Artist: LIV KRISTINE
Album: ENTER MY RELIGION (CD)

Release date: 2006
Media type: CD

Solo work by the striking THEATRE OF TRAGEDY vocalist Liv Kristine. Nick Holmes, vocalist with PARADISE LOST, puts in a guest appearance on the 1998 album 'Deus Ex Machina'. Kristine toured to promote the record as guest to ATROCITY. July of 2003 bore witness to some high profile Rock n' Roll wedding bells as Liv Kristine Espenæs married ATROCITY's Alexander Krull. This marital union spilled over into a creative force with the announcement of a brand new band LEAVES' EYES, seeing Liv Kristine Espenaes Krull and Alexander Krull founding a fresh venture with members of ATROCITY. Just days after this announcement it was learned that Liv Kristine Espenaes Krull had in fact quit THEATRE OF TRAGEDY.

Kristine would be cast as "Klepsydra" on the Daniele Liverani GENIUS 2004 Rock Opera conceptual album 'In Search of The Little Prince'. She would also feature as guest artist on Italian Black Metal band HORTUS ANIMAE's cover version of DEAD CAN DANCE's 'Summoning Of The Muse' for a tribute album 'The Lotuseaters' released by Black Lotus Records.

Kristine featured on the March 2004 IMMORTAL RITES album 'Art Of Devolution' as guest and also made a further, high profile, guest showing on the title track for CRADLE OF FILTH's ''Nymphetamine' opus. In September Kristine signed a new solo deal with Roadrunner Records. The following month she would act as guest vocalist for veteran German Gothic act UMBRA ET IMAGO, appearing on a re-recording of the track 'Ein Letztes Mal'. LIV KRISTINE announced a second solo opus, 'Enter My Religion' featuring a cover version of BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN's 'Streets Of Philadelphia', for 2005 release. A promotional video for the track 'Fake A Smile' was directed by Alexander Diezinger during November.

www.rockdetector.com


Pop music usually doesn’t fit in the concept of Vampire Magazine. This solo album of Liv Kristine is one of those exceptions. Why? Liv Kristine is a lady who has built up quite a reputation within and even without the metal scene, as her crystal clear, high voice is widely admired. She participated in several projects and bands, of which most significant are of course Theatre of Tragedy, her current gothic metal band Leaves’ Eyes ánd her solo pop act under her own name Liv Kristine. In 1998 she released her debut album Deus ex Machina, which consists of beautiful atmospheric gothic-pop. Now, quite a few years later, Liv presents her second chapter entitled Enter my Religion, in which she invites the listener into her personal world. Her lyrics are about love, happiness, being yourself and not hiding behind masks. Liv states that she isn’t afraid to display her personal feelings - something I highly respect.

Enter my Religion consist of 12 songs with quite some different styles: pop, rock, dance, ballads… In contrast with Liv’s dark debut Deus ex Machina, she herewith composed a light and sweet pop album. I have a mixed feeling about it. In my experience there is a big difference in quality of the individual songs. The cheerful and energetic song ‘Over the Moon’ (1) and the melancholic ballad ‘Fake a Smile’ (2) are great and the atmospheric ballad ‘Enter my Religion’ (9) is an outstandingly beautiful song; Liv Kristine at her best! As a contrast, I hear a corny, simple pop/rock song in ‘My Revelation’ (4). ‘You are the Night’ (8) and ‘You take me Higher’ (11) are in my opinion just superficial pop-dance songs, which sound as dissonance for my ears… Flamenco guitar parts, which give the album an oriental touch, don’t appeal to me either. Moreover, the Bruce Springsteen cover ‘Streets of Philadelphia’ (10) I regard as an inferior and redundant copy of the original song. So far my negative comments. ‘Coming Home’ (5) and ‘Trapped in your Labyrinth’ (6) are other happy sounding songs and ‘Blue Emptiness’ (7) and ‘For a Moment’ (12) are some more ballads, which have both a melancholic and sweet atmosphere. These are good songs, but they just don’t really catch me. Well, tastes differ… Would every song be of the same quality as the song ‘Enter my Religion’, I would totally love this album. Yet all in all I am not negative about it, even though Deus ex Machina was much more impressive for me.

I am very curious how Enter my Religion will be received by both pop and metal fans. Most likely the album will be too sweet for the average metal fan, but it will probably appeal to some lovers of accessible gothic metal and to Leaves’ Eyes fans in particular, as some songs on this album have resemblance with the softer songs on Leaves’ Eyes last album Vinland Saga. In case you are curious, just check this album out, you might like it more than I do. And who knows, Enter my Religion will be Liv’s breakthrough in the pop scene!

www.vampire-magazine.com

TRACKLIST:

01. Over The Moon
02. Fake A Smile
03. All The Time In The World
04. My Revelation
05. Coming Home
06. Trapped In Your Labyrinth
07. Blue Emptiness
08. You Are The Night
09. Enter My Religion
10. Streets Of Philadelphia
11. You Take Me Higher
12. For A Moment