Good day Metal-Temple. 2016 marks a new era for LEAVE'S EYES - as their signer Liv Kristine left the band and was replaced by Elina Siirala. And what better way to introduce a new singer than have her sing some new and old material. With "Fires in the North" they are presenting to us the new face of LEAVE'S EYES, and the renowned Symphonic Metal band seems to strive under this re-envisioning.

The album opens up with the title "Fires in the North" and it is a good one. Elina's voice merges very well with the melody to form a beautiful sound. She reminds me a lot of Simone from EPICA; her voice is strong and clear, and much like an opera singer with the theatrical intonation. The occasional interruptions by Alexander are incredible, it adds a lot to the tone of the song. LEAVE'S EYES definitely have something incredible going on between the two singers.

The acoustic version is very similar, but also seems to add a somewhat maritime feeling to the whole atmosphere. Elina's vocal are on par with the non-acoustic version, but Alexander is absent from this version as Elina does all his parts; but they still use the chorus harmony of the entire band. It's a very good adaptation of the original.

The next three songs, "Edge of Steel", "Sacred Vow" and "Swords in Rock", are re-mastered versions of some of their old songs with the vocals of Elina instead of Liv. She doesn't simply sing the songs in attempts to imitate Liv, but makes each of them her own, adding her twist and intonation to the whole. Both versions of each of those songs stand great on their own.

This EP is a great introduction to Elina and shows that there are great things to come from LEAVE'S EYES. We should really be looking forward to their next album as this is a match made in heaven. Reminiscent of powerhouses like NIGHTWISH and EPICA, these guys could have found the new formula for success.