The black leaves – The spirit of life

the black leaves - the spirit of lifeThe Black Leaves were founded in 2009 by Mads Kristensen, and since then have already released three albums including this one (The Spirit of life).  The band are from Aarhus, Denmark, and despite having released three albums are fairly unknown, so have decided to take a break from writing and recording in order to promote the album and to tour in order to build up a bigger fanbase.

The music is rock, with a strong hint of folk.  The throaty vocals and the slow rock pace on some of the songs reminds me a bit of Midnight Oil.  The use of a saxophone really does help make the band’s music stand out from the crowd, and there is a real mix of influences here that affect the bands rock sound.

Brief comments on a couple of tracks..

“God is in the river” is an instrumental track with a light feel to it.  The plucked acoustic guitar or mandolin sounds clear and sharp over a gentle orchestral background. It’s a lovely gentle track that is a nice change of pace on the album.

“Running scared” adds a New Orleans Jazz feel to the rock basis to form a really enjoyable mix.  It’s a perfect example of how diverse The Black leaves are musically – they may have a basic rock sound as the starting point for most of the songs but different influences are then added to make each one stand out from the others, while still keeping an element of commonality.

A really enjoyable album.

Rating: 7.5/10

The Black leaves are:

Mads Kristensen – Vocals & Rhythm guitar
Gunnar Snaer Gunnarsson – Lead guitar
Mike Meulenbelt – Bass
Jon Braendsgaard Toft – Drums & Keyboards
LP Klessner – Saxophone & Flutes

Track listing:

1. The spirit of life
2. In a secret world
3. God is in the river
4. Walk alone
5. Running scared
6. A thousand suns
7. You and me
8. Looking in the mirror
9. Ride alone
10. When my love comes
11. The light of love
12. The end of it all

About Ant May

I spend half my life at gigs or festivals and the other half writing the reviews and editing photos, and somehow find time for a full time job too. Who needs sleep - I've got coffee.