Eluveitie

Swiss folk-metal outfit Eluveitie fuses hurdy-gurdy, flute, and pipes with a core death-metal sound while weaving in pagan themes voiced entirely in Gaulish, the extinct Celtic tongue once spoken across Western Europe before Latin. The lineup features Chrigel Glanzmann on vocals, Ivo Henzi and Siméon Koch on guitar, Rafi Kirder on bass, Anna Murphy on hurdy-gurdy, Meri Tadic on violin, Sevan Kirder on whistles, flute, and gaita, plus Merlin Sutter on drums. Vocalist Chrigel Glanzmann, previously active in Môr Cylch and Dornwald, launched the project in 2002 as a solitary studio experiment that yielded the self-financed EP Vên the following year. Strong underground-metal reception prompted Glanzmann to expand the endeavor into a permanent ensemble.

The group played its first live shows in 2004 and inked a deal with Dutch imprint Fear Dark Records, which issued a revised edition of Vên. Throughout 2005 Eluveitie shared bills across Europe with labelmates Slechtvalk, Random Eyes, and Pantokrator while laying plans for a full-length debut recorded late that year. Spirit appeared on Fear Dark in 2006, marking the band’s first album proper. To promote it, the Swiss ensemble traveled with Germany’s Odroerir and shared top billing at the 2006 Fear Dark Festivals as well as the 2007 Ragnarök Festival. Late in 2007 the group moved to German powerhouse Nuclear Blast and delivered its sophomore effort, Slania, in 2008; the release cracked the Swiss Top 40. A largely acoustic follow-up, Evocation I: The Arcane Dominion, surfaced in 2009, after which 2010’s Everything Remains (As It Never Was) restored the band’s folk-metal emphasis. Helvetios arrived in 2012 as a sprawling concept album centered on the Gallic Wars, while Origins explored Celtic mythology two years later.

Following several personnel shifts, Eluveitie resurfaced in 2017 with Evocation II: Pantheon, the sequel to the 2009 acoustic set; the album became the act’s second-biggest Swiss chart success and reached the U.S. Heatseekers Top 10. The reconfigured lineup soon tracked Ategnatos—whose title translates from Gaulish as “reborn”—and released the eighth studio album in 2019. It debuted at number three on the Swiss charts and featured the singles “Ambiramus” and “The Slumber.” That same year the band issued the concert recording Live at Masters of Rock 2019.