INTERVIEW: Liv Kristine takes a swim in the ‘River of Diamonds’
Photo: Liv Kristine’s new solo album is called River of Diamonds. Photo courtesy of M. Rohrbach / Provided by Metalville with permission.
Goth metal singer Liv Kristine has returned to the music industry, much to the enjoyment of her many fans around the world. The Scandinavian vocalist recently released her sixth studio album, called River of Diamonds, featuring such songs as “Our Immortal Day,” “Love Me High” and the title track. Fans know Kristine not only from her solo efforts, but also her years in some influential metal bands, including Theatre of Tragedy and Leaves’ Eyes.
This new record came together thanks to the renewed friendship of Kristine and Tommy Olsson, whom she worked with in Theatre of Tragedy. They recorded the songs at a studio in Tau, Norway, not far from where Kristine was born, according to press notes.
“In the ‘90s, we were both members of Theater of Tragedy,” Kristine said about her history with Olsson. “The band composed an album that was the third album of Theater of Tragedy called Aégis, and Aégis did very well. I’m still very proud of having been part of that production, and Tommy has always been someone who I really enjoyed working with. So we lost contact, and then many years later, both of us having quit Theater of Tragedy … [in] 2015, I got an email from Tommy saying, ‘Hey, I got some songs. I got some compositions. Would you mind singing on them?’ I was amazed by his compositions, but I wasn’t ready yet. … My daily life had to get sorted out again, and I started working in a 9-to-5 job as a teacher for kids with special needs. So my mind wasn’t ready.”
Olsson, to his credit, waited six years until Kristine gave him the green light. As the singer put it, her life had calmed down, and her mind was ready for the recording process.
“I was ready to start being creative again,” she said. “Tommy had created songs in which I had enough space to develop my melodies, to sing the words I wanted to sing, and that’s a great privilege. … With Tommy, everything’s melting together. It’s like yin-yang. Now 2023, my sixth solo album is coming out. Tommy has been very patient. My community, my fans and friends and followers have been so patient. To me, it feels like River of Diamonds is the first album. It feels like my first album. It is the first album of my second life. … It’s about coming home to oneself, to come home as an artist, to be more authentic as ever, and most of all, when you’ve been through a very stressful period, when you’ve been through the darkness, then you start seeing the diamonds. I feel like I’ve arrived. It feels great. It feels very special to release this album now.”
To help Kristine on this journey toward the river was an EP from a couple years ago called Have Courage Dear Heart. That mini-project gave Kristine the confidence to record the full album. She realized her fans were still with her, and there was a welcome place for her in the metal music scene.
“I released an EP a couple years ago just to make the people know I’m still around, and Tommy wrote a couple wonderful compositions and I decided to release them,” Kristine said. “That [featured the two songs] ‘Have Courage Dear Heart’ and ‘Gravity,’ and both of these songs are songs that attempt to give you the courage to do exactly that. … OK, right now it’s tough. It’s rough, but I know things are going to change. And step by step I will return to myself. I will arrive at my true strength where I can set my boundaries. I can speak in my fullest voice. I can even sing in my fullest voice. I can take control of my life.”
Kristine talked about the limited time one has between birth and death, and people need to take advantage of the opportunities that come in life. She accepts that sometimes life can be broken, but she has found the beauty within her art form and within her personal life.
“You can accept that, and even forgive yourself and forgive others for what happened, if there were traumas, if there were blockages from the past,” she said. “Go and have a look into your soul and see what’s in there, and when you get that cleaned up, you get more space to be creative, to be strong, to set boundaries, to come home. And then life will change. Your frequency will change.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Liv Kristine’s new solo album is called River of Diamonds. Click here for more information.
