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Rating: There is a fundamental fact that divides bands that believe they need to "ride the wave" and those that make trends their own, mix them, combine them with other attitudes, break them down, then reassemble and finally compact them, creating an invulnerable war machine, a blend of power, epicness, folklore, and genius.
The difference lies in the attitude, as already mentioned. If this is fresh and genuine, then you can only expect excellent work. And this is the case with the Swiss band Eluveitie. A very young band composed of several instrumentalists, not only including the classic guitar-vocals-guitar-bass-drums lineup and perhaps keyboards, but also a varied universe of flutes, bagpipes, and other "tools of the trade" that do not fall into Metal orthodoxy. They may not precisely be the epitome of what they call the "New Wave of Folk Metal", but at least they can count on a powerful, calibrated, and excessively solid wall of sound.
Listening to the songs on this album, then, if you have the grim and conservative mindset of the "purists", you almost scream scandal, because the frenzied rhythm section in line with a certain Swedish Death Metal, is wisely mixed with the instruments and references to Folk and the love for the ancient barbarian cultures of the Swiss land.
Each piece of this record brings to mind strong images but, beware, not stereotypical ones. Here there are no lunar passages nor overly deep digressions into certain Celtic chants, nor, finally, journeys into the Nordic ice. Each note, while using some of the most varied and bizarre instruments, exudes power, speed, and especially the background of these young emerging artists that would make more than a few "veterans" devoted to Viking or Melodic Death Metal pale.
So it's easy to go, and without having to fully immerse in the roles (the furious sound strides present already take care of that, which more than accompany the listener, hurl them directly into an ancestral and mysterious past), from calls of war (Primordial Breath, Inis Mona, Bloodstained Ground) to pagan invocations (Samon, Anagantios, Giamonios), reaching an intelligent and jaw-dropping merger between Folk, as expressed by the best Ensiferum, for example, and the sharp and powerful Death of Soilwork.
However, it would be a pity if I had to evaluate the quality of "Slania" simply by referring every time to some specific aspect of each song: all of them, but really all of them, constitute an inseparable and incandescent chain of volcanic power always connected to refrains, verses, and folk passages nested within one another; easy to memorize, yet complex when listened to carefully. And therein lies the greatness of this band. Another one that will make its way. Especially if they continue in the honest and intelligent manner they have pursued so far, which, started with their first album "Spirit", allowed them to move quickly from a small independent label (Fear Music), to a giant like Nuclear Blast, which certainly realized their extraordinary potential. And rightly so.
So, this is yet another original new release of this new year. Not to be missed. Provided that you appreciate the genre, of course. But we must consider that the potential fan and supporter base of Eluveitie, precisely because of their tendency to combine different aspects of different genres, is potentially very broad, and therefore it may not take much to become attached to and passionate about their attitude.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
03 Inis Mona (04:09)
Welcome to the land of questions
Welcome to the isle of lore
Where the veil came crumbling down
There it all began
The Germination
Unveiling a cryptic door
There it was revealed
Hopes and aspirations
Unclosing an enthralled door
Escalate the sense
They wants you to join the dawn
I close my eyes, Inis Mona
And reminisce of those palmy days
I moon o'er you, Inis Mona
As long as I breathe
I'll call you my home
20 years I have walked your barrows
Years of emulous youth
I followed the path of the wise
There it all was sown,
The inspiration
Removing the seven seals
There it was revealed
Enigma and freedom
Unclosing an unseen door
Escalate the sense
They wants you to join the dawn
I close my eyes, Inis Mona
And reminisce of those palmy days
I moon o'er you, Inis Mona
As long as I breathe
I'll call you my home
Escalate the sense
They wants you to join the dawn
I close my eyes, Inis Mona
And reminisce of those palmy days
I moon o'er you, Inis Mona
As long as I breathe
I'll call you my home
I close my eyes, Inis Mona
And reminisce of those palmy days
I moon o'er you, Inis Mona
As long as I breathe
I'll call you my home
06 Bloodstained Ground (03:20)
What did close in here?
I can't remember ever shedding tears o'spite
On this ground, cropping up the fatal frontline
Like a soot-blackened palisade yet
Impelled, void and abulic
Legions delineate an ominous skyline
As lifeless demons without soul
These insentient hosts abide
Engulfing war monger get away from here!
Trod ye the path of vast deceit?
Every piece of evidence was a lie
The war, the threat's a hyping fake
To move figures on the board!
Stain Bibracte's ground!
What do you see in me?
Do you breathe-in dreams?
What spurred you to come here?
An oneiric picture of being...
Like disaffected legions taken, lure
I wonder what lies, what threat or promise
Persuaded them to leave their home that far away
...did they really know?
As the carnyx roared aloud
I quaked not, yet just asked myself
How their hearts took the bait,
These sweetened words of bitter essence
Face to face with nameless foes
Scorching words, unspoken lorn
Unheard quests remain the ashes of the dead
Forsooth we'll bear the brunt
Upright in life or in death
Yet still the countless cries echo
In silenced caves of nothing
07 The Somber Lay (04:00)
A murky presage roaming the land
To silence the skylarks chant
The somber kiss is at hand
To impart the crimson robe
Heed the darksome maid
Dancing across this equinox
To relegate persistence
As the bleak darkness grows
A cryptal impellent, devoted to the sublime round
Beholden for the boons of light
Retreating into quietness
We harken the somber lay
We sing the somber lay
Close your eyes and heed and vide
Then you shall see
The sphere revolves as it's promised
Flames flickering deftly
To banish the nipping air
The dark time is at hand
Lighted by bardic chant
Heed the darksome maid
To enwrap all in bleakness
A dark veil o'silence
As quiet insight buds
Darkness roaming the land
Long dead the skylarks chant
The dark vis usurped command
To impart the sallow robe
Sure a new light will come
The lifewheel is rotating onward
Given is the promise
Thus assertive we wear on
Life-given impellent, devoted to the sublime round
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Other reviews
By Belegurth
Some tracks are really good, even outside of the Metal context.
The recording is clean and the sounds are well-balanced; nothing to criticize about the vocals.
