Leger des Heils – Aryana

A brandnew full-length release by German Leger des Heils, named after our beloved organisation in the Netherlands. Except for an extremely limited cd-release, this really is the first album by Leger des Heils which one can buy on cd. There is also a vinyl version, which is limited to only 169 copies.

First of all I must say the packaging is really nice: a large booklet with some very nice artwork and a postcard. The change in logo and overall appearance suggests a somewhat new approach for Leger des Heils, which can be heard in the music as well. Although the music is typical LDH stuff, it sounds somewhat more “clean” and less obscure than their previous works. After the intro, the first track “Geistesmahnung” starts and sounds very good. Nice drums, bells, and good melodies. The best track on this album in my opinion is the third track though, called “Rein wie eine Flamme”. Great melodies, acoustic guitars, bombastic keyboards and really good vocal-lines. Sounds rather passionate in a way…

So, what can we expect from the rest of the tracks? Well, the typical mixture of electronic neo-folk marches and poppy wave influences, and even one “ballad” which is called “Die Liebe”. This sounds a bit too sweet for me… “Ewige Gegenwart” is something different as well, with strange up-tempo rhythms and some session vocals. On the LP one can even find a “pop-version” of this track!
All in all a nice release, which shows us a more polished Leger des Heils but luckily still enough emphasis on the military drumming and bombastic melodies….and German vocals of course!

artist: Leger des Heils
label: Eis & Licht
details: limited to 750 copies