ELUVEITIE - Odds and ends post #1
So I could get a sense of the band’s catalog before digging into the live stuff, I did give a few listens to the first EP as presented on The Early Years, a thing the band put together in 2012 that includes redone versions of the songs from Vên, and then that’s followed by the whole Spirit record. The issue here of course is that I didn’t listen to Vên in its non “re-recorded” version, so I can’t say how much these tracks were re-thought in 2012 style vs what was there from the beginning. I did end up trying to listen to the two version of “Uis Elveti” side by side, although again I don’t know if The Early Years focused just on recapturing the way it was originally done or if they further re-wrote it. I miss the intro buildup on the The Early Years version and the drop into the “metal” part doesn’t have quite as much impact. But it sounds nice to actually have the vocals front and center (both Chigrel’s and Anna’s, the latter of whom has a significantly bigger vocal part than did the female vocalist in the Spirit version). It’s better produced for me. Around 2:48 on the Spirit version 2:37 on the The Early Years version, the acoustic bridge is rewritten to be shorter, string-i-er, and lose the chanting, and I don’t have a strong preference for one version over the other.
Anyway, impressions of the rest of the EP: the production is refreshingly crisp, and I like actually being able to understand most of the English lyrics. Being who I am am, I was quickly drawn to “Lament” and “Druid” which when they go metal, commit to the metal with the blast beats in a way that much of Eluveitie doesn’t. More of a compartmentalization/alternation between metal and non-metal elements, if that makes sense. “Druid” does go on a bit longer than it has the musical ideas to sustain. On another note, “Jêzaïg” is built around just a gorgeous melody – from a trad folk song, naturally - although again I don’t know if there’s enough in the song to sustain its nearly five-minute length.
I don't love Chigrel's "yaargh!" vocalizations. You don't need to do that shit.
One of my streaming services (Napster, oddly enough, which is usually the one least likely to have something) also has a "tour version" of Slania that includes a Solvenian gig from that era. I jumped on that as my first (going chronologically) chance to hear an official live record from these guys. Since I'm interested in setlist choices, first let's just go through the setlist from that show:
Overall this turned out like how one might expect, wherein the nuances you get on the studio version get sanded flat into a wall of noise. Live Eluveitie songs are samier than even on record, and honestly I was about ready for the gig to be over when it was. As I said, it's basically to be expected with this sort of music. Maybe they should have sprinkled in some of the quieter interludes, but you also don't want to kill your momentum when you're doing a metal show. And yeah, I recognize that I'm saying this as someone sitting and listening years a decade and a half later, not as someone amongst an enthusiastic crowd jumping along with the enthusiastic performers.
When they went straight from "Primordial Breath" to "Gray Sublime Archon" I figured they'd save "Inis Mona" for near the end. And then they played "Inis Mona" next. *shrug*. Gave me a chance to do one of my imagined rearrangements to hear if the songs would hit different in a different order. And you know what? PB is still a solid tune (and a strong opener), GSA is still more of an album track, and IM still fucking rules. Hearing it played for an enthusiastic throng is one of those things that reminds me why I listen to music.
I'd been a little confused when I read a reference somewhere
to the idea that even though early Eluveitie was great it didn't resemble the
Eluveitie today's fans know because Anna didn't sing. That seemed like a
confusing statement because Anna, and Sarah before her, do, in fact, have one
song on each record in which they sing lead, and that's not even counting
interludes. Well, that's true, but... any thought of Eluveitie
being a dueling-vocalists band clearly did not exist at the time that this gig
was recorded. Chigrel is clearly the defined frontman, with Anna not
addressing the crowd at all or her voice even being really audible until
"Slanias Song" arrives mid-gig. There's no evidence I could
hear that she's portrayed as any kind of featured performer compared to anyone
else in the ensemble. Chigrel goes out of his way to shout out her hurdy
gurdy, but doesn't actually mention her (or any other band member) by name.
Nothing amazing or anything, but Chigrel's banter and ad libs seem decent. He's cultivating a persona as a fratboy who's a history buff on the side, never minding dropping nuggets about the Gaelic language in with his addressing the audience as "you guys" and his periodic demands that they make some fucking noise.
As mentioned in my review, I'd always taken "Bloodstained Ground" and "The Somber Lay" as connected songs, two sides of the same coin. Here they're played totally separately. And they portray "The Somber Lay" as a high-energy song to dance to, which it actually is, at least based on this version, giving Meri some time to shine.
This sort of music makes it hard for the drummer to run the band the way he can in a regular metal band, but Merlin sounds great on "Tegernakô." Somehow despite it being one of my favorites from the band so far, I didn't have it pegged as a potential closing track (they actually play it second to last, making the somewhat odd choice to fade out with "AnDro," leaving "Calling The Rain" and "Elembivos," conspicuous in their absence). Now I think it would definitely work as the closer.
Okay, that's our check in with my Eluveitie project. Thoughts on Evocation I will still eventually happen, whenever I finally get around to even listening to it!
Comments
Post a Comment