The Glory And The Fallen is a pleasant listening experience. Canada’s Leah presents songs rooted in perseverance, romance, and inspiration wrapped in an otherworldly, fantasy mindset. On Glory And The Fallen, she is joined by current and former Delain members (guitarist Timo Somers, drummer Sander Zoer) and Epica’s Mark Jansen brings his growling vocals on “Sleeping Giant”.

The result is Leah’s trademark Celtic/folksy tunes wrapped in a symphonic metal soundscape. The instrumentation is tastefully mixed, letting the lighter elements to mesh well with the electric guitars. Opener “Archangel” has that classic symphonic metal glistening bounce to it – similar to classic Delain, but the notch is raised higher as Leah’s signature vocals power the medieval textures to “No More Fear” with hooks aplenty.

“Revive” is another highlight with complementing vocals from Syr, it’s dramatic, Celtic presentation a song of bringing and ended relationship back to life while “Little Stars” has a sad, nostalgic feeling to it with melancholic chords. “Speak To Me” has an airy, soothing vibe which definitely reminds of Enya.

The Glory And The Fallen succeeds in its melodies, vocal hooks, note being overproduced and Leah’s great, soothing vocals. It becomes unexpectedly heavy in places (“Sleeping Giant”, the shredding guitar solo in “Before This War Is Over”) and the high quality songwriting makes this a winner.

Leah also presents the songs as ambient versions on a bonus disc, which removes the metal elements, and in some cases outshine their heavier counterparts. 

The Glory And The Fallen isn’t for those that want something heavy and aggressive that rips their heads off; it’s more of a relaxing way to unwind, and there aren’t much better ways to do so.