Norwegian Lovesong/chapter I

Tale of the Sea Maid/chapter II

Ocean'sWay/chapter III

Lovelorn/chapter IV

The Dream/chapter V

Secret/chapter VI

For Amelie/chapter VII

Temptation/chapter VIII

Into your Light/chapter IX

Return to Life/chapter X

multimedia section including Into your Light Videoclip

release date 24.05.2004   

preview - review  by dalia "gryphon_spirit" di giacomo____   

Lovelorn is a sweet melancholic and intense embrace among classic elements, emotional melodies and gothic fluid beauty, supported by well calibrated  orchestral arrangements and by the rhythmic tone provided by Atrocity. Duets with Alex Krull's impressive growling are also offered. Lovelorn is a concept album bound to nostalgia and to hope, bound to nature and life. Between sunshine and shadow we can also  follow  story and music through the multimedial technique that provides us fotos in slideshow, lyrics and Into your Light videoclip.

I try hard, but it's difficult for me to forget an album that impressed me so much: it was Aegis by Theatre of Tragedy, and, to tell the truth , i even don't want to forget it. That was TOT!! But life goes on, life changes, and of course Liv Kristine's life recently changed so much,  finding new home and force "chez" Atrocity. "Dismissed" her story in TOT, here she is with a bright new project and a bright new debut album. Leaves'Eyes is Liv Kristin 's fresh breath, musically supported by Atrocity. Lovelorn is also fresh breath for the ethereal part of the Gothic scene, which is gasping in search of good stuff. And Lovelorn is surely ethereal, cause is full of grace and takes inspiration in romance and emotions. But it doesn't mean that it is a weak work and, at the same time, it is very far as well from being a pop/disco one: Atrocity are moreover a  guarantee for toning up . In fact delicate and gentle sounds  are accompanied by crescendo's of  tension and heaviness , while in 3 tracks Liv's magical voice is engaged in a duet with husband Alex Krull, who knows how to growl hard, activating the winning formula of the double vocal female/male: the fairy and the aggressive force.  Electronic effects are very measured, calibrated, however always directed towards a dark, atmospheric, mysterious and charming horizons. Divided  in 10 (x) chapters (10 tracks) Lovelorn combines symphonies, epic and orchestral arrangements, exotic lines, solid drumming, tenderness and strength, in a concept created by Liv herself, who is the author of all lyrics. In the story, a young man will rescue his love to the sea through the help of a mermaid, Liv is telling. Of course classical  elements merge with Norwegian roots and love to nature, but the wide sea is not only kissing the Norwegian fiords, where mountains and Nordic nature become one thing with the salt water. Indeed sea has brought the ancient Norwegians almost everywhere, maybe also to  America and Egypt, and Liv, like a modern Nefertiti, brings beauty and good taste around, while her new logo seems extruded from a papyrus and reminds a bit of Ra's eye. 

Useless to say that Liv's voice is fascinating in every song. Arrangements and production are very good, underlining   in the best way the emotionality of the concept.

Concerning tracks' synopsis, i'd like to begin with  Into your Light (chapter IX) that has exotic guitar insertions and some Lacuna Coil flavours. Into your Light, like a wind stroke, will suspend you between melody and rhythm, with a nice drumming and an intense feeling.  "Into your light i dive"  sounds like -into your heart i die-. Return to Life (chapter X) closes the album with a wide melody, light opera flavours, and with such an intense emotions that makes it my preferred song of Lovelorn. Here too we can find some far  influences from Lacuna Coil as well as Nightwish , but like veils that integrate with a style that is very suitable for Liv and that could  be her "password". Return to Life, imo , could  really represent the return of Liv with her new identity. So i can only suggest to work on the wake of this song , making of it the key for the future, and maybe, even with more heaviness.

Norwegian Lovesong acts as chapter I and opens the album  with an attractive melodiousness supported by  round rhyhtmics whose focal points are  a good drumming and good bass sounds. Crunchy guitars appear in Tale of the Sea Maid (chapter II) , guitars that are embedded in orchestral elements and in a general deep atmosphere, that offers us here and there hypnotic, unreal sensations too. But this can be a two edged weapon: indeed guitars, imo , should be placed in foreground.

Ocean's Way delivers the first of the duets with Alex, it is an obscure song in balance with catchiness and occult tension, with some sprays of opera -Nightwish like. Lovelorn is delicate  and has the touch of an ancient ballade, gently sunk in  impalpable fogs and soft rays of light.  It follows The Dream,  more mystical and solemn, which delivers classical elements together with oriental reminiscences and lots of melodic vibes, supported by an intense rhythmic, though i don't like the musical path of the bridge -duet . Secret "sees" Liv's voice even more lively and elastic, mastering a song that mixes agreeable Rock notes with Gothic and mystery tones. Liv, priestess of sorrowful and yearning  poetry,  is shining in For Amelie,  one of my fav songs : though slow, it has indeed much of strength and temperament; catchy, delicate with a beautiful piano, it knows how to hide iron under velvet. Temptation keeps up the tone of For Amelie providing an energetic duet and  melancholic aeriform  passages in a style that lets remind of the old  atmosphere of the first years of the last century. 

Lovelorn is nothing extreme, absolutely not, but still can satisfy the will for a certain tone  that Gothic and melodic fans  however look for. This is to say , Lovelorn is more than  sweetness and emotions for romance and nature, though this  magic ambience is the main characteristic of the work. For me, it  is a gentle melancholic album full of caressing beauty, not the stuff  for my carnivorous  fangs, that anyway appreciate the enchanting call  of the ethereal embrace: it is just the other face of our nature, devoted indeed to sunshine and shadow. Therefore i think that many Gothic souls  will put their "wings" on  Lovelorn, dreaming.

i grew up by the sea

i played under the sun

come to come into my dreams

this is my light of life

Rating: 8/10