ELUVEITIE – Origins
- by Matt Coe
- Posted on 28-08-2014
The sixth album from Swiss folk death metal act Eluveitie is another whirlwind affair of extreme riffs, bagpipes, violins, and hurdy gurdy instrumentation, and dual male/female vocals that whip out lyrics of Celtic/ Helvetian history. Two member changes (Nicole Ansperger – violin, Rafael Salzmann- guitars) do not keep the eight-piece band from moving along, fluctuating between more jig-orientated arrangements like "The Nameless" and "The Call of the Mountains" with melodic death/ blasting efforts such as "Inception" and the engaging power riff-tastic "King".
Anna Murphy’s clean delivery has that siren, alt-rock meets gothic nature that gives Eluveitie a little bit of a commercial edge over many folk-oriented bands – and acts in dramatic contrast to the raspy screams and growls from Chrigel Glanzmann. "Origins" contains 16 tracks that should motivate long-time fans, while keeping the folk/death metal community pleased that this style is not going to the wayside anytime soon.