Eluveitie
Everything Remains (As It Never Was)

July 2010
Released: 2010, Nuclear Blast
Rating: 4.0/5
Reviewer: Metal-Rules.com UK Team

Folk metal is an unexplored style for me, but Eluveitie are quite an interesting prospect. They are more Celtic folk, using Irish instruments as well as the Bagpipes and hurdy gurdy. But they also are tied to the melodic death metal style, similar to the sound of Children of Bodom/Gothenburg style. It also leans toward Alestorm as The Essence of The Ashes has a rather sea-shanty feel to the chorus.



One of the interesting elements of this band is that they also sing in ancient extinct language of Gaulish, their previous album Evocation I – The Arcane Dominion was completely in Gaulish. They comprise of eight members, needless to say that the sound is solid and never feels overwhelming that eight instruments are all powering through the speakers. Chrigel Glanzmann’s vocals are fiery and provide clout with every burst. The guitar work is well rehearsed and well syncopated; Ivo Henzi and Simeon Koch ply their trade well and Merlin Sutter on drums certainly hit the mark.



Anna Murphy and Meri Tadic provide hurdy gurdy and violin respectively as well as vocals. Kay Brem brings in the low end and Pade Kistler plays the bagpipes and whistles. But it is Chrigel Glanzmann that is almost the one man band, playing mandola, whistles, pipes, gaiter, acoustic guitar and bodhran.



Stand out tracks for me are Isara; an instrumental that provides peace during the onslaught of the rest of the album, it has some amazing melody lines. Quoth the Raven is also one of my favourites, and would be the track I recommend to anyone. The later tracks on the album such as (Do)minion, Setion (A very cool Irish Diddily Diddily) and Lugdonon are great and really bring the album to an amazing close.



This album has grown on me and I would recommend it to anyone who is not that familiar with Folk Metal, as it is a great introduction to the genre.



(Danny Draper)