Eluveitie
Helvetios

Take the worst album by Dark Tranquillity, add a couple of traditional Northern European instruments and a mediocre and cunning female voice, and you have Eluveitie, a band that considers themselves a Folk Metal group from Switzerland.

After five mediocre works, the band led by Chrigel Glanzmann releases this "Helvetios" (how imaginative...) in an attempt to solidify the sound of Eluveitie. The album is a Concept Album that narrates the story of a Helvetic tribe ready for war against the dreadful Roman army. There are a total of seventeen tracks, which is really too many considering that the song structures are always the same; but let's go in order.

After a very theatrical Intro, we delve into the heart of the album with the title track Helvetios, where Anna Murphy's hurdy-gurdy immediately grabs attention, interposing itself among the Swedish-style riffs of Simeon Koch and Ivo Henzi. The next track, Luxtos, is quite characteristic as it continues at medium rhythms; the guitars here are very simple and get carried away by the traditional instruments. Even Home makes a good impression but doesn't leave a mark and is soon forgotten. Santonian Shores, although perhaps a bit predictable, is one of the stronger tracks on the album, where Glanzmann gives his all, showcasing good vocal power. Schorched Heart is entirely acoustic and sets the stage for Meet The Enemy, an aggressive track that nevertheless doesn't forget a good use of melodies and always-present traditional instruments; Neverland is also listenable, continuing in the classic Eluveitie style but quickly falls into oblivion.

It's the turn of Rose for Epona, a sort of prayer to the Goddess protector of Knights, a song that you either love or hate without any middle ground; entirely entrusted to Anna Murphy's (mediocre) clean singing, this track opens with a bagpipe melody that intertwines with the flute's, then explodes, crudely if you will, into a wall of guitars. The track closely resembles songs by Lacuna Coil or Evanescence, undoubtedly a song that had to be included to slightly break the album's sound (it is indeed in the middle of the TrackList).

The second part of the album begins to tire. Not due to the group's technical shortcomings, but because the music and the band's style remain the same, so Havoc and Upspring, although well-executed, start to feel repetitive, and Hope is yet another acoustic track that quickly leaves room for The Siege, a track barely 3 minutes long but undoubtedly the most aggressive, with sharp riffs and a "fierce" vocal delivery. Let's draw a merciful veil over Alesia, cunning and mostly useless where Chrigel's growl continuously mixes with Murphy's clean singing. Finally, we reach the end with Tullianum and Uxellodunon, the first being merely an acoustic interlude, while the second is the classic Eluveitie-made song, not to be discarded but we're already past the deadline. It all concludes with Epilogue, an ending that expresses the total defeat of the Helvetic tribe in face of the invading army.

So what to say about this new effort?

As you might have guessed, I was very skeptical about Eluveitie, but I must admit that the just-reviewed album is not a mere rehash of "Everything Remains as it Never Was" but manages to stand a notch above for several reasons: the quality of the compositions has improved, the annoying metalcore riffs are much less evident and the choruses with clean vocal are just a bad memory (except for a couple of exceptions).
Painful notes? Right away. Although the traditional instruments are always present and no longer relegated to just the chorus, it is noticeable how they are always played the same way, impeccable for heaven's sake, but played almost automatically, without originality or imagination. Also, 50 minutes plus of music for a Death Metal album seem really excessive, with the consequence that the listener will begin to find the later parts boring, even if they are not exactly to be discarded.
For the rest, it's the usual Death Metal stuff of DT and In Flames style, with the addition of traditional instruments like bagpipes, strings, flutes, hurdy-gurdies...if you're full of this genre, look elsewhere. If you're not yet done, however, Helvetios is not altogether a poorly-made album.