Eluveitie

Eluveitie
Eluveitie performing live in Oslo in October 2012
Background information
Origin Winterthur, Zurich, Switzerland
Genres
Years active 2002 – present
Labels
Associated acts Cellar Darling
Website www.eluveitie.ch
Members Chrigel Glanzmann
Rafael Salzmann
Kay Brem
Matteo Sisti
Nicole Ansperger
Alain Ackermann
Jonas Wolf
Michalina Malisz
Fabienne Erni
Past members Merlin Sutter
Ivo Henzi
Anna Murphy
Rafi Kirder
Sevan Kirder
Siméon Koch
Meri Tadić
Päde Kistler
Shir-Ran Yinon
Linda Suter
Sarah Wauquiez
Severin Binder
Dani Fürer
Dide Marfurt
Gian Albertin
Dario Hofstetter
Yves Tribelhorn
Mättu Ackerman

Eluveitie (/ɛlˈveɪti/ el-VAY-ti)[1] is a Swiss folk metal band from Winterthur, Zurich, founded in 2002 by Chrigel Glanzmann. The project's first EP, Vên, was released in 2003. Vên was a studio project of Glanzmann's, but its success led to the recruitment of a full band. The band then released a full-length album, Spirit, in June 2006. In November 2007, Eluveitie was signed by Nuclear Blast.[2] The group rose to fame following the release of their first major-label album, Slania, in February 2008. The album peaked at number 35 in the Swiss charts and number 72 in the German charts.[3][4]

Eluveitie describe themselves as "The new wave of folk metal".[5] The band's style incorporates characteristics of melodic death metal combined with the melodies of traditional Celtic music. They use traditional European instruments, including the hurdy-gurdy and bagpipes, amidst guitars and both clean and harsh vocals. Their lyrics include references to Celtic mythology, particularly of Celtic Gaul. The lyrics are often in the extinct ancient language Gaulish. The name of the band comes from graffiti on a vessel from Mantua (ca. 300 BC).[6] The inscription in Etruscan letters reads eluveitie, which has been interpreted as the Etruscan form of the Celtic (h)elvetios (“the Helvetian”),[7] presumably referring to a man of Helvetian descent living in Mantua.

History

Eluveitie at Cernunnos Fest

Formation and Fear Dark Records contract (2002 – 2007)

After failing numerous attempts to form an actual band, Christian "Chrigel" Glanzmann created Eluveitie in the winter of 2002 as a studio project featuring various musicians on each track. The musicians had no obligations to the group but to record their parts in the studio.[8] The name of the band comes from graffiti found in Mantua around 300 BC.[9] In Etruscan letters, the inscription read "eluveitie", interpreted in the Etruscan language as "elvetios" ("The Swiss"). The inscription was probably a reference to the Helvetii people who lived in Mantua.[10]

October the following year saw the publication of the MCD Vên (Helvetian Gaulish for "wild joy"[11]). 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. (Chrigel sent the first MCD to Keith from Cruachan at this time for his opinion.) At this point, the band became full-time, and 6 of the 10 members left for various reasons, leaving Chrigel Glanzmann, Sevan Kirder, Meri Tadić and Dide Marfurt to carry on with new members. They recruited six others, including Sevan Kirder's brother Rafi to play bass.

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".

In the second quarter of 2006, the album entitled Spirit was published on Fear Dark. Although the official release date was June 1, 2006, it was made available on their first official 'tour' (a series of 'Fear Dark Festivals' in May 2006, playing alongside label mates Morphia (HOL)& Royal Anguish (USA), as well as Taketh (SWE)).

In 2006, After the release of the Spirit album, there was another change in the band's line-up. Sarah Wauquiez was replaced by Anna Murphy to play hurdy-gurdy and Linda Suter was removed, trimming the band down to eight members.

Nuclear Blast contract and Slania (2007 – 2012)

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[1][12]) was released on February 15, 2008.

On June 4, 2008, brothers Rafi and Sevan Kirder (bassist and bagpipe player, respectively) announced on their MySpace pages that they would leave Eluveitie following their concert at the Metal Camp Open Air in Slovenia on July 8, 2008.[13]

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.[1] The band released an official special edition of this new album as Slania/Evocation I – The Arcane Metal Hammer Edition on the May Edition from the Metal Hammer, the magazine was released on 15 April 2009 with eight songs from Evocation I: The Arcane Dominion and five from Slania.[14]

Eluveitie announced via their website[15] 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"[16] through the band's MySpace page on 12 February, to remain available until the album's European release. The album was released on 19 February 2010.[17]

Eluveitie toured Europe and North America extensively in 2010.

In August 2010 they were awarded the Metal Hammer "Up and Coming 2010" title at the Wacken Open Air.[18]

Helvetios and Origins (2012 – 2015)

Eluveitie released Helvetios, another metal album, in 2012, which received very favorable reviews. In an interview with Metal Blast magazine, Chrigel Glanzmann revealed that he has already started writing new material for Evocation II, the follow up to their 2009 acoustic album, as well as some new metal songs; as of June 2013, however, there is no clarity as to the release date of either.[19]

During their tour in South America, Anna, the hurdy-gurdy player, was reported sick on 26 January 2013, and had to take a flight to Switzerland on short notice. Despite this, however, the band continued their tour without her.[20]

On August 29, 2013, it was revealed that Eluveitie had been working on a new album, and that their Helvetios World Tour will be the last of their time playing live (apart from their Eluveitie & Friends Festival) before fully working on the new album.[21] On the 11th of December, it was revealed that Nicole Ansperger will be the successor of Meri Tadić on the violin.[22]

In March 2014, Eluveitie won the Swiss Music Awards' Best Live Act National award.[23] In April the same year, the band announced a headlining European tour, with support acts Arkona and Skálmöld.[24] On May 14, the band announced a new album scheduled for release on August 1, 2014, titled Origins. Original artwork created by Chrigel Glanzmann was released as well, along with the theme of the album, which revolves mainly around Gaulish mythology.[25]

In early June, the band announced on their Facebook that they will be releasing their lead single for Origins, titled "King", on 13, the same month.[26] Eluveitie released the official music video for the song on July 3.[27]

November 2014, in the middle of a European headliner tour, Patrick "Päde" Kistler was replaced by Matteo Sisti. After a week of silence he released a statement on his official Facebook profile explaining his point of view about the leave.[28]

Line-up changes and Evocation II (2015-2016)

On August 3, 2015, the band announced the departure of violinist Nicole Ansperger because her family situation, as she described, "...makes it impossible for me to be on the road with my band constantly." Israeli violinist Shir-Ran Yinon joined the group on tour as her replacement, having been selected through an open audition to which she had submitted a video.[29] On May 5, 2016, Merlin Sutter was replaced by Alain Ackermann, Anna Murphy was replaced by Michalina Malisz and Ivo Henzi was replaced by Jonas Wolf. Statements by the band and the three musicians indicated that Sutter had been expelled from the group, with Murphy and Henzi choosing to leave with him. The three stated that they would start producing new songs together while still making touring commitments with Eluveitie until their last concerts scheduled in June. They eventually started the band Cellar Darling. In July 2016 it was announced the departure of Shir-Ran Yinon claiming that her contract had expired with Nicole Ansperger returning to the band. In September 2016, Eluveitie announced on Facebook that they started working on the second part of Evocation I: The Arcane Dominion. The album, entitled Evocation II: Pantheon, was released on August 18, 2017.

Rebirth single and upcoming album (2017-present)

In January 2017, the band unveiled their new line-up, with Fabienne Erni (Mandola, celtic harp, vocals). On October 14, 2017, the band announced via social media that they were working on a new album, and were to due to start recording after their Maximum Evocation tour. The band also revealed that they had recorded a single in advance of the tour, at Tommy Vetterli's New Sound Studio, entitled Rebirth.[30] The single was released on October 27, 2017, along with a music video produced by Wolfgang Wolman and Oliver Sommer. Rebirth marked the first non-acoustic record produced by the new lineup.

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, bagpipes and hurdy-gurdies. The traditional folk tunes in their songs have been drawn from various sources, including traditional Irish reels. While many of their lyrics are in English, some are in the ancient extinct Gaulish language. In some instances, the two languages are intertwined throughout a song. 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.[31]

Members

Timeline

Discography

References

  1. 1 2 3 :: Metalist Magazine :: Interviews :: Eluveitie
  2. ↑ "Eluveitie signs with Nuclear Blast Records". Blabbermouth.net. 2007-11-14. Retrieved 2007-12-04.
  3. ↑ "Slania". Swisscharts.com. Archived from the original on 2008-05-24. Retrieved 2008-07-27.
  4. ↑ "NUCLEAR BLAST rocks German charts". Blabbermouth.net. 2008-03-08. Archived from the original on 2008-04-23. Retrieved 2008-07-27.
  5. ↑ "Eluveitie - About". Nuclearblast.com. Retrieved 2016-01-29.
  6. ↑ Reproduction in Raffaele Carlo De Marinis, Gli Etruschi a nord del Po, Mantova, 1986.
  7. ↑ Stifter, David. "MN·2 – Lexicon Leponticum". An Interactive Online Etymological Dictionary of Lepontic. University of Vienna. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  8. ↑ Korovesis, Alkis (July 29, 2014). "Eluveitie interview (Chrigel Glanzmann)". Noisefull.com. Retrieved May 12, 2016.
  9. ↑ Vitali, Daniele; Kaenel, Gilbert. "Un Helvète chez les Étrusques vers 300 av. J.-C" (in French). pp. 115–122. Retrieved May 12, 2016.
  10. ↑ Giuseppe, Sassatelli. "Celti ed Etruschi nell'Etruria Padana e nell'Italia settentrionale, in "Ocnus" 11, 2003, pp. 231-257" (in Italian). Retrieved May 12, 2016.
  11. ↑ Interview with Chrigel Glanzmann taste-of-black.ch Archived 2011-07-07 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2010-02-24
  12. ↑ The stone in question appears to be the Davesco gravestone, see Stifter, David. "TI·36.1 – Lexicon Leponticum". An Interactive Online Etymological Dictionary of Lepontic. University of Vienna. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  13. ↑ "Eluveitie Forum :: View topic - der offizielle EVOCATION NEWS THREAD". forum.eluveitie.ch. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  14. ↑ metal-hammer.de: Exklusive Eluveitie-CD im nächsten Metal Hammer
  15. ↑ Eluveitie.ch Eluveitie Forum:: View topic – RECORDING NEW ALBUM!
  16. ↑ Eluveitie.ch News Archived 2010-02-28 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2010-02-12
  17. ↑ "Everything Remains (As It Never Was): Eluveitie: Amazon.de: Muzik". Amazon Deutschland. 2010-02-19. Retrieved 2010-02-19.
  18. ↑ "METAL HAMMER Awards 2010: Auszeichnung der besten Bands auf dem Wacken Open Air". Metal Hammer Germany (in German). 6-8-2010. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  19. ↑ "MetalBlast.net: Eluveitie Interview". 2012-10-27.
  20. ↑ "South American Shows Without Anna". 2013-01-26.
  21. ↑ "Eluveitie announce new album". Facebook. Eluveitie. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  22. ↑ Eluveitie/Nicole Ansperger (11 December 2013). "Introducing Nicole Ansperger" (Facebook post). Facebook (in English and German). Eluveitie. Retrieved 11 December 2013. ...please welcome to the Eluveitie camp: Nicole Ansperger!
  23. ↑ "JOIZ IST GESCHLOSSEN". www.joiz.ch. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  24. ↑ "Eluveitie – To Tour Europe With Arkona And Skálmöld". Metalstorm.com. Metalstorm. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
  25. ↑ "Eluveitie to release 'origins' in august". Blabbermouth.net. Blabbermouth. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
  26. ↑ "King announcement". Facebook.com. Eluveitie. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
  27. ↑ "Eluveitie: 'King' Video Released". Blabbermouth.net. Blabbermouth. Retrieved 5 July 2014.
  28. ↑ "Patrick Kistle: What happened? Thank you all..." 24 November 2015.
  29. ↑ "ELUVEITIE: Nicole Ansperger Leaves; New Violin Player Wanted". Metal Shock Finland. 3 August 2015. Retrieved 3 August 2015.
  30. ↑ "Eluveitie". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2017-11-02.
  31. ↑ Transit Magazine, n°47, été 2009, Eluveitie, interview of Christian Glanzmann by Dave, p. 28
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