Liv Kristine – Vervain (2014)

The charismatic Liv Kristine is having a very hectic 2014 with the release of her latest album “Vervain” and her touring/recording duties with her female super group The Sirens. In this installment of her solo career, she delivers ten very catchy and engaging tracks that will surely satisfy her legions of fans and nicely continue her well defined musical trajectory.

Opening with the catchy “My Wilderness”, we have a nice combination of her beautiful vocals and strong guitar work to deliver a heavy-but-catchy track. As one of the best tracks in this release, “Love Decay” channels H.I.M and Theater of Tragedy in a very effective song featuring Michelle Darkness of End of Green. The chorus section in this track is truly memorable, and the sparse keyboards reminded us of Theater of Tragedy in their “Aegis” era.

Bringing back her “Musique” days, the album’s title track, “Hunters”, and “Elucidation” have that cheery vibe and energy of that period of her career. Another standout song is her duet with the queen of Metal, Doro Pesch, in “Stronghold of Angels”. We enjoyed this very melodramatic track that nicely showcases both singers and their abilities, we also got a certain ToT “Aegis” vibe in this one as well.   Your traditional power ballad in this release comes under the sweet “Lotus”, filled with crushing guitar leads to accompany the dark and moody nature of the song.

It is to be noted that many of the songs are a bit heavier than some of her previous solo efforts (like “Two and a Heart”) and that there is a lingering old school ToT vibe surrounding most tracks that nicely meshes with the usual electronic touches, like the odd “Creeper”. The album closes with the Doomy “Oblivious” and perfectly dark song to end this very diverse and entertaining release.

As a whole, “Vervain” is another pretty good Liv Kristine release. Do we really get anything new or innovative? Not quite, there are tons of good songs and catchy passages, but the music feels just more of the same. With one album being release by her or Leaves’ Eyes every year now, we are kind of getting burned out. The production and music are pretty good, but using exactly the same team behind Leaves’ Eyes… makes it sound very similar. Adding on top that The Sirens music also sounds the same… we are just overloaded with Liv Kristine for 2014.

Label: Napalm Records

Release: November 4th, 2014

Genre: Gothic Rock/Metal

Country: Norway