Napalm
2013
1. Hell To The Heavens
2. Fading Earth
3. Maid Of Lorraine
4. Galswintha
5. Symphonies Of The Night
6. Saint Cecelia
7. Hymn To The Lone Sands
8. Angel And The Ghost
9. Elenore De Provence
10. Nightshade
11. Ophelia
Right about on schedule comes another new Leaves Eyes album. The band has gotten into a rhythm of releasing one every couple years at this point. Really, it's been awhile since a Leaves Eyes album has surprised me for better or for worse. The band isn't my favorite of the smooth female fronted type, but they always release enjoyable material. I had no reason to expect anything else here. Nothing particularly wrong with being consitently competent.
Well, this release actually did catch me a little off guard early on. Symphonies Of The Night comes out swinging with a little more heaviness than I'd usually associate with the band. The riffs on the first three tracks in particular come out both meatier and more uptempo than what I was necessarily expecting. Pretty headbangable stuff really and I like the force they bring to the songs. A nice change of pace from their more atmospherically geared material really. These songs also make good use of the gruffer back up vocals of Alexander Krull. From there Symphonies Of The Night does get a bit more melodic through the middle of the album and the material seems familiar. Not bad, but nothing really jumps out at me either. Hymn To The Lone Sands does pick up the heaviness again, but is a bit jarring and maybe pushes it a little too far the other direction. Not my favorite track. From there the remainder of the album is a mix of some heavier and more atmospheric ones. None of it really has the staying power of the first few tracks though as the album settles into a more expected groove. All competent, all good, but really only the beginning of Symphonies Of The Night ends up wowing me. The rest of the album just doesn't keep up the energy level or expand on the sound enough based on what is established early on.
There was some potential here to reach that next level so to speak, but the album ends up being about the quality I expect of Leaves Eyes. Pretty solid. There are far worse criticisms to have of an album. I think this is more or less a good offering and what fans want to hear out of Leaves Eyes so if you've liked the band in the past, this is worth it. It has some good highlights early on and the rest is pretty much expected, but not unwelcome.
Highlights: Fading Earth, Hail To The Heavens, Maid Of Lorraine
Rating - 3.5/5
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