LEAVES' EYES: Sample Of Another New Song Available

An audio sample of "Kråkevisa", a new song from LEAVES' EYES — the German/Norwegian band formed by ex-THEATRE OF TRAGEDY singer Liv Kristine Espenaes Krull and members of ATROCITY — is available for streaming at this location. The track comes off LEAVES' EYES' new album, "Meredead", which will be released on April 22 in Germany, Austria and Switzerland via Napalm Records. The effort will be available exclusively as limited-edition mediabook CD, including bonus track and bonus DVD "Live At The Metal Female Voices Fest", strictly limited-edition deluxe box set and regular jewel case.

Commented Liv Kristine: "'Kråkevisa' (The Crow Song),also called 'Mannen og Kråka' (The Farmer and the Crow),is a traditional folklore in the genre Scandinavian medieval ballads. I know it from primary school as we used to sing it in the school's choir. There are different versions in Norway, which also uses other melodies. It is one of the best-known folk tunes in my home country, however, it is also well-known in Sweden, Denmark and across the Faeroe Island.

"It's interesting that 'Kråkevisa' is said to be related to 'Hákun Ríður Í Timburskóg', the Faeroese children's rhyme.

"Let me translate 'Kråkevisa''s first verse; first the Norwegian version, then the English one:

Og mannen han gjekk seg i vedaskog,
Hei fara, i vedaskog.
Då sat der ei kråka i lunden og gol.
Hei fara, faltu riltu raltura.

The man went into the firewood forest
Hei fara, to the firewood forest
There he heard crowing from the grove
Hei fara, faltu riltu raltura

"What happens to the crow in the following verses, I guess is not hard to imagine, for it's definitely not a romantic love story! However, the end is what makes real sense to me personally. The message is: A man is not worth a crow if he doesn't realize its value. In a modern sense, I see clearly a connotation to the unfair, insane, money-controlled meat industry, versus those peoples, like the Aborigines and the Eskimos, who are able to survive only because they have inherited knowledge over generations about fair trade with and careful treatment of Nature.

"Thank you, Anette, for having this wonderful idea, and for singing along!

"I sang it this morning, walking through the forest!"

The deluxe box set (pictured below) is limited to 1,000 copies and includes the mediabook CD including bonus track and bonus DVD, "Live At The Metal Female Voices Fest", plus pendant (Celtic cross with LEAVES' EYES branding).

Producer/co-vocalist Alexander Krull mixed "Meredead" at Mastersound Studio. The album's artwork was created by Stefan Heilemann and can be viewed below.

"Meredead" track listing:

01. Spirits' Masquerade
02. Étaín
03. Velvet Heart
04. Kråkevisa *
05. To France (MIKE OLDFIELD cover)
06. Meredead
07. Sigrlinn
08. Mine Tåror er ei Grimme
09. Empty Horizon
10. Veritas
11. Nystev *
12. Tell-Tale Eyes
13. Sorhleod (bonus track)

Norwegian traditional songs

LEAVES' EYES recently spent time in Gothenburg, Sweden filming a video for its cover of the MIKE OLDFIELD classic "To France" with director Patric Ullaeus of Revolver Film Company, who has previously worked with DIMMU BORGIR, LACUNA COIL, IN FLAMES, SONIC SYNDICATE and KAMELOT, among others. LEAVES' EYES states, "Patric also was responsible for the video of 'My Destiny'. The location, an impressive old castle is absolutely stunning and we're looking forward to seeing the end result!!"

Kristine previously stated about the upcoming CD: "As we began composing the first song ideas for our fourth full-length album, all of us were very eager to take another step in strengthening both the individual sound and concept of LEAVES' EYES, like we have done album by album. Along with the songwriting process, I made up my mind about the songs' themes, and drowned myself in different sources of literature. Some songs clearly needed lyrics rooted in northern history and culture, as well as having mystical themes.

"Being an Old-English fan, I decided to write some of the lyrics in Old-English, which, of course, included further studies of grammatical and phonetic knowledge, which I really enjoyed doing.

"Next to modern English and Old English, some songs are sung in traditional Norwegian, to keep their strong individuality and focus on certain themes from special genres in Norwegian traditional singing.

"The album is given the title 'Meredead', as one of the songs on the album. It is my own word creation (at least I haven't found it in a dictionary yet),and it may mean both 'dead by/in the sea,' or 'the mortal or killing sea.'

"In my lyrics, you will find traditional themes from Viking literature and Norwegian song tradition, moreover, tales from the Irish isles, some from already existing sources, some made up myself. Sometimes you will hear about men going on adventures, some ending up drowning in the sea, their wives, evil witches, three-headed trolls, or spell-bound princesses, as well as marble halls and blood-thirsty creatures.

"I allowed myself more freedom for the concept of 'Meredead', telling a number of different stories, real, mystical or sometimes maybe even both."