Eluveitie

Live at The House of Blues

Los Angeles, California

November 29th, 2012

Review and Photos by Travis Baumann

Eluveitie are the new wave of Pagan Folk Metal. They hail from Switzerland and bring us tales and sounds from ancient times.

Focusing on the cultures, instruments, and songs of the Gauls from the regions of their homeland long ago, they bring the past and present together on stage and give us one hell of show.

This is my fourth time seeing them live over the last five years and I cant wait to see what they bring us tonight. They recently came out with their latest album, "Helvetios" and the plan for the night was to play that release straight through in album order.

One of the most impacting things when seeing Eluveitie is the ensemble of so many different instruments and artists on stage combining their efforts into an extreme experience.

Their headbanging guitars and bass blend perfectly with melodious pipes. lutes, and leers.

The fiddle adds an expressive jig or a soaring orchestration depending on the part. The hurdy gurdy adds an additional string instrument but at other times builds a unique droning tone.

On top of all of these instruments you have Chrigel's growled vocal delivery mixed with Anna's melodic vocals and others join in at times as well.

The album "Helvetios" focuses on the historic period of the Gallic Wars and deals with the Helvetii, a Gallic tribe found in the area of Switzerland.

Following the album exactly, they started the set with a prologue of introductory music before breaking into the title song off the album.

With a chorus of "We are Helvetios!" the opening song set the tone for an aggressive yet expressive music and history.

Having seen them multiple times before, it was cool to see the new album done in its entirety this way, and provided an entirely new main set.

Anna Murphy has quite a few more songs that she sings lead on in the last two releases which is also a nice change and adds even more depth to their already complex stage show.

Fifteen songs later the band left the stage as the Epilogue from the album played.

It was an amazing set and rather than listing every song here I encourage everyone to check this album out for themselves and see the epic story-telling wrapped up in a package of melodic death metal mixed with ancient folk music.

Already an epic amount of songs played, they still came back out as everyone chanted for more and proceeded to play "Everything Remains As It Never Was", one of my favorite songs, and the title track off the previous album.

They continued the encore with "Lament" and "Divico" before coming to the fan favorite from their earliest wide-spread release, "Inis Mona". Everyone sang along as they came to the "Heh-Hey!" part of the song.

Even nineteen songs deep, they were not done. Chrigel asked everyone if they wanted one more for the night and everyone cheered. They closed out the night with "Tegernako" before finally taking a collective bow and bidding farewell.

Eluveitie are one of my favorite bands to see live. They offer so much, it is a bit of sensory overload but one greatly sought after. I highly encourage everyone to see them when they come through your area next, you wont be disappointed.

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