Leaves’ Eyes – Symphonies of the Night (2013)

Marking the band’s tenth year anniversary, today we have Leave’s Eyes latest release “Symphonies of the Night”. As anybody can expect, this 54 minute release is filled with lush atmospheric arrangements, angelic vocals, and a healthy dose of heavy guitars. The band reached far back into their origins and delivers a very effective mixture of elements from all their albums in a very cohesive and epic way. With a central theme about heroines through history, the band is at the top of their game and shows no signs of stalling or being content with their previous achievements.

The album opens with the haunting “Hell to the Heaves”, a track fueled by Liv’s extraordinary vocals and their contrast with Alexander Krull’s grunts. The music is quite reminiscent of their previous album “Meredead”, but with an edgier and even more aggressive take. The first instant hit comes under the name of “Fading Earth”, a track with very powerful guitar leads and a super catchy chorus section. For those of you that prefer the folkier side of the band circa “Vinland Saga”, “Galswintha” and “Nightshade” will satisfy your cravings.

The explosive “Symphony of the Night” is another very dramatic song with superb vocal arrangements and very well developed drumming, it actually reminds us a bit of Theater of Tragedy in their “Aegis” stage. “Saint Cecelia” leaves a powerful impression on the listener thanks to its lush orchestral arrangements. The flow of the release gets elevated once more with the excellent “Hymn to the Lone Sands”, a track that showcases with Leaves’ Eyes is one of the best Symphonic Gothic Metal bands these days.

Our favorite song in this release is the very melancholic “Angel and the Ghost”. In this track we have a very basic and yet catchy foundation that showcases Liv beautiful vocals in a very dramatic way. As the album closes with “Ophelia”, we immediately have that feeling of “this is way too awesome, let’s play it again” that we always get with any Leaves’ Eyes release.

As a whole, “Symphonies of the Night” is one hell of an album that brings together many of the band’s elements throughout their career. The band nicely improves and adds to their sound with every release and with this one they outdid themselves once more. If you are a fan of the band, do not hesitate to get this exciting release. If you haven’t been touched by Leaves’ Eyes yet, we can’t think of a better album to be introduced to them.

Label: Self-Released

Release: November 15th, 2013 (Europe) / November 26th, 2013 (North America)

Genre: Symphonic Metal

Country: Germany / Norway