ELUVEITIE - Ànv (2025)

I've been blogging about Eluveitie's particular brand of quirk (and incredibly belatedly learning the band's mastermind's name) for over a year now.  Reviewing a brand-new record at the same time the rest of the world is processing it can't help but feel a little different.  In theory it should be the same.  I mean, for me it's only been six months or so without new Eluveitie, rather than over five years.  And in theory, none of that should have any bearing on Ànv, whose strengths and weaknesses will be the same five years from now as they are now.  I'll try to review it like any other record.

Track One:  "Emerge"

...And out of the darkness emerges a tune, carried by folk instruments first and then guitars hit.  Well, as they do.  Bog-standard intro that does exactly what one expects.

Track Two:  "Taranoías"

Damn, this song is so close to having me that it's heartbreaking every time.  The way the violin figure from "Emerge" so smoothly transitions into a more typical Eluveitie metal groove, and the agitated back-and-forth sort of riff, and the way Chrigel bites off unusually direct lyrics like "as we crave narcotic comfort/shrink-wrapped empty shells," culminating in that awesome "the end, the end."  All good stuff.  And then... there's a buzzing pause before the chorus the way there always is, and then Fabiennne takes over the song, singing basically the vocal melody from "The Call Of The Mountains" the way 90% of her hooks seem to be, with exactly the same delivery she always does.*  Meh, so bland.  There's a lot of good stuff in the rest of the song (including the bridge, which is a more folk-feeling take on part of the chorus), with the momentum invariably being lost each time we hit that letdown of a chorus. 

Lyrically this outlook on the present state of humanity is grim.  Chrigel's lyrics don't usually go the route of scorn or social commentary like this, and haven't much since the early days ("Lament" comes to mind, and maybe "Your Gaulish War").  Not usually so sustained, either.  Is Ànv going to be the angriest Eluveitie record?

Track Three:  "The Prodigal Ones"

The sequencing of the songs here is a bit of a shame, because putting "The Prodigal Ones" right after "Taranoías," well... they're similarly structured songs (even starting their vocals with a similar introductory growl!) with similar lyrical themes.  And basically the same, except that everything about "The Prodigal Ones" is better.  Yes, I get the sequencing thematically - the first song is setting the stage of the hopeless "forsaken" whilst the second one has said broken ones daring to dream of renewal.  Wish the music flowed in as logical a way. 

Anyway, everything its predecessor did badly, "The Prodigal Ones" does well, and everything good about "Taranoías" has an analogue in TPO that's flat-out great.  When you have a hook like that main hurdy-gurdy (I think) pattern, you can be forgiven for beating it into the ground, and TPO knows that it's got something special to work with there.  The way the gurdy comes back in on the pre-chorus ("whispers fade...") is glorious.  The chorus incorporates exactly the correct amount of Fabienne's cleans swapping in, limiting herself to mostly "for we are broken... the forsaken," whilst that incredibly catchy tunelet backs us up and Chrigel guides us smoothly between the different pieces of the song.  I love how punchy Alain's drumming is at the end of the solo.  And in general too, but especially there.  Another all-timer of a song that highlights everything this band does so deftly. 

Track Four:  "Ànv"

Hey, remember when I said that Evocation style two-minute tracks would make for the perfect interludes on Eluveitie's "metal" records?  Well, here you go, some Fabi n' strings stuff.  The obvious comparison to make would be to "Artio," which wasn't my favorite.  I enjoy "Ànv" better than "Artio" without being able to explain exactly why.  I think the string pattern is more interesting and the high notes are fewer and less jarring, but I also kinda think it's just that this sort of thing is better placed as an interlude between melodeath songs.

Track Five:  "Premonition"

I've been living with this one for some time since it was the first single.  I keep questioning whether it's actually an especially strong track in toto, but then it keeps winning me over again whenever my mind goes that direction.  "Premonition" has at least three things going for it: a cool violin part, a very catchy growled chorus, and a full-on killer rock guitar solo complete with that dissonant rising action that starts at around 2:52.  Here the clean vocals serve as a post-chorus, taking advantage of the fact that the character of Fabienne's voice when singing mid-range in Gaulish will scream "folk."  Nothing groundbreaking, but sometimes Eluveitie doing Eluveitie things is all you need. 

I kinda hate the cheesy closing vocal part, though.

Track Six:  "Awen"

Okay, so I'm a little aware of the online discourse.  On the "negative" side, there are of course individuals who don't especially care for Ànv for a variety of reasons.  Besides normal differing opinions, though, there are also two narratives that pockets of internet groupthink are peddling that tend to fall hardest on songs like "Awen."  One camp hates that Eluveitie allegedly used to be METAL and now are a girly pop band on the level of [insert whatever pop artist it's cool for metal dudes to hate on at the moment], and, well, those people already hated everything post-Slania anyway.  There's another camp out there too that hates that Eluveitie allegedly used to have deep folk cred and whereas now Jonas is watering everything down with his generic metal riffs**, such that the band is now just Illumishade v. 2, now.  Just metal with violins rather than true folk-metal.  These two camps tend to converge on disliking "Awen" in particular.

Me?  My immediate reaction upon first hearing it was that it was my favorite of the advance singles.  That's no longer the case, but that's entirely because of how into "The Prodigal Ones" I've gotten.  I still like "Awen" a lot.  As far as Eluveitie "pop" songs go, "Awen" is a worthy spiritual successor to "Vianna" (and "Ambiramos"), focusing on hauntingly beautiful mid-range cleans spelling out lyrical phrases in a way that pleases the ear.***  Fabi is the focus throughout, not just with the vocals but with a heavy dose of harp to spice up the chorus.  The harp and the gurdy are absolutely integral to this thoroughly folky song that's got enough crunchy guitars to still qualify as metal as fuck.  

Chrigel ending the chorus with a single growled line reminds me in a positive way of "Quoth The Raven" where he had a totally different role.  I legit thought an Awen was a kind of bird from context, but basic internet searching tells me that it's the embodiment of inspiration.  Something that the Forsaken have lost but still have the ability to reach and yearn for.  Anyway, this is a great song, full stop. 

Track Seven:  "Anamcara"

Hey, it's an actual acoustic guitar; very pleasant change of pace.  Maybe Stockholm syndrome talking here, but it seems a little weird to being an Eluveitie record without Alexander Morton dropping by to deliver some portentious/pretentious nonsense, as long as it's kept to a minimum.  Well, no Morton this time, and "Anamcara" is the only "narrator" track on Ànv.  It tells an interesting little vignette that goes all the way to "the fruits of the earth shall rot" before moving on to our old pal, the Nameless, and the movement towards... well, the usual rebirth is implied, but this bit just focuses on a purifying sort of destruction.  Huh.  Cool interlude.

Track Eight:  "The Harvest"

I love a lot about "The Harvest," but probably my favorite aspect is how, having been set up by "Anamcara," "The Harvest" conveys the same basic feeling using completely different tools.  The chorus's "threshing flail" emerges as a force of cleansing, to be welcomed.  The vocal melody is nice with its nearly spoken word feel whilst the violins whip around the vocals, there are some tasty bursts of rare lead-guitar mini-solos to punctuate the ends of choruses whilst the violins counterpoint with beautiful dissonance.  That leaves the song free to turn into a pastoral jig from Hell during the bridge.  And as always, Alain is going nuts in the background, punching up the song without distracting.  My one nitpick I guess would be the slower chanty delivery of the bridge, which is a little too much of a retread of "Worship" for my taste.  In all other respects, this is the sort of soaring violinic anthem that Eluveitie do so well, and I am so here for it.

And yes, he is really saying "merry-go-round" in the first verse.  Whatever he means by that, I know he means it.

Track Nine:  "Memories Of Innocence"

At first it seems to soon to have another interlude.  Then MOI picks up the pace and develops into a lively little tune of its own in the Evocation style.  I'm not sophisticated enough to identify what sort of percussion is being used here - sounds like wooden blocks! - I just know I like it.  Really fun piece all around.  As always, I don't know if the melody is traditional or just made to sound like it is; if you tell me it's traditional I'll probably believe you.

Track Ten:  "All Is One"

Hear me out: Eluveitie need to go all in and try a full-on acoustic ballad sometime.  Yes, I do recognize that they've recorded two entire records' worth of acoustic and often softer songs.  Those are ersatz folk tunes.  I'm talking about a rock record's sort of ballad - big, emotional, sweeping chorus... but no power chords and no metal.  Do like the beginning of "All Is One" does, letting the flute lead the way with harp support and let Fabi sing in this range and take us places.  Listening to "All Is One," I know it's going to have the predictable "drop" when the guitars come in and I'm going to lose interest.  The orchestration is really interesting on the first verse and then boring as shit once the chorus hits.  I love Fabienne's voice during the verses, especially the first, and then not so much during the chorus and especially the bits where we edge into diva-shriek territory.  I want to be there with the song flying above the fray, and diving into the way the lyrics bring back elements not only from this record ("torn in twain," the singer herself becoming the awen) and from other Eluveitie work (hey, it's another "endless knot!").  I'm not quite there.  Very much unlike "Awen," this one does, in fact, sound like an Illumishade song with violins.

Track Eleven:  "Aeon Of The Crescent Moon"

Well, we've reached our recreation of the cosmos.  Rather glorious, overall.  The interplay here is top-notch.  Not only is the buzzing hurdy-gurdy riff a perfect match for Chrigel's barking, but it sets up a great structure wherein Annie and Jonas toss the base of the song back and forth.  Love the pre-chorus, with Fabienne smoothly fading in for a few lines and Chrigel complementing her, and then them switching back.  Can't help but notice how the violin solo sounds like one that Eluveitie have done five thousand times before... and almost feel guilty even mentioning the complaint because it sounds so good.  Back to pure compliments: love the way whatever stringed instrument that is and Fabienne's wordless cleans take turns holding a few notes during the final buildup, so the line between human voice and the instruments becomes indistinguishable.  Love this song!

Track Twelve:  "The Prophecy"

Hey, it's been a little while since we've heard them do this sort of closer.  You know the kind, increasing cacophony as whispered words and background wails beget the folk instruments which beget the rock instruments which begets the harsh vocals... maybe because it's in Gaulish, all vox both harsh and clean seem to be just instruments.  I don't have much to say about "The Prophecy" or many thoughts about it.  We could use a little more Gaulish chanting and more Celtic pipes in our lives. 

According to the credits, one of the mass of voices is the always-busy Adrienne Cowan (see: Seven Spires, fifty other things), and one admittedly not particularly trustworthy site also lists her as a cowriter.

Other thoughts:

- Either they're not announcing the writing credits anymore, or they just haven't been posted online to anywhere I trust.  Either way, since I don't do physical records (yes, I stream everything, and no, I have no qualms about this), I don't know who wrote what.

- Alain is just killing it, all record long.

- I was a little surprised to see that most tracks still credit hurdy-gurdyist emeritus Michalina Malisz.  Annie Redinger also appears on a couple, so at least her short time with the band is commemorated on a studio album.  These credits sort of pull back the curtain on any illusion of a band working on songs together as a group, given that as far as I'm aware Michalina and new violinist Lea-Sophie Fischer have never been in Eluveitie at the same time, at least not officially.  This also means that we still haven't seen an Eluveitie record composed and recorded without a dedicated hurdyist, which is their situation as of 2025, so I fear a little bit for the future.

- Going back to Helvetios, the record whose quality I find closest to this, was interesting.  I'd forgotten how totally central the hurdy-gurdy was to the "folk" parts of Eluveitie's sound, in a way it hasn't been since Anna left****.  On the other hand, there are parts going to the mandola or whatever that I can now think would be better suited to a harp, lending a little credence to Chigrel's claim that he always kind of wanted to incorporate a harp.  The two records are a study in opposites.  Helvetios's highs are incredible, whereas Ànv more rarely nails things so completely.  Helvetios is still too long and gets trying by the end, whereas Ànv is remarkably tight, concise, and unified in theme by Eluveitie standards.

- These guys just do not miss.  Taking into account that a band that's been around in some form for twenty years and has an established sound is going to be less able to surprise and delight me now that I've listened to everything... they're still capable of making music I find vital and exciting, record after record.  It's almost unfair for a band to be this good.

Favorite track:  "The Prodigal Ones"

Runner up:  "The Harvest"

Least favorite track:  "All Is One"

Rating:  4/5

Definitive list of records by Eluveitie and Cellar Darling, in order of what I have decided is unambiguously their quality

1)  Origins

2)  Everything Remains (As It Never Was)

3)  Slania

4)  Ategnatos

5)  Ànv

6)  Helvetios

7)  Spirit

8)  Evocation I - The Arcane Dominion

9)  The Spell [Cellar Darling] 

10)  Evocation II - Pantheon

11)  This Is The Sound [Cellar Darling] 

12)  Vên

 

Well, whenever the band releases something else, I'll presumably get around to writing about it.  Hopefully it won't be another 5-6 years...

 

*Anna might have had the grit in her voice to pull this off.  Speaking as an unabashed fan of post-2015 Eluveitie, I miss Anna.

**Yes, people used to complain about Ivo's riffs in exactly the same way

***"Towards the yawning void/Beyond the dawning light."  Damn, that sounds good when sung.  It's got internal rhymes and everything!

****I hope I'm appropriately conveying that I both like and respect the "new" band members.  I've made that clear, right?  Well, I miss Anna.