Lovelorn

No one will probably ever know why Liv Kristine’s former bandmates decided to get rid of her all of a sudden. The story says she received an email telling her she was out of the band. Very classy... indeed. Instead of going through a severe depression, this talented singer decided to move forward and teamed up with Atrocity, the band of her German husband, to come up with a new band and a new album. Lovelorn is indeed an album composed and performed by the German band. Opening track Norwegian Lovesong sounds just like some of the catchiest tunes on her solo album in the vein of early Theatre Of Tragedy without the grunt vocals. And so does the second track Tale of the Sea Maid. Things become a bit more heavier with the third song Ocean’s Way, as her husband, Atrocity's mainman, Alexander Krull, does his first vocals appearance on the album with some grunt vocals. The balance between Liv Kristine’s angelic vocals and Alexander Krull grunts works well as it takes us back to where Theatre Of Tragedy left off with Velvet Darkness They Fear. Lovelorn, the song, is one of those sweet ballads that I personally think doesn’t bring anything to the album, but well, if they release it as a single someday, they might be selling tons of it. The Dream is another song in the veins of old Theatre Of Tragedy with a great mixture between angelic vocals and grunts. Probably I might have wanted more grunts vocals as Atrocity’s Krull doesn’t step in on every song. There are also too many slow songs on this album. They are not boring, but I might want to say they fragilize the album as a whole. On the other hand, it brings a better balance between the traditional beauty and the beast gothic metal songs and the softier, poppier songs. The album gets even better towards the end with the likes of Temptation and Into Your Light that contains some backing vocals of Liv Kristine’s sister Carmen Elise from the band Midnattsol that has just been signed on Napalm Records and will release their first album early next year. The guys in Atrocity and Leaves’ Eyes managed to release a couple of high quality album within a few months. Also a special thanks to Napalm Records for rising such a gifted and talented artist as Liv Kristine from the ashes. One could have feared that this would have been another album in the vein of Liv Kristine’s solo album Deux Ex Machina, but this one is more metal and definitely in the veins of good old Theatre Of Tragedy. Although with this first album Leaves’ Eyes certainly haven’t reached the intensity of Velvet Darkness They Fear, but this album is way better than the rest of Theatre Of Tragedy’s discography and definitely a must have for every fan of the lovely Norwegian singer.