Eluveitie – Everything Remains As It Never Was (2010) Review
YOUTUBEEverything Remains As It Never Was is here! Eluveitie is playing some of their heaviest and most melodic music. After one listen I have placed this beside Spirit as my favorite Eluveitie album.
I’ll get my complaining out of the way now: This music is almost too catchy. Some of it sounds like it was written with accessibility in mind. All in all, this isn’t really a bad thing. The other thing that bothered me was some of the spoken female parts. They were almost too ominous and serious. It’s hard to listen to, but I think that’s what they were going for.
As for the music, I can now say that there is no real contest. Eluveitie is the king of folk metal. I especially like that they are a little darker, heavier, and more melancholy on this release. But really, how melancholy can you be when your music features hurdy-gurdy, bagpipes, flutes, and several other folk instruments. It’s still a hell-of-a lot of fun. It just sounds like a darker part of the forest than before.
The production is perfect. The screams are epic. The chanting is both hollow and piercing at the same time. The guitars are thick and crunchy and the folk elements are clean and well placed. Overall I still prefer the slightly more raw sound they had on Spirit, but I really can’t complain. This will be the album that I play when introducing fans of American metal to European metal.
I don’t want to write anymore. I want to run around in the forest and hit things with an axe (I take no responsibility for anything stupid you might do while listening to this album). It’s an instant classic.
9.8/10
Line-up (stolen from metal-archives.com):
Christian “Chrigel” Glanzmann – Vocals, Acoustic Guitars, Mandolin, Uilleann
Pipes, Bodhràn, Tin and low whistles, Gaita
Ivo Henzi – Guitars
Simeon Koch – Guitars, Vocals
Kay Brem – Bass
Merlin Sutter – Drums
Meri Tadic – Fiddle, Vocals
Anna Murphy – Hurdy Gurdy, Vocals
Patrick “Päde” Kistler – Bagpipes, Whistles
Tracks:
1. Otherworld 01:57
2. Everything Remains As It Never Was 04:25
3. Thousandfold 03:20
4. Nil 03:43
5. The Essence Of Ashes 03:59
6. Isara 02:44
7. Kingdom Come Undone 03:22
8. Quoth the Raven 04:42
9. (Do)minion 05:07
10. Setlon 02:36
11. Sempiternal Embers 04:52
12. Lugd’non 04:01
13. The Liminal Passage 02:15
Total: 44:23
Be sure to catch them when they come through your neck of the woods. http://www.eluveitie.ch/
9 Comments
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23 Feb 2010, 2:59 am
I think if they got rid of the Hurdy Gurdy it would be good
23 Feb 2010, 3:07 am
very epic.. I love this album. Thousandfold got me into then a while back but The other tracks are just as good.
23 Feb 2010, 6:40 am
Yes! God damn I love Eluveitie man. I think this might be my favorite album by them thus far…but I have not listened to this enough yet to confirm it. Keep it Folk.
23 Feb 2010, 9:02 am
I love ELuveitie but i have to say that this is a higher rating then I would have chosen. Dont get me wrong it is an awsome album but it is third best for me. (behind spirit and then Slania). Mainly because they played their cards a bit to safely on the folk side of things. I would give it a solid 7.5/10. I am fairly new to the folk metal scene and if anybody knows of more good bands I would love to know!
23 Feb 2010, 9:42 am
Yeah , I would have rated this a bit lower too, but I'm not as big a folk metal fan as Logan. I dig this album, just like Ensiferum's From Afar, a lot because the riffing is more…up there, if you get what I mean?
Anyways man, welcome to the forums! Hang around
23 Feb 2010, 9:57 am
I actually didn't like Slania as much as most people. It was good but I think this album has better melodies…
23 Feb 2010, 10:03 am
This is very similar to Slania but as you said some of the melodies were better. This could be called Slania Part 2 or as a reviewer on another website said "everything remains the same as it was on Slania" Part of the reason this would get a lower grade then Slania is for that reason. I was hoping for something more fresh but since Eluveitie is great I am perfectly happy with this album.
26 Feb 2010, 12:58 pm
Just got to hear the album not too long ago, love it. After this the next thing I'm waiting most for is Elvenking's new stuff, hopefully they get more into their old style. Great review and totally an album to pick up.
07 Apr 2010, 9:53 pm
This site is going to make me go fucking broke.
I've read two reviews, and bought two albums. (The new Eluveitie and Carach Angren albums, if anyone was wondering)
I was a fan of Eluveitie for a long time, then moved on to some heavier shit, and now I've come back. Eluveitie ftw.
Oh yeah, SuidAkra is around the same genre as Eluveitie. I think, it's been awhile since I've listened to them, but I'm pretty sure they are folk metal if anyone wants to check out a similar (if I remember correctly lol) band.
*Edit* Suidakra is folk/melodeth.. Sounds similar to Eluveitie. My favorite song is Darkane Times, check them out.
Oh yeah, and necro-bump ftw.
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