Eluveitie

Name	Eluveitie
Landscape	Yes
Background	group_or_band
Origin	Winterthur, Switzerland
Genre	Folk metal Melodic death metal
Years active	2002 - present
Label	Fear Dark Nuclear Blast
Current members	Merlin Sutter Siméon Koch Chrigel Glanzmann Meri Tadic Ivo Henzi Anna Murphy Päde Kistler Kay Brem

Eluveitie (pronounced ) is a folk metal band from Winterthur, Switzerland. The band formed in 2002 and their first EP, Vên came out in 2003. The band then released a full-length album, Spirit in June 2006. In November 2007, Eluveitie was signed by Nuclear Blast. The first product of the collaboration, Slania, was released in February 2008. The album peaked at number 35 in the Swiss charts and number 72 in the German charts.

Eluveitie use traditional instruments amidst guitars and loud vocals. The lyrics are often in the extinct language Gaulish. Eluveitie is Helvetic Gaulish for "I am Helvetian", referring to an inscription dating to the earliest record of the Celtic Helvetii tribe from what is now Switzerland.

History

The band was founded in the winter of 2002 by Christian "Chrigel" Glanzmann as a studio project featuring different people on different tracks. October the following year saw the publication of the MCD Vên (Helvetian Gaulish for "wild joy" ). After Chrigel decided to make Eluveitie a real band instead of a studio project, he assembled nine other musicians, making it a full ten-piece band.

Shortly afterwards, the group performed its first shows, one including the Swiss metal festival Elements of Rock, and Eluveitie signed a contract with the Dutch record label Fear Dark which released a re-recorded Vên in 2004. Other live performances were played, such as on some events of "Fear Dark Festivals", and even as support for the established international pagan–folk metal acts such as Korpiklaani and Cruachan. At this point, the band became full-time, and 7 of the 10 members left for various reasons, leaving Chrigel Glanzmann, Sevan Kirder, and Meri Tadic to carry on with new members. They recruited six others, including Sevan Kirder's brother Rafi to play bass, making Eluveitie a nine-piece band.

A limited edition tribute album to the German-Icelandic band Falkenbach was published in 2006 to celebrate their 15th anniversary. The album included Eluveitie's cover song, "Vanadis".

At the beginning of 2006, there was another change in the band's line-up. Sarah Kiener was replaced by Anna Murphy to play hurdy gurdy and Linda Suter was removed, trimming the band down to eight members.

In the second quarter of 2006, the album entitled Spirit was published on Fear Dark, and in September that same year Eluveitie toured Europe with the German band Odroerir. At the end of 2006, Eluveitie signed a new recording contract with the German label Twilight Records. In early 2007, they played at Ragnarök Festival.

In November 2007, Eluveitie signed a contract with label Nuclear Blast. The new studio album Slania (a girl's name that Chrigel saw on a 2500-year-old tombstone

Eluveitie's next project, Evocation, was announced in 2008. The first part of the album, Evocation I: The Arcane Dominion, was released in April 2009.

Eluveitie announced via their website on 17 September 2009 that they were working on a new album titled Everything Remains (As It Never Was). The entire album was made available for "full prelistening" through the band's myspace page on 12 February, to remain available until the album's European release. The album was released 19 February 2010.

Eluveitie toured India in February 2010 when they played at the college campus of Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Assam, India. As of late February 2010, the band are on a European tour, with a schedule that concludes on 26 March at the Rocking Chair Festival in Vevey, Switzerland. The band plan to tour the US and Canada in April 2010, beginning in Ramona, California (San Diego) on 7 April.

In August 2010 they were awarded the Metal Hammer "Up and Coming 2010" title at the Wacken Open Air.

Eluveitie has decided that after touring for Everything Remains as It Never Was they will record another metal album, and then after work on their next acoustic album, Evocation II.

Characteristics

Eluveitie infuses traditional Celtic folk melodies with Gothenburg-styled melodic death metal. Eluveitie uses traditional folk instruments in their music, such as fiddles, tin whistles and flutes, and hurdy gurdies. The traditional folk tunes in their songs have been drawn from various sources, such as traditional Irish reels. While many of their lyrics are in English, some are in the ancient extinct Gaulish language. All of the lyrics on their 2009 release Evocation I - The Arcane Dominion are in Gaulish (except the first song "Sacrapos - At First Glance"). Their lyrics are based on texts written in Gaulish such as prayers, invocations of the gods and other spirits.

Members

Actual members

Chrigel Glanzmann – vocals, mandola, whistles, pipes, gaita, acoustic guitar, bodhrán (2002-present)

Meri Tadic – violin, vocals (2003-present)

Merlin Sutter – drums (2004-present)

Siméon Koch – lead guitar (2004-present)

Ivo Henzi – rhythm guitar (2004-present)

Anna Murphy – hurdy gurdy, vocals (2006-present)

Kay Brem – bass guitar (2008-present)

Patrick Kistler – bagpipes, whistles (2008-present)

Former members

Sevan Kirder – bagpipes, flutes, whistles, vocals (2003–2008)

Rafi Kirder – bass guitar, vocals (2004–2008)

Severin Binder – bagpipes, flutes, whistles, vocals (2004–2006)

Linda Suter – fiddle, vocals (2003–2004)

Sarah Kiener – hurdy gurdy, crumhorn, accordion, vocals (2005–2006, guest 2009)

Dani Fürer – lead guitar (2003–2004)

Dide Marfurt – hurdy gurdy, bagpipes (2003–2004)

Gian Albertin – bass, vocals, sound effects (2003–2004)

Dario Hofstetter – drums (2003–2004)

Yves Tribelhorn – rhythm guitar (2003–2004)

Philipp Reinmann – Irish bouzouki (2003–2004)

Mattu Ackerman – fiddle (2003–2004)

Guest musicians

Fredy Schnyder – guitar (2009)

Mina the fiddler – fiddle (2009)

Oliver Sa Tyr – nyckelharpa (2009)

Alan Averill – vocals (2009)

Torbjörn "Thebon" Schei – vocals (2010)

Brendan Wade – uilleann pipes (2010)

Dannii Young – spoken voice (2010)

Discography

{|class="wikitable" |- ! rowspan="2"| Year ! rowspan="2"| Title ! rowspan="2"| Label ! colspan="5"| Chart peaks |- ! style="width:70px;"|CH
! style="width:70px;"|DE
! style="width:70px;"|FI
! style="width:70px;"|GR ! style="width:70px;"|FR
|- | 2008 | Slania | Nuclear Blast | style="text-align:center;"| 35 | style="text-align:center;"| 72 | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| — |- | 2009 | | Nuclear Blast | style="text-align:center;"| 20 | style="text-align:center;"| 60 | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| — |- |2010 | Everything Remains (As It Never Was) | Nuclear Blast | style="text-align:center;"| 8 | style="text-align:center;"| 19 | style="text-align:center;"| 31 | style="text-align:center;"| 24 | style="text-align:center;"| 110 |- "—" denotes a release that did not chart. |}

Studio albums

Spirit (2006)

Slania (2008)

(2009)

Everything Remains (As It Never Was) (2010)

EPs

Vên (2003)

Compilation Albums

Slania / Evocation I – The Arcane Metal Hammer Edition (2009)

Live albums

live @ Metalcamp 2008 (2008)

Singles

Inis Mona (2008)

Omnos (2009)

Thousandfold (2010)

Videos

Of Fire, Wind & Wisdom (2006)

Inis Mona (2008)

Omnos (2009)

Thousandfold (2009)

References

External links

Eluveitie's Official Website

May 2008 Interview with Chrigel Glanzmann

Official MySpace

Category:2000s music groups Category:2010s music groups Category:Celtic metal musical groups Category:Folk metal musical groups Category:Musical groups established in 2002 Category:Swiss heavy metal musical groups Category:Melodic death metal musical groups Category:Musical octets Category:Winterthur