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Eluveitie - Origins review



Reviewer:
8.2

354 users:
7.99
Band: Eluveitie
Album: Origins
Release date: August 2014


01. Origins
02. The Nameless
03. From Darkness
04. Celtos
05. Virunus
06. Nothing
07. The Call Of The Mountains
08. Sucellos
09. Inception
10. Vianna
11. The Silver Sister
12. King
13. The Day Of Strife
14. Ogmios
15. Carry The Torch
16. Eternity

So here we are again, fellow folks. Eluveitie, kings of Celtic metal, are back with two new members and sixteen new songs. Hopefully no one expects something different than your usual folkish fiddle metal for this is exactly what you get here, once again. But seriously, those Swiss guys have always been great at what they do and especially after Ensiferum's last effort we all know that things can go wrong if you change too much. So now that we worked out our expectations, the rest is about distinguishing good and bad not-so-good songs while having a look at the overall sound on Origins.

Twelve metal songs and four intro/outro/less-than-a-minute tracks await the listener and last for fifty-seven minutes. The album starts off with our already known and beloved narrator from Helvetios, setting the mood for an opus to come. And really, it doesn't take a minute to be dragged back to ancient Gallic times, facing threats from filthy Romans and other rivalrous tribes. But as the songs go by and the lyrics of each sink into the mind, one notices that many topics have changed from martial war stories to rather peaceful and mythological tales. A good example for this is the great opener "The Nameless", dealing with an ancient god of the Gauls. And as time goes by the songs are getting even better. At first.

If there is one thing to complain about Origins, it is the fact that it's a good example of a well-known tactic to hide the rather unspectacular tracks; namely placing them in the middle. I know that this is all a matter of taste, but with "The Call Of The Mountains" starts a four-track-long dry spell. The song itself is quite cheesy and poppy and simply not as good as "A Rose For Epona" from the previous album. While the next two tracks haven't much to offer, "Vianna" ends this in the same vein. But finally "The Silver Sister" stands as a great comeback and makes for much fun, having some features of a good party track. From this song on, the rest is again top-notch.

Most of the lyrics are in English but some passages again are in ancient Gallic, which gives a great feeling to them and makes "Carry The Torch" one of the best songs. Chrigel Glanzmann's vocals are powerful as always with his personal, somewhat dirty sounding style. In contrast, the guitars this time are clearer than ever, yet also heavier and stronger due to the use of noise gates. They make the foundation for the soft folk instruments above, a combination in which this band achieved to perfection, allowing them to go at any tempo.

In conclusion, this is an Eluveitie album. Jokes aside, great songs are easily noticed here and if there are some that deserve extra praise, most certainly their names are "From Darkness" and "Celtos", for they catch the listener at the very first listen and remain in their ears. Well done!


Rating breakdown
Performance: 9
Songwriting: 8
Originality: 6
Production: 10

Written by Windrider | 17.07.2014




Comments

Comments: 9   Visited by: 390 users
17.07.2014 - 10:40
moribun

That sounds promising. The only thing left is waiting for the release date.
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17.07.2014 - 16:36
Rating: 8
Cynic Metalhead
Paisa Vich Nasha
I don't fucking get it. Why people going cowshit over "A Rose For Epona" as cheesy and poppy number and comparing this new record with that song? No connection of head and toe.

"A Rose For Epona" isn't cheesy and poppy in the first place and that song has nothing to do with "Origins". It was one of those tracks that wasn't even standout from "Helevitos" and was just a plain good song. This will be the 6th time I'm seeing this horrible reference with no strings attach.

As for album, I still haven't check it out. Those streamed songs weren't impressive but seeing this review it really looks promising. Gotta check it out soon.
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17.07.2014 - 17:38
Rating: 8
Windrider
Raureif
Written by Cynic Metalhead on 17.07.2014 at 16:36

"A Rose For Epona" isn't cheesy and poppy in the first place and that song has nothing to do with "Origins". It was one of those tracks that wasn't even standout from "Helevitos" and was just a plain good song. This will be the 6th time I'm seeing this horrible reference with no strings attach.

The intention was not to refer to "A Rose For Epona" as a cheesy, poppy song but a typical slower Eluveitie song with mostly female vocals. And just the comparison revealed the new one, "The Call Of The Mountains" as cheesy/poppy while I stand with your statement that the Helvetios track is a good, but not outstanding song.
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17.07.2014 - 18:01
Rating: 8
Cynic Metalhead
Paisa Vich Nasha
Written by Windrider on 17.07.2014 at 17:38

Written by Cynic Metalhead on 17.07.2014 at 16:36

"A Rose For Epona" isn't cheesy and poppy in the first place and that song has nothing to do with "Origins". It was one of those tracks that wasn't even standout from "Helevitos" and was just a plain good song. This will be the 6th time I'm seeing this horrible reference with no strings attach.

The intention was not to refer to "A Rose For Epona" as a cheesy, poppy song but a typical slower Eluveitie song with mostly female vocals. And just the comparison revealed the new one, "The Call Of The Mountains" as cheesy/poppy while I stand with your statement that the Helvetios track is a good, but not outstanding song.


Yeah, your review is spot on. Actually, I was looking for aphrostic analysis of "Origins" before I go and check out the new record by myself. Hell yeah, I'm Eluveitie fan and was really happy seeing this new sweet album drop in; it also intrigued me as in what they've done this time but comparing an album with one song of previous output is friggin' useless and offbeat. i'm sure "Orgins" must have his own way of talking.
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18.07.2014 - 12:13
Gothmog_Motsham

Sounds like a typical Eluveitie album...I would love to see them create a pure death - folk metal album with no clean singing and a shit load of aggressive riffs and folk melodies. That would be super epic. They made a fully folkish album so they should make a fully death metal album as well...Great review
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22.07.2014 - 05:37
Rating: 9
AngelofDeth
Cyborg Raptor
Written by Cynic Metalhead on 17.07.2014 at 16:36

I don't fucking get it. Why people going cowshit over "A Rose For Epona" as cheesy and poppy number and comparing this new record with that song? No connection of head and toe.

"A Rose For Epona" isn't cheesy and poppy in the first place and that song has nothing to do with "Origins". It was one of those tracks that wasn't even standout from "Helevitos" and was just a plain good song. This will be the 6th time I'm seeing this horrible reference with no strings attach.

Personally, I find "Rose for Epona" just as cheesy/poppy as "The Call to the Mountains", actually even more so... When it comes to their female fronted songs I'm more a fan of "Quoth the Raven" and "Omnos". It's okay to like that song, I like my fair share of poppy stuff as well, but to say it isn't poppy is just plain denial.

Also most of Elu's songs are screamed by Chrigel, especially early work, so when Anna comes in to take over a song, well that stands out, how do you not get that? ....
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pewpew.. gotcha
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22.07.2014 - 08:23
Rating: 8
Cynic Metalhead
Paisa Vich Nasha
Written by AngelofDeth on 22.07.2014 at 05:37

Written by Cynic Metalhead on 17.07.2014 at 16:36

I don't fucking get it. Why people going cowshit over "A Rose For Epona" as cheesy and poppy number and comparing this new record with that song? No connection of head and toe.

"A Rose For Epona" isn't cheesy and poppy in the first place and that song has nothing to do with "Origins". It was one of those tracks that wasn't even standout from "Helevitos" and was just a plain good song. This will be the 6th time I'm seeing this horrible reference with no strings attach.


It's okay to like that song, I like my fair share of poppy stuff as well, but to say it isn't poppy is just plain denial.




You didn't get it.

It has nothing to with "A Rose For Epona" and by far margin this track hasn't any significant effect on "Origins" and "Helevitos" either. It's cheesy/poppy or isnt doesn't give a shit about any reference to get attached with this album. Yeah, I think "A Rose.." isn't cheesy at all......it's far worse than that!. Hell, it's one of the worst song stood out from "Helevitos". Then why the fuck it's getting involved with "Origins" in the first place?

Are y'all implying that this record is cheesefest and boring?

I don't think it is.
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22.07.2014 - 10:06
Rating: 9
AngelofDeth
Cyborg Raptor
Written by Cynic Metalhead on 22.07.2014 at 08:23


You didn't get it.

It has nothing to with "A Rose For Epona" and by far margin this track hasn't any significant effect on "Origins" and "Helevitos" either. It's cheesy/poppy or isnt doesn't give a shit about any reference to get attached with this album. Yeah, I think "A Rose.." isn't cheesy at all......it's far worse than that!. Hell, it's one of the worst song stood out from "Helevitos". Then why the fuck it's getting involved with "Origins" in the first place?

Are y'all implying that this record is cheesefest and boring?

I don't think it is.


Yeah.. I'm not getting this at all...
He compared a track from the last album with a track from this album because they're similar, I really don't see why that's a big deal. Oh well.
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pewpew.. gotcha
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30.01.2016 - 05:00
Rating: 6
Metren
Dreadrealm
Yet another band that I used to love and respect, that have gone downhill completely. The statement that "From Darkness" deserves extra praise illustrates this very well. If that is what is passing for a stand-out track, then there really isn't anything on the album worth listening to at all. After all, "From Darkness" has the exact same boring poppy feel to it that "Call Of The Mountains" has, it is simply slightly faster and heavier, with growls. Albums like "Slania" and "Spirit" really took me on a journey into another time and place, they were simply amazing. This album is amazingly mediocre and deserves a score of no more than 6 in my book.
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My one-man project's Bandcamp with free downloads: https://dreadrealm.bandcamp.com/
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