Liv Kristine - Enter My Religion
Ask any person in the streets who Liv Kristine is and you should see them thinking before answering for a while. The answer might not always be satisfying, but it’s not that weird people don’t say ‘no, sorry, haven’t heard of her’ immediately.
Liv Kristine, born in Norway, now married with German Singer / Producer Alexander Krull (Atrocity, Leaves’ Eyes), has a rich amount of experience in the world of music. Ex-Theatre Of Tragedy, but now singing in Leaves’ Eyes and having done guest vocals for a.o. Atrocity, Cradle Of Filth and Umbra Et Imago, Liv has also a very successful solo career in pop music!
Her latest effort, Enter My Religion, is in stores now… and ready to be reviewed. Let’s take a look!
For everyone who has heard of Liv Kristine, the remark ‘Liv’s voice has a lot in common with the one of Kate Bush’, won’t come as a surprise. I made this remark before when reviewing the first Leaves’ Eyes album (Lovelorn, red.), and again I can say the same again when listening to some songs on this album, like ‘Over The Moon’.
With that in mind, take some time and listen to ‘For A Moment’. I heard some Madonna influences there (Frozen).
Liv’s vocals still sound as pure as snow in the Alps, and her lyrics vary from topics like love, freedom to a cover song from The Boss himself (Bruce Springsteen, of course. Didn’t know that? Heathen!) on Enter My Religion.
The album contains sensitive ballads like ‘Fake A Smile’, ‘Coming Home’ and ‘Blue Emptiness’ and more up-tempo songs like ‘Over The Moon’, ‘You Are The Night’ and ‘You Take Me Higher’.
The usage of guitars isn’t shunned at all in the abovementioned up-tempo songs. In ‘normal’ pop-music you wouldn’t hear their influence that clearly, but Liv isn’t afraid of what the wider audience might say. And that suits her, no doubt!
True highlights on ‘Enter My Religion’ were ‘Over The Moon’, which had this awesome relaxed feel over it, ‘You Take Me Higher’, which had such a nice guitar sound (nice and clean at the beginning, but heavier later in the song) that made me hop around and the beautiful cover of The Boss: ‘Streets Of Philadelphia’, which is well done. Liv’s harmonious voice covers the background ‘nah naah nah nah’ really well (god, this must read silly, but I didn’t know how else to say it).
Conclusion: a great album for Liv Kristine fans and a big ‘go and listen this album’ to the ones still unfamiliar to this charismatic Norwegian singer.
Although some of the slower songs could have been give a bit more musical variability, I’m still very enthusiastic about this effort, this album is going to be in my cd-player for some time!
83/1001Details Roadrunner Records
Released on Friday Mar 3rd, 2006
Pop
Writer @Bastian Blackrain on Thursday Mar 2nd, 2006
Tags: #Liv Kristine
Tracklisting
1. Over The Moon (3:31)
2. Fake A Smile (3:39)
3. All The Time In The World (3:52)
4. My Revelation (3:31)
5. Coming Home (4:11)
6. Trapped In Your Labyrinth (3:46)
7. Blue Emptiness (3:49)
8. You Are The Night (3:34)
9. Enter My Religion (3:50)
10. Streets Of Philadelphia (3:19)
11. You Take Me Higher (3:37)
12. For A Moment (4:24)
2. Fake A Smile (3:39)
3. All The Time In The World (3:52)
4. My Revelation (3:31)
5. Coming Home (4:11)
6. Trapped In Your Labyrinth (3:46)
7. Blue Emptiness (3:49)
8. You Are The Night (3:34)
9. Enter My Religion (3:50)
10. Streets Of Philadelphia (3:19)
11. You Take Me Higher (3:37)
12. For A Moment (4:24)
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