Photo courtesy of Stefan Heileman
Interview by Anselm Anderson
I recently reviewed the excellent " The Last Viking", from German symphonic metallers' Leave's Eyes. The album focuses on the last battle of King Harold Hadrada at Stamford Bridge, before succumbing to his fate in England. The album is a beautiful display of orchestration, songwriting, and incredible dual vocals.
I got an opportunity to speak with lead singer, songwriter, and true Viking Alexander Krull about "The Last Viking", the orchestration, Viking sagas, and the difficulties of making an album during the pandemic
Hello, I hope you are well. Leave’s Eyes has a new album out on Friday called “The Last Viking”, Can you explain a bit about it, and what listeners can expect?
Alex: “The Last Viking” is a big, diverse metal album for Leaves' Eyes with probably the most epic Viking saga there is. We are also proud to present the over 90-minute film documentary “Viking Spirit” which was a lot of work, too, and it was filmed in a period of 5 years!
I understand the title refers to the last battle of Hardrada in England before he met his untimely fate. Can you elaborate more on the topic, and how you feel this played a part in the development of the music?
Alex: True, as especially this concept album has such a fantastic background! The adventures of Hardrada are very exciting, I guess you could easily make a big tv show like Game of Thrones out of it, maybe they got even inspired by this saga. We start the album at the moment when Hardrada dies and getting hit by an arrow in his neck at Stamford Bridge in England in the battle for the crown of England. In the last breath, his whole life comes back in flashes and we are taking the listeners back into the adventures of the Norse king where he travels through faraway countries, had to flee as young man from Norway, fighting for the Rus king and serving the Varangian guard, getting married to a Russian Princess and returning to Norway to become a king. What a story and what an impact on history - after Harald Hardrada died in the Battle at Stamford Bridge in 1066, the Viking age was over. So this is an epic turning point in history, which you can find and hear musically for example in the dark and opulent title track of the album.
I understand the band are fans of Viking saga, how was the band able to transpose a historical figure into lyrics for the album?
Alex: I did a lot of research for this album. The research itself was already an adventure of its own. I am a history nerd and also I'm a sword fighter in the Viking reenactment scene. I've been doing this for many years, training every week, going to battles to fight and having Viking friends all over the world. The group JOMSBORG which I'm part of is the biggest modern Viking army and international group out there based in many countries and several continents. So this is something which I surely bring into the lyrical cosmos of LEAVES' EYES. With the album, we will also release the DVD “Viking Spirit” which is an over 90-minute film documentary where you can find out a lot of the fascination of Viking Lifestyle, living history, Norse mythology and connection to the music of Leaves' Eyes. By the way, the soundtrack of “Viking Spirit” is also great and available like the movie on the Artbook edition of the new album!
Do you find it easier to write about a subject like this, in contrast to more personal songs based on your life experiences?
Alex: I think with Leaves' Eyes we will always be connected with Norse mythology, medieval topics, powers of nature, legendary landscapes and mystical themes. So all our albums can be seen in a continuation and evolving process. This is the lyrical world that we are moving in, and to me, each of the songs means also something personal as I try to connect myself with the topics.
The haunting single “Dark Love Empress” features examples of strong songwriting and harrowing vocals from Elina Sirala, what is the song about|?
Alex: “Dark Love Empress” is about the secret unfulfilled love of the Byzantine Empress Zoe. The sagas tell us that Zoe was after Harald, but when he rejected her love she put him in prison. A tragic, dark atmospheric song.
The track also features some wonderful arrangements from musicians that accentuate the vocals. These appear on the album throughout with some unique instruments. Could you tell me more about the people involved, and how you were able to coerce them into joining you in the studio during recordings?
Alex: The whole album is a very song-oriented work of music, with a huge production in the back to support the music itself – from classical instruments, big choirs, Viking shouts to traditional natural instruments like Nyckelharpa, Fiddles and big war drums combined with the heavy metal sound. We love to work with real instruments and musicians. So, for example, we worked with our friend and Nyckelharpa player Thomas Roth, who came to our headquarters and jammed along to several songs, as well as Lea-Sophie Fischer from Russkaja on violin. Lea-Sophie can be heard with her beautiful violin playing in the midpart of “Dark Love Empress”.
How significant was it to have musicians of such gifts on the album as a whole.?
Alex: All these great players and their instruments and handmade sound colours to the album, which is very important for us. The sound of the Nyckelharpa for example has this ability to let you travel back in time and take you to places that the concept is about. Real-played instruments resonate so much more in the listener's ears than just digital plugins. We always love to work with these handmade, manmade sounds.
On some tracks, You and Elina Sirala appear in an apparent dual between melodic and harsh vocals, What story does this tell about the songs involved, and how important is it to forge chemistry with somebody with opposite vocal styles?
Alex: Since the beginning of our career we used these contrasting elements in our music especially with our two different voices. It just opens up a lot of possibilities, creates dynamics and tension in the music and makes it much more enriched. For “The Last Viking” we have been working on the songs and vocals together already in an early demo stage of the songs. I think that helped to shape the music and vocals exactly in the way we wanted it. Elina does a great job on the album. I can't wait to perform many of those new killer songs live together with Elina and the band.
French Rock Sensation Clementine Delauney of Visions Of Atlantis fame appears on “Black Butterfly”, What was it like working with her, and how much input did she have on recordings?
Elina- Vox: We wanted a singer with a different kind of voice to mine, that would bring another character and contrast to the song. “Black Butterfly” is a perfect choice as it gives the opportunity to bring out both of our voices while still blending them together and the division of the verses and other parts also worked very naturally. We were very fortunate that Clementine was able to travel to the studio during these difficult times and recording with her was a great experience! I hope we get to play the song live one day.
I know we have already discussed the historical elements of the lyrics, but what was the writing process like?
Tosso- Guitars/Bass: The writing and production of a new LEAVES' EYES album are always very intense, with love to all musical details and colours. When we write a new album we always approach it with a studio AND live perspective. So the symphonic elements and the metal sound of the band go hand in hand. We are not hiding behind walls of orchestration. We started with the songwriting in early 2019 at our headquarters MASTERSOUND STUDIOS. After having all songs worked out as demo versions, almost all final recordings took place in 2020, also here at MASTERSOUND STUDIOS. Besides our band recordings with vocals, drums, guitars and basses, we also recorded choirs, violins, Nyckelharpa and some more stuff here in-house.
What was it like to work with artist Stefan Heilemann, and how much influence did he have on the output of the album?
Alex: Heile is a great artist living here in our area in Stuttgart. We already worked together in the past for a few LEAVES' EYES albums and the outcome was always fantastic. Usually, the band and I have a clear idea and vision of what we want to create with the artwork, so Stefan Heilemann is executing these ideas. But of course, we also love his approach to photography and artwork. Besides he is a great human being. Schwaben Power, haha.
And Finally, the pandemic has played a catastrophic role on many band’s livelihoods over the past few months, how were you able to deal with the restrictions during the recording process?
Tosso: The main recordings for the album took place in early 2020. So at a certain point, with rising COVID numbers and the lockdown, it was really in danger if we could finish the album in time. The whole band came to our safe laboratories Mastersound Studios. Our drummer Joris made it just 1 hour 30 minutes before the borders were closed to Germany. Also, the photo shoot for the artwork was not so easy to realize during the pandemic. But in the end, we made everything happen in time, also with a big help from our friends in the Viking scene.
Thank you for agreeing to talk with Rambling Man’s Reviews
The Last Viking is available now via AFM Records
