April 2016 saw Finnish vocalist Elina Siirala succeed Liv Kristine at the longship’s helm. Her impressive live premiere in front of more than 20,000 metal heads at the Hammersonic in Jakarta / Indonesia, subsequent festival appearances (headlining shows at the Metal Female Voices, Wave Gotik Treffen, Masters of Symphonic Metal, Full Metal Cruise, among others) and tours through Europe, the US and Canada established Elina as a charismatic frontwoman with a powerful voice, immediately sparking euphoria among Leaves’ Eyes’ fans. Following the ‘Fires In The North’ EP, which sold out immediately, ‘Sign Of The Dragonhead’ will be the first full album featuring the new line-up. The chronicles of the Vikings is continued and reveals that the band have honed their strengths even further. At the same time, musical surprises have raised their sound to a new level. The title track is a raw number featuring martial choirs and forges a sonic arch to ‘King Of Kings’, continuing the adventurous journey of King Harald I. Frontman Alexander Krull and virtuoso guitarist Thorsten Bauer prove to be ingenious masters when it comes to composing haunting metal hits. Every track has the musicians upping the creative ante, revealing an impressive amount of diversity without neglecting their trademark sound elements. ‘Across The Sea’ evolves into a metal shanty with an irresistible rhythm, bound to be a definite neckbreaker. ‘Like A Mountain’ sets to music a tragic Icelandic love saga and surprises as a bass-heavy goth rock track. An emotional song with plenty of tough elements which allows Elina to reveal the full range of her vocal skills. Confident and autonomous, her classically trained voice takes possession of the songs – gentle at times, powerful at others – lending a highly individual note to her interaction with Alex‘s growls. Leaves‘ Eyes have succeeded in creating compositionally complex yet tangible tracks. Perfectly coordinated instrumentation – never top-heavy, always unconventional. Medieval nyckelharpas, fiddles, uilleann pipes and whistles blend naturally with the Metal guise, creating catchy songs such as ‘Shadows In The Night’ and ‘Völva’, which whisks its listeners away to the mythical world of the seeresses and sorceresses of the Northern countries. Nobody expected a song like ‘Riders On The Wind’ which has classic Heavy Metal and Celtic Folk clash to create an acoustic Viking party. These musicians’ deep affinity with the Viking era is revealed on ‘Jomsborg’ about the legendary fortress and its Baltic Viking army, where in fact Alex’s ancestors hail from. At the same time, ‘Jomsborg’ is an homage to today’s Viking re-enactment scene which is enjoying.