Band:
Chrigel Glanzmann – vocals, mandola, whistles, pipes, gaita, acoustic guitar, bodhrán
Meri Tadic – violin, vocals
Merlin Sutter – drums
Siméon Koch – lead guitar
Ivo Henzi – rhythm guitar
Anna Murphy – hurdy gurdy, vocals
Kay Brem – bass guitar
Päde Kistler – bagpipes, whistles
Discography:
Spirit (2006)
Slania (2008)
Evocation I -The Arcane Dominion (2009)
Guests:
Torbjörn "Thebon" Schei – vocals
Brendan Wade – uilleann pipes
Dannii Young – spoken voice
Info
Mixed by Colin Richardson and Martin "Ginge" Ford
Mastered by John Davis
Produced by Eluveitie and Tommy Vetterli.
Released 19/2-2010
Reviewed 15/6-2010
Links:
eluveitie.ch
myspace
nuclearblast
Musically this band of eight is a folk metal band, or rather folk death metal band as the majority of the band’s vocals are of the growly or extreme kind. Sure there are some clean vocals and also some spoken word passages but it is the extreme kind that is dominating. The main thing you hear usually are the folk tunes combined with the heavy riffing and powerful rythm section which makes for a combination that reminds quite a bit of the band Cruachan from Ireland, so if you have heard them you know roughly what it is all about. Sure Eluveitie have a much cleaner production than said Irish band.
So, is it the perfect album? Well, that is a pretty big claim that is quite hard to make really but I am quite sure that some will make it, Nuclear Blast sure does. I can admit however that this album is fantastic and the best I have written about so far this year. It starts with some low key folk musical parts with some spoken word parts that is spoken by a female, it gives a feel of mystery and most of all of expectations.
After the intro it breaks loose with a lot of power and speed in the music, I must admit however that I was disappointed the first time (second and third as well actually) I heard it because of the extremeness of the vocals. That is something that grew on me for every time I listened to the album.
There is really absolutely nothing on this album that could be considered bad in anyway, nothing. All the songs are really good and you are very hard pressed to select a favourite of the thirteen tracks as they are all really good tracks. But if you really push me to select one track it would have to be the second one, the title track which is an amazing track. The fact is that all songs are amazing really.
The thing that makes this record so very good is the perfect (note the word there) balance between the fine tuned and folkish and the aggressive and powerful. The clean and balanced production and the balancing act between styles is what sets this band apart form others and makes it such a good, well rather amazing record.
In the end, it is not really a perfect record as Nuclear Blast says but they are not that far from it. Some parts of this record are really perfect while others are close to perfect and even if I do not want to claim that this is a perfect record I can at least claim that this is the best record I have written about so far this year and probably the best record I have heard in the extreme metal genre ever. Sure I am not really a big fan of that genre but I have heard loads of bands and records from that particular genre and from what I can recall in the moment of writing, it is the best record in the genre.
An amazing record with a perfect balance and thirteen fantastic tracks, a must have for anyone who call him-/or herself a fan of good music. I can definitely recommend this record for anyone, even if you don’t like music of the extreme kind you will probably like this.
… and everything remains as it never was, to end in the same vein as the band, amazing record.
HHHHHHH
