{"id":15398,"date":"2013-11-18T00:00:44","date_gmt":"2013-11-18T00:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=15398"},"modified":"2013-11-23T13:17:20","modified_gmt":"2013-11-23T13:17:20","slug":"album-review-leaves-eyes-symphonies-of-the-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-leaves-eyes-symphonies-of-the-night\/","title":{"rendered":"LEAVES\u2019 EYES – Symphonies Of The Night (2013) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

LEAVES\u2019 EYES
Symphonies Of The Night<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nNapalm (2013)<\/span>
Rating: 6\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Leaves\u2019 Eyes was formed in 2003 by vocalist Liv Kristine who was unceremoniously dismissed from Norwegian trendsetters Theatre Of Tragedy, one of the first bands to incorporate the clean female vocals with gruffer male vocals as well as incorporating electronic parts into metal music.<\/p>\n

In addition to Kristine, Leaves\u2019 Eyes includes the entire line-up of German death metal band Atrocity. Initially offering a very gothic and flowing sound, the band have evolved over the years, allowing the influence of Atrocity to seep in more. This culminates in their latest release, Symphonies Of The Night<\/em>, a much darker and more \u201cmetal\u201d album than their prior releases, although still recognizable as Leaves\u2019 Eyes.<\/p>\n

The album kicks off with \u2018Hell To The Heavens\u2019, which is a solid example of exactly what I am talking about. Although Kristine\u2019s gorgeous vocals and the symphonic harmonies still are at the forefront, they split space almost equally with beefier guitars and growling vocals.<\/p>\n

\u2018Maid Of Lorraine\u2019 is another similar moment emotionally; while not leaving behind any of the beauty, the angrier and darker side of the band flourishes more than usual here. The chugging guitars and sharp sounding string section give it a much uglier feel. For me, these songs (and a couple of others) just lean too much towards the Atrocity side of things and Kristine feels like an extra rather than focal point. <\/p>\n

Despite the heavier parts becoming more prominent, there are still a number of moments here that hold water with the band\u2019s other works. The orchestra driven folksiness of \u2018Saint Cecelia\u2019 is one of the highlights from this side of the album for sure. Featuring a choir alongside Kristine, it plays like a classic hymn or a traditional Christmas tune even. It\u2019s powerful in its simplicity.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, \u2018Angel And The Ghost\u2019 and \u2018Symphony Of The Night\u2019 allow the band\u2019s more commercial side to come to the fore. I\u2019ve always like this aspect of Leaves\u2019 Eyes the best, so naturally I would consider them highlights. I love how Kristine\u2019s voice soars over the buzzing, rarely still guitars, and how the band perfectly captures the melody line. Both of these songs are incredibly infectious.<\/p>\n

Overall, I\u2019m not in love with Symphonies Of The Night<\/em> in total. It gets off to a rocky start with all the heavier material in my opinion, but the second half of the album finds its feet with the more melodic and anthemic tunes. If this were 1989, I\u2019d certainly keep rewinding Side B over and over again.<\/p>\n

Mark Fisher<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LEAVES\u2019 EYESSymphonies Of The Night Napalm (2013)Rating: 6\/10 Leaves\u2019 Eyes was formed in 2003 by vocalist Liv Kristine who was unceremoniously dismissed from Norwegian trendsetters Theatre Of Tragedy, one of the first bands to incorporate the clean female vocals with gruffer male vocals as well as incorporating electronic parts into metal music. In addition to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[827],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-leaves-eyes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15398"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15401,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15398\/revisions\/15401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}