Myths of Fate

Myths of Fate is one of those shrewd albums that, while not doing anything truly remarkable, gets a lot of things right—and nothing wrong—delivering an enjoyable, carefree experience from start to finish. Written like this, my words may not sound like a resounding endorsement, but I actually liked Leaves’ Eyes' ninth full-length album quite a bit and have been spinning it frequently since its release.

One of the album’s strengths is its versatile but consistent style, which explores various influences without becoming overambitious or chaotic. This should come as no surprise, given that the German band has been around for over twenty years, allowing them time to forge a style of their own, albeit one heavily influenced by the classic symphonic metal aesthetics of bands like Nightwish and Epica. On Myths of Fate, there are also forays into Viking-inspired folk metal and, more surprisingly, adult-oriented hard rock, introducing a slightly fresher perspective relative to the big names in the genre. These diverse styles are blended with heavy-handed orchestrations (curated by Jonah Weingarten, of Pyramaze fame), evoking Therion, or in the heavier passages, Blind Guardian. This mix of influences is certainly one of the album’s appeals, keeping it interesting and fresh through the alternation between styles (the Nightwish-inspired "Realm of Dark Waves" and "Fear the Serpent"; the stomping Viking metal of "Forged by Fire" and "Sons of Triglav"; the AOR-infused "Who Wants to Live Forever" and "Elder Spirit").

While the songs remain simple and compact, the songwriting is smooth and skillful, with good transitions between verses and choruses, plus minimal but engaging bridges and short instrumental sections that offer some departure from the otherwise rigid verse-chorus structure. The orchestrations do a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to building texture and harmonic depth, while the guitars are somewhat pushed to the background—both in terms of their position in the mix and in their actual contribution to the sound (plenty of chugs and sustained chords, but not much in the way of actual riffs). The drums also sit quite back in the mix, softening the overall impact of the rhythm section.

With the vocals and orchestrations firmly at center stage, the album retains a lighter, more atmospheric feel, which is perhaps one of its biggest limitations. I would have liked a bit more bite from songs such as "Who Wants to Live Forever" or "Sail with the Dead." Meatier cuts like "Forged by Fire" and "Sons of Triglav" partly compensate for this, but even there I find myself searching for a standout riff to give a stronger backbone to the music. Another issue I have with the light-touch production is that it leaves Elina Siirala with a lot of responsibility to carry the songs. Fortunately, she has a great and versatile voice that spans comfortably from operatic singing to more earthy, rock vocals. Alexander Krull’s grim vocals and the backing choirs also assist in weaving the lead melodies into the songs, though it feels as if she could have used more support from the other lead instruments.

Overall, I suspect Myths of Fate won’t be the most exciting album you’ll hear this year, but it might be one of the most solid and consistent. From the very first notes, Leaves' Eyes makes it clear that you are in safe hands. You can sit back and relax as the music flows without any sudden dips in quality or missteps. Myths of Fate is a safe, well-written, and well-performed album, without any lofty pretensions of redefining the genre’s established coordinates, but with enough shrewdness to play with them and deliver a fun and diverse listening experience.

Ten full length records into its career, it seems that German-Dutch-Italian-Finnish sextet Leaves' Eyes is on autopilot. Myths of Fate offers everything you expect, no more or less. While consistency can be considered a virtue, I'm missing the band's desire to innovate, progress and take risks on this output.

The songwriting is generally based upon four-minute long tracks with verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus structures. The songs rush by without leaving any lasting impressions. If I absolutely had to point out noteworthy songs at all, I would mention the slightly catchy ''Hammer of the Gods'', the epic and heroic ''Sons of Triglav'' and the average attempt at going back to the band's folk metal roots on ''Einherjar''.

The musicianship is mid-paced and can be described as bland heavy metal with a few minimal extreme metal influences, especially regarding the drum patterns. That simple musicianship is enriched by occasional folkloristic passages and a few symphonic sound samples. They are however not used constantly enough to qualify this record as either folk metal or symphonic metal.

The classically trained female vocals by Elina Siirala are technically appealing but lack any form of proper identity. She might be a better singer than her predecessor Liv Kristine from a scholar perspective but the Norwegian singer had charisma, warmth and uniqueness that still make her stand out. Eline Siirala sadly doesn't seem to be having any of that. Her vocals would blend in wonderfully in a musical or in an opera but the lead position of a metal band simply doesn't suit her. Myths of Fate features a few half-hearted choirs and the occasional male grunts that are kept at a bare minimum throughout the record. This is a shame since the quality of the most recent trilogy of Atrocity records with such vocals has been remarkable.

One thing I would like to point out is that it's a shame that this release doesn't seem to be physically available on CD without the completely useless additional disk with instrumental versions of musically unimpressive tunes. Instead of wasting resources on something that nobody needs, the band with its folkloristic roots should have thought about protecting the environment instead.

At the end of the day, Leaves' Eyes' Myths of Fate only just qualifies as passable record for adamant fans of the band. There are however much stronger records in the band's discography, there are many similar groups that have now outclassed them such as Midnattsol and the band members' other group Atrocity that only omits Leaves' Eyes singer has been offering much better quality throughout the past few years. Even though there are several past records of the group that I still adore and despite a cover artwork that certainly strikes a chord, I'm not going to be revisiting Leaves' Eyes' Myths of Fate for a while and wouldn't recommend it to anyone either.