Symphonic/Celtic vocalist Leah - described affectionately by her fans as "the metal Enya" - recently announced the release of her upcoming full-length album, The Quest, out Friday, October 5th via Inner Wound Recordings. The album features a stronger Celtic and Fantasy connection in comparison to her previous release, Kings & Queens, as well as prog rock elements and ethereal ambiance, combined with traditional symphonic metal elements. A new lyric video for “Edge Of Your Sword” is available below. Preorder the album at this location .

Leah says about the track: "This track was interesting to write... it was inspired by a mood, more than anything else - medieval rock vibes with a bit of spice. I hope those vibes get passed onto the listener! Some of that spice is attributed to Chen Balbus (Orphaned Land) who added the Middle Eastern saz on the track, which gave it a really cool and unexpected flavour! Also on the track is Barend Courbois (Blind Guardian) playing bass, Timo Somers (Delain) playing rhythm guitars (with an epic solo!), and Sander Zoer (ex-Delain) on Drums and percussion. Oliver Philipps (Everon, Phantasma) added a ton of orchestration which really beefed the whole sound up.

“My part in it was composing the song, playing a lot of the keys, harps, synths, arrangements, lyrics, and of course vocals. I was actually scared out of my mind about that high note in the last chorus! I knew I could technically execute it, but was mentally blocked for some time about it. I had to do weird things in the vocal booth to overcome my vocal mental block, such as drawing an arrow pointing down on a piece of paper that I could look at, also using physical gestures when I went to sing it, such as pointing to the ground with my hands. The reason is because when you go to sing a high note, most singers tend to tense up and squeeze their vocal chords up, which make a horrible tone and tense up the voice. So, to overcome that default tendency, I had to convince my brain that I was actually singing lower and it would get easier, not harder. And when that note came out, it actually was a piece of cake! Amazing how the mind works!"

The album was mixed and mastered by Jacob Hansen (Volbeat, Amaranthe, Evergrey) and musicians on the album include Troy Donockley (Nightwish), Timo Somers (Delain), Chen Balbus (Orphaned Land) and Barend Courbois (Blind Guardian).

The concept for The Quest is very simple: we're all on a journey, and sometimes we lose our way. There are adventures, wildernesses, treasures, monsters, looters, people out to send us down the wrong path. Through it all, we must grow in wisdom and experience, find our compass once again and find our way back to the true path in order to reach our full potential: our destiny.

The Quest tracklisting

"The Quest"
"Edge of Your Sword"
"Lion Arises"
"Heir"
"Ruins of Illusion"
"Labyrinth"
"Abyss"
"Oblivion (Between Two Worlds)"
"Ghost Upon a Throne"
"The Water Is Wide"

"Edge Of Your Sword" lyric video:

Visit Leah's official Facebook page here.