The Benja-man Is Verbose

I've been blogging about Eluveitie's particular brand of quirk (and incredibly belatedly learning the band's ma s termind'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 "...

For now, this is the end of my Eluveitie project.  I'm going to resist the urge to make vague summary statements beyond the fact that I like Eluveitie and have enjoyed listening to them, in part because they're still an active band; I'm just caught up now.  Here are some theoretically quick thoughts on the material they've released since their last record. Part One:  Live At Monsters Of Rock 2019 I kind of want to put this part later in the post since I doubt many would read past it.  I am, however, a stickler for chronology.  So!  Eluveitie put out another official live record, their second or third depending on whether one counts Slania (Tour Edition) , and it's the first standalone live release to make it to the streaming services.  The setlist is: 1)  Ategnatos 2)  King 3)  The Call Of The Mountains 4)  Deathwalker 5)  Worship 6)  Artio 7)  Epona 8)  A Rose For Epona 9)  Thousandfold 10)  Ambiramus ...

Still a little in-house project, with our trio of Anna, Ivo, and Merlin being the co-credited songwriters for everything, and the only musicians credited for playing on the record. Track One:  "Pain" It opens with two clear sounds - a pulsating guitar that'll soon resolve into a background metal riff, and a lively hurdy-gurdy overlay that basically acts as the lead stringed instrument, handling the main riff.  This will be a recurring theme.  Once Anna starts singing I hear hudry less, and the song seems a little less hard-rocking than you'd think, although it's got a bit of a rock chorus.  The best hook here is the "day in, day out" part.  The best section is the instrumental break in which the opening progression serves as the basis for a full-on hurdy solo.  The lyrics are cryptic and some delivered in a breathy wispy style that I don't love, but I gather that either Death or a human child is being scapegoated or something, setting the scene for.....

I decided I did need to do a post about Vên after all, being such an apparently devoted fan and all.  And I had to listen to all of its versions. For the purposes of this post, if I just mention Vê n, I'm referring to the EP released (to a very limited audience) in 2004.  It exists only on YouTube and the like for us digital people, and apparently the physical versions are also very hard to find.  The "other versions" of songs that I'll mention include:  - the "Demo," also via YouTube, is the original 2003 version of Vên .  It featured incarnations of all the same songs that later ended up on the 2004 EP.  At this point in time Eluveitie was a "studio project" rather than a band.  I amuse myself imagining Chrigel playing everything himself in a cramped attic somewhere, although I do believe that there were some session musicians involved. - the Early Years , mentioned in previous posts, is the compilation released in 2012 that includes, among ot...

Finally getting around to this.  We're back in metal-land with the new guys and gals fully incorporated into the band.  Sticking with the reported spirit of collaboration, Jonas Wolf (again - JONAS. WOLF.  Still such a metal name...) is credited with production help and gets just tons of songwriting credits, including getting listed before Chrigel on occasion.  Most of the others pitch in here and there too as co-writers, but it's mostly Chrigel and Jonas.  Here's what they come up with on the band's longest release to date. Track One:  "Ategnatos" Oh great, more Andrew narration.  At least it's brief.  An appealing flute figure that'll pop up a few times on this record * (and in our first bit of "this sounds like that other song," it sounds a lot like the tune also used as the basis for "The Nameless" - no wonder I keep wanting to sing "holy father in darkness" instead of the actual lyrics) leads us into an appealing Fab...

Over the last few records Eluveitie has shed basically its entire non-Chrigel membership other than bassist Kay Brem, who becomes the official longest tenured non-Chrigel member of the band both in terms of number of albums and number of calendar years (as of this writing, he has yet to quit or be fired...).  On the one hand, introducing the world to a whole bunch of new members with an Evocation record seems jarring, but on the other, maybe that's the way to do it, especially with a section of the fans yammering about how they found the folk elements so lacking on the post- Slania metal records.   Anyway, say hello to Alain, Fabienne, Michalina, Matteo, and perhaps most importantly, new rhythm guitarist Jonas Wolf.  Not only is Jonas expected to be the engine for the metal side of the band the way his predecessor Ivo was, and not only does he very quickly get a lot of song co-writer credits under his belt the way Ivo did, but he was apparently the one who ...