald Island", or focused on slower paced ballad-esque tracks like "Morgenland", or even tracks like "Scarborough Fair" for that matter, this release would definitely be one of 2009's most noted releases. Given how the band keeps growing with every release, perhaps we'll see more powerhouse material such as those tracks, but for now, Njord may have some flaws here and there, some tracks having more an impact then others, but either way is a release you can take comfort in knowing that you are going to enjoy.
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Physical copy of this release obtained with
personal funds.
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