Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Review by Tony Cannella
When it comes to Celtic influenced Folk metal, Switzerland’s Eluveitie have to be considered one of the best, most influencial – and biggest of the genre. With their new album “Origins” the band has done nothing to dissuade their loyal and growing fan base.
The narrative opening intro “Origins” kicks things off and segues into “The Nameless”. The songs range from mosh worthy frenzied numbers to beautiful Celtic influenced pieces. There can be no denying that Eluveitie are at the top of their game and in their prime, as songs like “From Darkness”, “Celtos”, “King” and “Inception” indicate. The song “The Call of the Mountains” is a huge highlight which sees female vocalist Anna Murphy showing her singing skills. Of all the songs, this is the most different on “Origins” and has a ton of mainstream potential. Two other spoken word narrations are present, “Nothing” comes in the middle and “Eternity” wraps up the story.
As if the fans needed any more incentive to purchase “Origins”, the limited edition comes with a DVD featuring two music videos for “The Call of the Mountain” and “King”, an interview and three songs filmed live at Feuertanz festival in 2013. There is no doubt that Eluveitie is a thinking person’s metal band. They continually challenge themselves and their fans with complex songs and conceptually intelligent lyrical ideas and “Origins” is no different. Featuring 16-songs and almost an hour’s worth of material, “Origins” runs the gamut from fierce and chaotic to beautiful and poetic.
Rating – 86/100
Tracklist
- Origins
- The Nameless
- From Darkness
- Celtos
- Virunus
- Nothing
- The Call Of The Mountains
- Sucellos
- Inception
- Vianna
- The Silver Sister
- King
- The Day Of Strife
- Ogmios
- Carry The Torch
- Eternity
Line Up
- Chrigel Glanzmann – Vocals, Mandola & Mandolin, Tin & Low Whistles, Bagpipes, Bodhràn
- Anna Murphy – Hurdygurdy, Vocals, Flute
- Nicole Ansperger – Fiddle
- Ivo Henzi – Guitars
- Rafael Salzmann – Guitars
- Kay Brem – Bass
- Patrick Kistler – Tin & Low Whistles, Bagpipe
- Merlin Sutter – Drums