The first King of Norway, Harald Fairhair is a source of inspiration in this record for Leaves’ Eyes. Odin’s descendant, he lived from 850 to 932 AD and left his mark to the subsequent course of this Scandinavian country with his endless reforms, intense personal life and victorious battles. “King Of Kings” deals with the king’s course during his stay on the Norwegian throne.
Musically, the album is nothing more than expected. Quite heavy like some of Leaves’ Eyes’ previous works and of course the Celtic/folk touches have their own typical role in the band’s music. The choirs are still a lot, I would say more than any other time. Liv is removing the high notes from her voice but yet she is retaining a sweetness which is after all so typical of her.
From “King of Kings” I will single out “Edge Of Steel” where Liv Kristine is accompanied by Simone Simons and “The Walking Eye” which is also the first single of the album and comes with a well shot video quite representative of the whole concept.
I don’t know what AFM Records (the company which houses Leaves’ Eyes for this release) was hoping for… “King of Kings’ is a decent album but not the Norwegians’ best one. They did them a … favor though with another incredible deluxe edition of this album as well.