Late this past March, power metal act Leave’s Eyes released its latest album, Myths of Fate through AFM Records.  The veteran outfit’s ninth overall album and fourth for AFM Records (its first five records were released through Napalm Records), it is a presentation that will find the majority of its appeal among the band’s established audiences and among those fans of symphonic power metal.  This is due in large part to its featured musical arrangements, which will be discussed shortly.  The lyrical themes that accompany the album’s musical content add some appeal to the interest already generated through said content.  This will be addressed a little later.  The inclusion of a bonus disc with all of the new album’s isolated instrumentations puts the finishing touch to the whole and completes the album’s presentation.  Each item noted is important in its own way to the whole of the Myths of Fate.  All things considered they make this latest offering from Leave’s Eyes worth hearing at least once. Myths of Fate, the latest album from symphonic power metal act Leave’s Eyes is a presentation that the band’s fans and those of the power metal realm in general will agree is worth hearing at least once.  That is due in large part to its featured musical arrangements.  The 11-total arrangements that make up the album are everything tat audiences have come to expect from the band.  That is each arrangement is a full on, epic symphonic work complete with strings, guitars, and other related items.  For a comparison, the songs here and throughout the band’s catalog are easily comparable to works from Alterium, Nightwish and even Epica to a slightly lesser degree.  As with fellow power metal act and AFM label mate Alterium’s debut album, the works on this album do little to break any new ground for either the power metal or symphonic power metal realm.  This is the same style work that the band has crafted in each of the record’s predecessors.  So again, audiences familiar with the band’s catalog will find quite a bit of familiarity here, musically speaking.  At the same time, the arrangements do still manage to boast their own identities unique from the band’s existing compositions.  So, they have that going for them. The accessibility and familiarity ensured through the album’s musical arrangements is just part of what makes it resonant with the noted audiences.  As with most of the lyrical material presented throughout the band’s catalog, the lyrical content featured herein continues the trend of focusing on Norse history and mythology (and mythology in general).  In this album, the band takes on Thor’s famed hammer Mjolnir, for instance in the aptly titled ‘Hammer of the Gods.’  Vocalist Elina Shrala sings right from the song’s outset, “Whispered legends they tell/Mjolnir never fails/The power of celestial light/Dispelling eternal blight/Striking fear into the hearts of giants/Thrud’s face under the midnight sun.”  Thrud is, according to research, the daughter of Thor and Sif.  So here again is direct note of the legend of Thor and his famed hammer.  She is, as a matter of fact, considered the goddess of strength, fittingly.  Considering that Mjolnir can only be wielded by someone quite strong and deserving of possessing it, her lineage works.  Shrala continues singing the praise of Mjolnir in the song’s second verse, adding, “In the realm of shadows/I will wait for thee/Through the mist of darkness/Unleashed to set me free/Hammer of the Gods/Glory to them all.”  The mentions of the hammer’s connection to thunder (Thor being the God of thunder there) and its very strength and power as the song progresses furthers its legacy. The mythological themes are not limited to just that of the Norse people.  ‘Songs of Triglav,’ which comes late in the album’s run, centers on the Slavic myth of the god Triglav.  Triglav is a three-headed pagan god whose heads are essentially representations of the connection between heaven, Earth, and the realm of the dead.  In the case of this song, its title is a reference seemingly to the pagan worshippers of Triglav, who erected temples and crafted sculptures of Triglav in their worship.  They resisted conversion to Christianity greatly at one point in their history.  Shrala sings of the worshippers, “We are the sons of Triglav/In the realm of Slavic lands/We march again/Down by the Baltic seas/Our hearts ablaze/In Pagan ways/Ancient prayers/Our voices unite/Right of valor/Fire and death/We fight to the last breath/In the shadows I am watching you/Beyond the ocean I will wait for you/Blindfolded to sins of men/Tonight we ride/The chosen few/We are sons of Triglav.”  So here is a show of the pride that Triglav’s worshippers had in their god, clearly.  Apparently Triglav is not forgotten to this day, either.  There are even festivals held in certain parts of Europe connecting Triglav to the return of spring.  So this makes for an interesting starting point for anyone who might be interested in learning this part of European cultural history.  Keeping that in mind, this song alone serves as its own example of the importance of the album’s lyrical content. The Norse mythology continues even later in the album’s run in the form of the penultimate entry, ‘Einherjar.’  Pronounced ain-HAIR-yar, the term refers to the spirits of Viking warriors who have fallen in battle and as their reward, reside in Valhalla, the Viking equivalent of heaven.  The song here tells their story, with Shrala singing, “Fallen in battle/Warrior souls shall rise/Chosen by the Valkyries’ flight/Hearts of courage/Brave Norsemen by Odin’s grace/Going to Asgaard/Einherjar/Souls of the slain/In Valhalla they forever remain/Fight and feast for Odin’s might/Await the dawn//Of your last night/We are the chosen fallen/We stand side by side/Our fight goes on forever/Fate of the Gods/We are the army of the slain/We strike as one/We fear  neither death/Nor dreadful pain/Einherjar.”  Again here is a straight forward telling of the stories of those warriors who fought and died in honor on the battlefield.  It continues the band’s ongoing focus on Norse culture and mythology that has been present throughout so much of its catalog.  Keeping that in mind, the album’s overall lyrical content is certain to appeal primarily to the band’s established audiences and the most devoted thereof.  What’s more, it might even attract fans of the one true Viking metal band, Amon Amarth. While the lyrical content and musical themes do their share to engage and entertain longtime fans of Leave’s Eyes (and maybe the most devoted fans of symphonic power metal), they are not all to consider.  This latest offering from the band also includes as extra entertainment, a bonus second disc containing each song’s instrumental tracks.  There are no vocals in any of the tracks.  The full string orchestrations are there along with all of the choral elements, which are the only vocals present in any of the songs.  Hearing the instrumentations sans primary vocals is a nice change of pace that really allows the work of Shrala’s fellow musicians to really shine even more.  It gives their talents a welcome exhibition that changes the songs’ moods quite notably. What this essentially does is present the album twice over in two different presentations.  This is certain to engage and entertain audiences even more this time out.  When the impact of the album’s bonus instrumental disc is considered alongside everything presented in the album’s lead disc, the whole therein makes Myths of Fate a work that Leaves’ Eyes’ fans will find worth hearing at least once, as well as symphonic power metal fans. Myths of Fate, the latest studio offering from Leaves’ Eyes, is a work that will appeal largely to the most devoted of the band’s established audiences and even more casual power metal fans.  Said audiences will find the album worth hearing at least once.  That is due in part to its featured musical arrangements.  The arrangements do not necessarily break any new ground for the band or for the world of symphonic power metal and power metal in general.  That is evidenced through the combination of the string arrangements, the heavy power metal guitars and soaring operatic vocals. The approach taken here is nothing new for the band but even with that in mind, the works here still manage their own identity separate from the works in the band’s other albums.  Lyrically, the band does not break any new ground, either, focusing largely once more on Norse culture and mythology.  There is at least some breakaway, adding in mention of Slavic mythology.   The band also pays tribute to the mother of one of its own in ‘In Eternity,’ adding a little more change.  Keeping all of this in mind, the noted audiences will find plenty of familiarity for the most part here in regard to the album’s lyrical content.  The addition of the album’s bonus instrumental presentation of the record puts the finishing touch to the presentation and is really the shining element to this album.  It gives the album a whole different identity considering the lack of primary vocals.  It is just as engaging and the primary album if not more so.  When the impact of that bonus disc is considered alongside the positives of the primary disc, the whole makes Myths of Fate a work that Leaves’ Eyes’ most devoted audiences will find appealing. Myths of Fate is available now through AFM Records.  More information on the album is available along with all of the band’s latest news at:

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