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Njord (Limited Edition) | 
| Artist: Leaves Eyes
Label: Napalm
Category: Music
List Price: $17.98
Buy New: $10.93
as of 9/10/2010 15:11 CDT details
You Save: $7.05 (39%)
New (28) Used (5) from $10.93
Seller: -importcds
Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 21906
Format: Limited Edition
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.4 x 5 x 0.3
UPC: 782124000288
EAN: 0782124000288
ASIN: B002G1X350
Release Date: October 13, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Njord | | • | My Destiny | | • | Emerald Island | | • | Take The Devil In Me | | • | Scarborough Fair | | • | Through Our Veins | | • | Irish Rain | | • | Northbound | | • | Ragnarok | | • | Morgenland | | • | The Holy Bond | | • | Frøya's Theme | | • | Landscape of the Dead (Bonus Track) | | • | Les Champs de Lavande (Bonus Track) |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
With their latest masterpiece "Njord", Leaves' Eyes embarks on yet another enthralling journey through the myths and sagas of the North. The strong and sonorous compositions familiar to the band's fanbase have been further developed. Their passion for both heavy and opulent sounds harmonizes perfectly with memorable melodies, while surprises like heavy double bass passages are counterattacked by Liv Kristine's haunting vocals. "Njord" impressively defends the sextet's claim as the leading force in symphonic Gothic Rock and Metal. Limited edition digipack includes 2 bonus tracks.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 10
 The Cover is the Best Part July 19, 2010
Philip Long
The lead singer is easy on the eyes and the photographer is doing a fantastic job of telling a story with the cover art. The music ... it's not bad; Liv is a talented singer and the the rest of the band are competent. In the end their work reminds me strongly of Sarah Brightman's Symphony, but Njord and Vinland Saga lack the energy, production values, and passion of that album. It may not be a fair comparison but listening to those to albums had me start playing Symphony as I write this review.
Njord-Leaves Eyes December 3, 2009
Kathleen A. Batista (Philadelphia, PA)
0 out of 6 found this review helpful
Again this is a requested gift for my son. I am sure he will like it.
Thanks!
 Tragic! November 19, 2009
merzbow
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
This is not the same Leaves' Eyes that gave us the two masterpieces entitled "Lovelorn" and "Vinland Saga", both of which are in my top 25 albums of all time. This is Leaves' Eyes channeling one of their less-talented female-fronted dark metal brethren (which are too numerous to name). Everything just seems slightly off. The melodies are sloppy, the hooks either aren't there or are left to die, and the vocals mixed too low. "My Destiny" is the only track that comes close to what they've put out before. Let's hope this unfortunate release is just a temporary setback.
I never thought I'd be saying this... November 6, 2009
Ocean_villa
4 out of 9 found this review helpful
But now I have.
Leaves' Eyes, in my view, has had a nearly flawless career. I own everything they've released so far and have been impressed each time by the quality of their music. Vinland Saga was a masterpiece of an album and Lovelorn, aside from some out of place death growls, came pretty close to perfection too. The EPs: Elegy, Legend Land, and Into Your Light were all perfect additions to round out the Leaves' Eyes collection. To top it off, "En Saga I Belgia" was a wonderful documentary/concert by the band itself. So, when I heard that Leaves' Eyes were releasing a new album, I was stoked.
"My Destiny" was released and, while I found it slightly weaker than the rest of their work, I still held high hopes for this album. It promised so much. The band was toting it as the pinnacle of their work so far. But, when I heard the songs on Njord, I found myself very disappointed. It's not that the songs are terrible; but, as one other person put it, we know that Leaves' Eyes are capable of much more than this.
The first problem with this release is that the bombast has been turned up to high volume. While I like bombastic songs, it doesn't work on Njord for two reasons. The first is that it drowns out many other instrumentals added to the song, giving many pieces a one dimensional feel to them. Not every song is like this; but there are several (like the title track) where different parts of the song disappear. On their previous works, I loved trying to pick out the different layers of instrumentals. But here, there aren't as many. Don't get me wrong. There are some songs that do bring that out (Irish Rain, Ragnarok) which add flavour to the album. When we do get to hear those, the sound is lovely and the song shines. They've still got the magic of being able to layer instruments onto each other and make it sound seamless.
The second problem with the spastic instrumentals lies in the vocals. I have a hard time trying to understand what is even being sung. Liv's voice, which is amazing, finds itself lost in some areas. I don't know if this is a mixing issue - where the vocals are not brought up to the level of bombast; but I find it frustrating trying to listen to something like this. It reminds me of the first Theatre of Tragedy CD. No matter how much you try to turn up the volume, you still can't hear Liv in some areas.
Speaking of the vocals, there's a mix of good and bad in here. First, Liv Kristine has definitely improved her technique. She experiments with her voice on some pieces (Froya's Theme), and even goes into what she refers to as "operatic territory" on other songs, like Njord. Several different languages are used, including French on the Les Champs de Lavande bonus track. This is a nice change and it suits the music well. If I had to critic anything, it would be that on a couple of songs she holds the notes for far too long, stretching out the lyrics. That can make the beginning of two different tracks seem alike. But other than that, she does a great job as a whole.
Now onto the bad side of the vocals: the death growls are way, way overused. Previously they were kept at a minimum; but now they're everywhere. It doesn't work very well on the CD as Alex seems way out of place. Some great songs like Emerald Island begin perfectly and then all of the sudden Alex is randomly screaming "Emerald Island" over Liv in the chorus. It doesn't mesh very well and pulls the listener out of the song. I like Emerald Island; but I could do without Alex's growls.
Now onto the songs themselves: we have a mix. On the negative side, some pieces sound like copies of their old work (Morgenland) only not as good. There are some pieces which have a bite to them (Northbound) but sound empty. I don't feel much energy - it's almost as if they were trying too hard for an epic sound and it falls flat. The guitars coming in on My Destiny and Through Our Veins sound very generic. Don't get me wrong, both songs are incredibly catchy to listen to and TOV has some really nice soft elements to the intro and verses. But, when I listen to the songs, the guitars sound forced, instead of natural, like they were on Lovelorn and Vinland Saga.
On the positive side: there are still elements of the ethereal sound that Leaves' Eyes is so great at. The atmospheric Scarborough Fair and Les Champs de Lavande are two such gems. Liv's voice even echoes on the latter song blending with the music. As mentioned before, Through Our Veins has some very nice elements to it (aside from the guitars) which add a nice sound. Ragnarok is, to put it plainly, a very energizing re-telling of the classic Norwegian myth, even though it could use some guitar variation mid-way through. We even have an 8 minute long song, Froya's Theme, which also tells another Norse myth in an interesting fashion. (Growls aside, it's an experimental song that seems to work.) And Irish Rain is a rather relaxing piece to listen to.
In conclusion, I was expecting much more after four years. There's a mix of good and bad here so be warned that the quality of music isn't as great as their previous releases. While it doesn't drive me away from future releases, I hope their next one is better than this. What I'd recommend to you is that you listen to the tracks and buy the ones that you like, instead of paying money to buy this CD. It's not a Leaves Eyes release that you simply "have to buy"; but for the songs on here that really shine, it's probably best for you to buy them individually. It would be a shame for you to miss the really nice ones.
 Leaves' Eyes; CD November 1, 2009
R. L. Blade (Apo, AE United States)
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
Outstanding again! All Leaves' Eyes CDs are outstanding. I recommend this band to anyone wanting to try something different in metal.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 10
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