Leah McHenry, mononymously known as Leah (pronounced ) (born November 4, 1984), is a Canadian heavy metal musician who records both as a solo artist and, since 2018, as a member of Dragonlord. Sometimes called the " Enya of heavy metal", she performs a mixture of

symphonic A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...

and Celtic metal with folk and world music. As a solo artist, she has released four full-length albums, ''Of Earth & Angels'' in 2012, ''Kings & Queens'' in 2015, ''The Quest'' in 2018, and ''Ancient Winter'' in 2019; two EPs, ''Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence'' in 2012 and ''Otherworld'' in 2013; and twenty singles, both as part of album releases and as stand-alone recordings. She is a frequent artistic collaborator with Eric Peterson of

Testament A testament is a document that the author has sworn to be true. In law it usually means last will and testament. Testament or The Testament can also refer to: Books * ''Testament'' (comic book), a 2005 comic book * ''Testament'', a thriller nov ...

and Dragonlord, Timo Somers from Delain and

Vengeance Vengeance may refer to: *Vengeance (concept) or revenge, a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance Film * ''Vengeance'' (1930 film), action adventure film directed by Archie Mayo * ''Vengeance'' (1937 film) or ''W ...

, Sander Zoer from Delain, Barend Courbois from Blind Guardian and Vengeance, and Troy Donockley of

Nightwish Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee. The band was formed in 1996 by lead songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former lead singer Tarja Turunen. The band soon picked up drummer Jukka Neva ...

. McHenry and Peterson released a collaborative single, "Winter Sun", in 2015. She joined Dragonlord for its 2018 studio album ''Dominion''. She also has participated in the charity group Project Aegis.

Biography

McHenry is from the Vancouver area of British Columbia, Canada, and has English, Irish, and

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

ancestry. Around age 10 or 11, she started singing in her home. According to McHenry, she mimicked the singing of others — Jim Morrison,

Mariah Carey Mariah Carey (; born March 27, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. Referred to as the " Songbird Supreme", she is noted for her five-octave vocal range, melismatic singing style and signature use of the whi ...

, Tori Amos, it did not matter — until she developed her own style. She eventually taught herself piano and joined the band Ashur, which toured locally and released an EP. She also taught herself a limited amount of guitar. She released her first solo album, ''Of Earth & Angels'', in December 2012, and performed her first live show that same month. She also released a three-track Christmas EP that December. In 2013, she released the EP ''Otherworld''. Eric Peterson contributed to the single "Dreamland" from the EP. In January 2015, she released her second studio album, ''Kings & Queens''. Contributing to the album were Timo Somers of Delain and

, Sander Zoer of Delain, and Barend Courbois of Blind Guardian and Vengeance. In December of the same year, she and Peterson collaborated on the single "Winter Sun", enlisting the help of the rest of the Dragonlord band line-up and some touring members of Testament to round-out the recording. In 2017, she released "The Dragonborn Comes", a cover version of Jeremy Soule's " Dragonborn" from '' The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Dragonborn'' video game expansion. Her third studio album, ''The Quest'', was released on October 5, 2018. The recording featured previous collaborators Somers, Courbois, and Zoer, along with Troy Donockley of

and Chen Balbus of Orphaned Land. On November 15, 2019, she released ''Ancient Winter'', a Christmas album and her fourth album overall. The album featured more instrumentation from McHenry herself and included contributions from Donockley, Anna Murphy of

Cellar Darling Cellar Darling are a three-piece Swiss progressive metal band from Winterthur and Lucerne, founded in 2016. The group was formed by Anna Murphy (vocals, hurdy-gurdy, flute), Merlin Sutter (drums) and Ivo Henzi (guitars and bass). Cellar Darli ...

and Eluveitie, Shar-Ran Yinon of Eluveitie and Epica, and Rupert Gillett. She also participated in two

charity singles Charity may refer to: Giving * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing * Ch ...

by Project Aegis, a charity project organized by Matt Smith of Theocracy: The first, "Angel in the Ashes", was released in 2016, and featured contributions from McHenry, Smith, Rob Rock, Daísa Munhoz of Vandroya and Soulspell, and Vasilis Georgiou and Gus Drax of Sunburst and Black Fate. The second, "And the Rest is a Mystery" was released in 2020, and featured McHenry, Smith, Daniel Heiman of Lost Horizon,

Harmony In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...

, and Heed, Neal Morse of Spock's Beard and Transatlantic, and Ernie Topran and Val Allen Wood of Theocracy. In addition to singing, McHenry plays the piano, keyboards, and some guitar, and teaches herself Celtic harp. McHenry is married and has five children whom she homeschools. She fits her music career around her family commitments, which is partly why she has not yet gone on a concert tour. In addition to her recording career, she also founded a music instruction and marketing company, Savvy Musician Academy, in 2015, and is the CEO and product developer of fantasy and folklore inspired candles at Mythologie Candles.

Musical style and influences

Sometimes referred to as "the metal Enya", McHenry has, in addition to Enya, been compared to Loreena McKennitt, Hayley Westenra, Liv Kristine and Kristine's band Leaves' Eyes, Sharon Den Adel, Moya Brennan (a sister of Enya), Tori Amos, and

Blackmore's Night Blackmore's Night is a British-American neo-medieval folk rock band formed in 1997, consisting mainly of Ritchie Blackmore (acoustic guitar, hurdy gurdy, mandola, mandolin, nyckelharpe, and electric guitar) and Candice Night (lead vocals, lyri ...

. Her genre is described as

and Celtic metal mixed with folk and world music, as well as folk metal, world music,

gothic metal Gothic metal (or goth metal) is a fusion genre combining the aggression of heavy metal with the dark atmospheres of gothic rock. The music of gothic metal is diverse with bands known to adopt the gothic approach to different styles of heavy met ...

gothic rock Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie a ...

, symphonic gothic metal, power metal, and

symphonic power metal Symphonic metal is a cross-generic style designation for the symphonic subsets of heavy metal music subgenres. It is used to denote any metal band that makes use of symphonic or orchestral elements. The style features the heavy drums and guitar ...

, with progressive metal, New Age, and

Middle Eastern The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (European ...

influences. On ''Ancient Winter'', she shifted away from symphonic metal further into folk rock and world music, including

medieval music Medieval music encompasses the sacred and secular music of Western Europe during the Middle Ages, from approximately the 6th to 15th centuries. It is the first and longest major era of Western classical music and followed by the Renaissance ...

. During her childhood, she listened to gospel and choir music as well as

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

and rock music, such as

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

and The Doors. In her teens she discovered metal music, starting with

Dream Theater Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of the ...

and then bands such as Symphony X and

. She considers her discovery of Celtic music and then European symphonic metal to be when she musically found where she belonged. She credits her focus on Celtic music and music of the Middle East evoking the Roman and Persian eras to listening to Loreena McKennitt and Enya, as well as her Celtic ancestry, specifically Irish and Scottish.
English version
Other influences on McHenry include

Jesse Cook Jesse Arnaud Cook is a Canadian guitarist. He is a Juno Award winner, ''Acoustic Guitar'' Player's Choice Award silver winner in the Flamenco Category, and a three-time winner of the Canadian Smooth Jazz award for Guitarist of the Year. He has ...

, Enya, early

Lacuna Coil Lacuna Coil is an Italian gothic metal band from Milan. Since their formation in 1994, the group has had two name changes, being previously known as Sleep of Right and Ethereal, and they have recorded nine studio albums, two extended plays, two ...

, early Within Temptation, "old school" After Forever, Devin Townsend, Nightwish, and Clannad.

Lyrical themes and ideology

McHenry's lyrics and thematic imagery mostly involve fantasy, folklore, and mythology with a medieval European and

Insular Celtic Insular Celtic languages are the group of Celtic languages of Brittany, Great Britain, Ireland, and the Isle of Man. All surviving Celtic languages are in the Insular group, including Breton, which is spoken on continental Europe in Brittany, ...

focus. Many of her songs include water and ocean themes, and she sometimes sings in other languages such as

Irish Gaelic Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was the ...

and Latin. McHenry is a Christian, but does not consider her music a ministry or associate with the Christian music market, and does not explicitly write Christian themes in her music.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Of Earth & Angels'' - 2012 * ''Kings & Queens'' - 2015 *''The Quest'' - 2018 *''Ancient Winter'' - 2019

Extended plays

*''Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence'' - 2012 * ''Otherworld'' - 2013

Singles

* " Veni Veni Emmanuel (O Come, O Come, Emmanuel)" - 2011 *"Remember (radio edge mix)" - 2012 *" Silent Night" - 2012 *"Matters of the Heart" - 2012 *"We Will Go Home" ( cover, from ''King Arthur'') - 2013 *" Here's a Health to the Company" - 2013 *"Dreamland" (featuring Eric Peterson) - 2013 *"Enter the Highlands" - 2014 *"This Present Darkness" - 2015 *"Unbreakable" ( Stratovarius cover) - 2015 *" While Your Lips Are Still Red" (

cover) - 2015 *"Red (Remembrance for the Brave)" (

Ten Ten, TEN or 10 may refer to: * 10, an even natural number following 9 and preceding 11 * one of the years 10 BC, AD 10, 1910 and 2010 * October, the tenth month of the year Places * Mount Ten, in Vietnam * Tongren Fenghuang Airport (IATA code ...

cover) - 2015 *"Winter Sun" (with Eric Peterson) - 2015 *" The Dragonborn Comes" ( Jeremy Soule cover, from '' The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim'') - 2017 *"Elixir of Life" - 2017 *"Edge of Your Sword" - 2018 *"Lion Arises" - 2018 *"Redemption" - 2019 *"Light of the World" - 2019 *"Sanctuary" - 2020 *"Sleeping Giant" (featuring Mark Jansen) - 2022

References

{{reflist

External links

Official website
Canadian heavy metal musicians Symphonic metal musicians Heavy metal keyboardists Gothic metal musicians Progressive metal musicians Celtic rock music Canadian folk musicians Canadian folk metal musicians Symphonic black metal Canadian world music musicians Medieval folk rock Businesspeople from Vancouver Musicians from Vancouver Writers from Vancouver Canadian women songwriters Rock songwriters Canadian music educators New-age musicians Celtic metal musicians World music singers Power metal Canadian women pianists Canadian rock pianists Canadian rock keyboardists Canadian women heavy metal singers Canadian women folk singers Canadian women rock singers 21st-century Canadian composers 21st-century Canadian educators 21st-century Canadian women singers Canadian power metal musical groups 1984 births Living people Gothic rock musicians 21st-century women pianists