Evocation I - The Arcane Domin

No other album is anything like this. Eluveitie's other albums don't have the same kind of sound, because this one is exclusively acoustic; more to the point, nobody else has set ancient Gaulish language texts to music. It's a brilliant idea, and Eluveitie would deserve credit for trying it even if the music were only so-so. Let me be clear: The music is excellent. I've played this for friends, and they thought it was wonderful before they had any idea of the back story. It's folk fusion from a metal band that knows how to rock. Some of the musical interpretations of the texts are a bit surprising. The 'beliassu sete' love letter (?) of Châteaubleau Tile 16 is way less aggressive, at least as P.-Y. Lambert renders it, than the piece Eluveitie wrote ("Nata"); conversely, the Larzac curse-tablet 'inside brictom' gives rise to two songs, of which "A Girl's Oath" is too intimate and "Brictom" too joyful for a text that counter-curses suspected witches. On the other hand, I can't imagine a musical setting more perfect for the Chamalières curse-tablet 'andedion diíiuion' than the haunting "Dessumiis Luge". All of the songs that I've named, however, are beautiful, as are the instrumental pieces and "Na Regv Na". This album is right where music meets historical linguistics and archaeology, and the result is sublime. Fingers crossed for an Evocation II!

I saw this group live last week and started with ear plugs because they were the third group and my head was aching. But I had to pull out the ear plugs once I heard their first song - this is a rare and amazingly talented group that deserves a listen by anyone curious about death metal, celtic music, and the like. The growling took some getting used to when my son first exposed me to this genre but now I can't get enough of it, especielly because of this group. Give it a try - everyone seems to think Slania is their best so maybe give that a try first, but you won't be disappointed in any of their CDs.

The first musical interpretation I had of the gaelic/celtic/nordic cultures. I truly adored it at first and still find it to a phenomenal album. I've just found a couple groups to have a better interpretation than Eluveitie in my opinion.

I've listened to Eluveitie for years now. This is the second album of theirs that I've bought, and it's one of the best purchases I've ever made. Omnos is my favorite song on the album. (Of course it helps that it's the song I discovered Eluveitie by.) The whole album is beautiful though. The folk aspect of their music really shines through in it. Everything they do is great, but this (along with "Everything Remains As It Never Was") can easily claim to be among my top favorite albums ever.

Eluveitie unplugged!! Wow, this one was fun! It was a total surprise. I am a huge fan of Celtic music, both traditional and fusion, and I love what Eluveitie have done with Celtic music and metal in the past, but this one was just so bizarre!! It was an unplugged metal album (which usually bore the crap out of me) and an Irish session album rolled into one. This is one of the most amazing albums I think I have heard in a long time. It is well worth owning, even if you're not a fan of metal.

This album doesn't have a lot of typical heavy guitar, but it is beautifully melodic and inspires deep thought and meditation. This album is perfect for anyone who is fascinated with Celtic folk music.

When Eluveitie announced that its next album would be a folk acoustic album it sent shockwaves amongst its growing fan-base. Some expressed disappointment, others like myself, took a let's-wait-and-see approach taking into consideration the talent of this band. Slania was Eluveitie's breakout album and one the two best death metal albums of 2008. Given that they were just starting to gain notoriety around the world for the excellent combination of melodic death metal with folk music, I thought it was premature to come up with an accoustic album. A folk/metal follow-up along the lines of Slania or Spirit would have been the wiser move, in my view. So here it is. There are two ways this could have gone. It could be better than expected or it could fulfil the pessimist's view that it would just be poor. Unfortunately, in my view, it fails to deliver the excellent music that this band could have come up with. There are 15 tracks plus two nice and familiar bonus tracks. That's a lot of music. However, several songs are unnecessary and have almost no value: A Girl's Oath and Nata- both of which are mainly vocals, the first female, the second ugly male vocals that sound like a drunkard's song. The CD has the same intro and outro song-Sacrapos-which isn't good either. The outro version adds some bells at the end. A lot of songs are listeneable but also unremarkable and forgetable: The Arcane Dominion, Within the Grove, Dessumiis Luge, Gobanno, Voveso in Mori. I will say thought that I am very fond of Dessumiis Luge mainly because ends with an awesome and gutsy girl scream that for some reason I can't stop listening to. This leaves us with a with a few oustanding songs: Brictom, a nice and energetic song gets things started on the right foot. The Cauldron of Renascence, a wonderful fast cheery instrumental song. The single Omnos, which is this album's Inis Mona in so far as once you hear it, you'll be replaying it in your head for days to come. Carnutian Forest, which is hampered by a lame intro that lasts more than half of the song. Memento, which sounds very much like a song by the great German folk metal bands In Extremo or Nachtgeschrei- that is to say, a more traditional folk song that is more bagpipe and guitar-based. And finally, Ne Regv Na, which sounds at times like a good Latin-American pop song. Overall, this is a very pop sounding album with the vocals standing out far above everything else. In this case Anna Murphy provides the majority of the vocals with Chrigel Glanzmann providing the occasional low-volume scream or groan. Anna has quite the vocal range and a pleasing voice. But as a pop folk album it has to obey the immutable law of pop music according to which an album can have only a few good songs and the majority have to be fillers. And it's a shame. The good songs in this album are indeed outstanding. But too many songs aren't at all. What those songs lack is a certain something- an edge. They are rather slow, mild, musically very light- not the kind of music you associate with peppy or tear-inducing folk melodies. It mostly sounds like there are only 2 or 3 people playing instruments during most songs instead of the full 8 member band. Production is excellent overall. The band chose not to translate the ancient lyrics. That is unfortunate. And while I do appreciate the text included in ancient scripts, I for one am curious about what the ancient Europeans had on their minds. Perhaps the lyrics to A Girl's Oath or Nata would help us understand the significance of including these lacklusters songs. Translations for some songs can be found online if one searches long enough. The artwork overall of the booklet is nice and complex but the print quality is not good. I wonder if European versions are better. The US version looks like a copy of a copy somehow. Recommended for those who enjoyed the folk instrumental songs on Slania and for everyone who likes their folk music sounding more pop.

There really are not words to describe how complex this album is, but above all it is a treat to listen to. Its rich auditory texture with the different instruments combined with the Gaelic lyrics is beyond neat. Not much more to say other then that, it leaves me speechless, and somehow words seem crass to describe this work of art.

Eluveitie est un groupe suisse de Folk Metal qui combine le Death Metal mélodique à la Dark Tranquility ou In Flames avec le Folk et ses instruments traditionnels. Spirit et Slania, les deux premiers albums du groupe, étaient vraiment excellents, mais Eluveitie a décidé cette fois de composer un album acoustique (qui est la première partie d'un concept en deux albums). Qu'en est-il de Evocation I : The Arcane Dominion ? Tout d'abord, c'est plaisant d'avoir tous ces instruments traditionnels au service de cette musique Folk sur laquelle vient se poser un chant féminin très majoritaire (pour moi, il n'est d'ailleurs pas assez présent sur les précédents albums, vu la grande qualité de celui-ci !) Donc, Anna Murphy, dont l'instrument de musique est la vielle dans le groupe, est la chanteuse principale de l'album, Chrigel Glanzmann (le chanteur principal de Eluveitie) étant ici finalement plutôt en soutien. Franchement, la voix d' Anna est magnifiquement adaptée à cette musique et constitue un atout incontestable ! Ajoutons que la seconde demoiselle du groupe, Meri Tadic (violon), participe également de façon très réussie aux vocaux. Le groupe a fait le choix de chanter en ancien gaulois, choix intéressant et pertinent afin de renforcer l'aspect folk celtique du concept, de lui donner une identité encore plus affirmée. Les mélodies et les atmosphères sont de qualité et agréables, l'interprétaion ne souffre d'aucun défaut (notons qu'il y a pas mal de parties instrumentales), la production est excellente et on notera la présence de quelques invités, dont A.a. Nemtheanga, le chanteur de Primordial. Certains seront sans doute frustrés de ne pas entendre les instruments typiques du Metal (j'avoue que cela a été un peu mon cas lors de la première écoute, mais ce sentiment s'est vite évaporé !) et auront du mal à accrocher, mais Evocation I : The Arcane Dominion est un très bon album, attachant, original et très plaisant, c'est finalement une autre facette à découvrir de cet excellent groupe qu'est Eluveitie. En bonus, sur le cd, il y a deux titres dont une version Metal de Omnos (le "tube" de l'album, en version acoustique ou électrique !) On a également un super dvd live, enregistré au Summer Breeze en 2008, qui contient 9 titres pour environ 46 minutes de musique, et qui m'a fait passer un excellent moment car tout est réuni pour cela : l'image est de qualité, c'est bien filmé, le son (stéréo) est excellent, l'ambiance est chaleureuse, le groupe livre une très bonne prestation et est visiblement heureux d'être là ! Bref, ce dvd passe très (trop) vite !

tout bon pour moi 110% !!!

Wie die meisten Renzensionen richtig festhalten, handelt es sich hier um ein Akustikalbum. Seltsam scheint mir zu sein, dass der Akustik-CD die DVD eines Konzerts beiliegt, das eindeutig dem klassischen, metallischen Stil der Band entspricht. Jedenfalls haben mir die melidiösen Teile der Songs auf der DVD besser gefallen als der Heavy Metal Part (oder wie dies bei Pagan Metal heisst). Liegt es an mir, oder tönt der Leadsänger irgendwie nach Lordi?

gli adoro

Here they are being cool and quiet. Amazingly.