German/Norwegian gothic metallers LEAVES' EYES have announced the dates for their upcoming shows in April and May 2011, headlining the tour with special guest MIDNATTSOL, as well as being direct support for TARJA (ex-NIGHTWISH).

At Nachtleben in Frankfurt, Germany, the official release party for the band's new album, Meredead, will take place with some specials for fans. More news to follow.

Singer Liv Kristine comments: “Both tours are just perfect for the release of our fourth full-length album, Meredead. Firstly, I will finally share stage with my sister, Carmen Elise Espenaes (Midnattsol), which is like a dream coming true. Secondly, it’s a great honor for us to go on tour with our friends and support Tarja Turunen and her outstanding band! We are really looking forward to this. It will truly be a special experience for our fans and us!”

Here are the dates:

April (with Midnattsol)

22 - Sneek, Netherlands - Bolwerk
23 - Enschede, Netherlands Atak
24 - Rotterdam, Netherlands Baroeg
25 - Frankfurt, Germany Nachtleben
28 - Pratteln, Switzerland Z7
29 - Bologna, Italy Sottotetto Sound Club
30 - Romagnano Sesia, Italy Rock N Roll Arena

May (with Tarja)

3 - Stuttgart, Germany Longhorn
4 - Erlangen, Germany E-Werk
6 - München, Germany Backstage
7 - Karlsruhe, Germany Festhalle Durlach
10 - Bonn, Germany Brückenforum
11 - Osnabrück, Germany Rosenhof
13 - Hamburg, Germany Große Freiheit
14 - Bomal-sur-Ourthe, Belgium Durbuy Rock Festival*
16 - Leipzig, Germany Haus Auensee
17 - Neu Isenburg, Germany Hugenottenhalle
19 - Bochum, Germany Matrix
20 - Hannover, Germany Capitol

* without Tarja

Leave's Eyes recently confirmed the title of their new record as Meredead. Band vocalist/keyboardist and producer Alexander Krull (also ATROCITY) is doing the final mix of Meredead at Mastersound Studio. The artwork (below) was created by Stefan Heilemann.

Meredead will be released on the April 22nd in Germany, Austria and Switzerland via Napalm Records. More street dates will follow soon.

Singer Liv Kristine comments: "As we began composing the first song ideas for our fourth full-length album, all of us were very eager to take another step in strengthening both the individual sound and concept of Leaves' Eyes, like we have done album by album. Along with the song-writing process, I made up my mind about the songs' themes, and drowned myself in different sources of literature. Some songs clearly needed lyrics rooted in northern history and culture, as well as having mystical themes. Being an Old-English fan, I decided to write some of the lyrics in Old-English, which of course included further studies of grammatical and phonetic knowledge, which I really enjoyed doing. Next to modern English and Old-English, some songs are sung in traditional Norwegian, to keep their strong individuality and focus on certain themes from special genres in Norwegian traditional singing. The album is given the title Meredead, as one of the songs on the album. It is my own word-creation (at least I haven't found it in a dictionary yet), and it may mean both 'dead by/in the sea', or 'the mortal or killing sea.' In my lyrics you will find traditional themes from Viking literature and Norwegian song tradition, moreover, tales from the Irish isles, some from already existing sources, some made up myself. Sometimes you will hear about men going on adventures, some ending up drowing in the sea, their wives, evil witches, three-headed trolls, or spell-bound princesses, as well as marble halls and blood-thirsty creatures. I allowed myself more freedom for the concept of Meredead, telling a number of different stories, real, mystical or sometimes maybe even both."

As previously reported, Meredead features the Lingua Mortis Orchestra and Victor Smolski (RAGE) as well as the choir Al Dente, who also worked with the band on previous releases.