The homeland of the Eluveitie group is Switzerland, and the word in translation means “a native of Switzerland” or “I am a Helvet”.
The initial "idea" of the band's founder Christian "Kriegel" Glanzmann was not a full-fledged rock band, but an ordinary studio project. It was he who was created in 2002.
The origins of the Elveity group
Glanzmann, who played many types of folk instruments, invited 10 people of his like-minded people and released with them a mini-CD Ven, which is the quintessence of Celtic folklore and hard rock.
The minion was created exclusively on its own, using personal financial resources, and it was liked by the "metalheads", who appreciated the undeniable innovation. The entire circulation was sold out very quickly in a few months.
It happened in the autumn of 2003, and already in 2004 the Dutch label Fear Dark Records took the Eluveitie group under its wing, corrected and re-released Ven.
Assembled team
The team was no longer just a project - it became a team consisting of guitarists Dani Führer and Yves Tribelhorn, bassist and vocalist Jean Albertin, drummer Dario Hofstetter, violinist and vocalist Meri Tadic, flute player Sevan Kirder, violinist Matu Ackermann, bagpiper Dide Marfurt and Philipp Reinmann who played the Irish bouzouki.
Exit to the big stage
Now the formed group could perform at various combined concerts and music festivals in Europe. The work of the Eleveitie band is a harmonious combination of hard rock and folklore.
As for originality, the group simply had no analogues, so unusual was its style, which is commonly called melodic death.
Musicians admit that they used to suffer a lot, trying to find a unique style and introduce themselves into certain limits, but then they realized that happiness is in doing what you like, not using templates and not labeling yourself.
This meant the use of bagpipes, flutes, violins and other similar instruments, absolutely uncharacteristic for rock, and even more so for heavy ones. The group has acquired thousands of fans not only in Europe but throughout the world.
Debut album by Eluveiti
Soon the band released the album Spirit (2005), which was rated by music critics as a "new wave of folk metal". The album was also released under the auspices of Fear Dark Records, and then a video clip was shot for one of the Of Fire, Wind & Wisdom album songs.
At the same time, serious changes took place in the team - from the previous composition, in addition to Christian Glanzmann, only Meri Tadic and Sevan Kirder remained.
The band was joined by new vocalist Simeon Koch, guitarist Ivo Henzi, bassist and vocalist Rafi Kirder, drummer Merlin Sutter, violinist and vocalist Linda Sutter and vocalist Sarah Keiner, who also played hurdy-gurdy, krumhorn and Swiss accordion. In parallel, the Eluveitie group participated in various musical events.
Under the auspices of a new label
The band's reputation increased and the band's popularity increased significantly, which allowed them to choose from numerous offers of engagement from the well-known label Nuclear Blast.
A new success immediately followed - Slania's record took a leading position in the charts not only in Switzerland, but also in Germany.
The beginning of the new millennium turned out to be “years of tours” for the group - she made three tours in Europe and two in the USA, and the group also presented bright shows in India and Russia.
acoustic experiment
The guys decided in 2009 as an experiment to make a program in acoustics Evocation I - The Arcane Dominion. The main vocals were performed by Anna Murphy, and two newcomers appeared in the team - Kai Brem and Patrick Kistler.
The main feature of this album is live instruments, that is, a minimum of "electricity". The album was so successful that it took the 20th position in the Swiss charts - a very good result.
Support for Evocation I - The Arcane Dominion consisted of 250 concerts, then the band decided not to experiment with acoustics anymore and return to melodic death.
The words were confirmed by the release in 2010 of the album Everything Remains As It Never Was. There was more "metal" in this album, but at the same time there was also enough "folk". The performance was beyond praise.
Professionals such as Tommy Vetterli, Colin Richardson and John Davis took part in the creation of the album.
A video clip was shot for one of the Thous and Fold singles. In February 2012, the new album was released under the label Nuclear Blast.
The creative credo of the Eluveiti group
The work of the Eluveitie group is called "heavy music of the heart". Originally Celtic motifs are mystically connected with "metal", and this is expressed very harmoniously.
A rich combination of traditional Celtic instruments includes everything characteristic of the peoples of Switzerland, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall and others.
Helvetian Gaulish is a beautiful but almost forgotten language. It is this language that the Eluveitie group used to write some of the lyrics of their compositions. Modern Switzerland speaks a language that contains many original Gaulish words.
The band tried to bring the language of their songs as close as possible to the original Gaulish. Listeners are spiritually immersed in Celtic culture, as if making a journey into the depths of centuries.
