Leaves' Eyes - Symphonies of the Night (2013)

We never sort of operatic metal album featuring strong female vocalist, one of them is Leaves' Eyes. Liv Kristine is their main force and attraction. They known mostly as symphonic metal with strong folk elements, casually bring in native language words as song title, Lovelorn, Meredead, Siglirn, Njord, and other Middle-Earth slangs. Their music therefore distinguished by nature to met the lyrical theme. Symphonies of the Night is their fifth studio album. While the folk metal still existed in this album, and it's also lean into general operatic female voice - growl vocal to adhered the current trend.

The first example come quickly, Hell to the Heavens is actually catching ear song when Liv Kristine enter the verses, especially with that Nightwish-style riff, but then when the growling pop out the originality of the song is compromised. Of course the folk metal is still around, Maid of Lorraine, Galswintha are top choice to enjoy this imaginative genre of metal, especially Galswintha which is inspiring New-Age-ish - galloping - gothic metal tunes. The album title song comes in strong as well, the sentence Symphony of the Night used well as the chorus highlight. Saint Cecelia is kind of mourn elegy tunes. Angel and the Ghost bring in different character of song, again if the growling part trimmed I wouldn't mind. Éléonore de Provence is also interesting and fast double drumming track.

Most of the time, when the harsh growling vocal comes as duet with female voice, it's still ok, but when he sings alone it just sounds like other millions band without much uniqueness. The instrumentation works are excellent here, just expected from Leaves' Eyes. This album is simply Liv Kristine being the vocal point and other supporting instrumentalist did not try to steal with mind blowing solos. A combination of Power Metal, Gothic, Symphonic and Folks make Leaves' Eyes a difficult band to copy. A nice album to have.

Metal Harem class: ******** eight stars out of ten

Leaves' Eyes - Symphonies of the Night (2013)
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01. Hell to the Heavens 4:32
02. Fading Earth 4:33
03. Maid of Lorraine 5:13
04. Galswintha 4:15
05. Symphony of the Night 4:59
06. Saint Cecelia 4:13
07. Hymn to the Lone Sands 5:23
08. Angel and the Ghost 3:37
09. Éléonore de Provence 6:25
10. Nightshade 3:42
11. Ophelia 4:24

Liv Kristine - Vocals
Alexander Krull - Vocals
Thorsten Bauer - Guitars
Sander Van Der Meer - Guitars
Felix Born – Drums

Leave's Eyes - Symphonies of the Night album review