Eluveitie

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Eluveitie
Eluveitie at Cernunnos Fest
Background information
Origin	Switzerland
Genre(s)	Folk metal Celtic metal Melodic death metal
Years active	2002 - present
Label(s)	Fear Dark Nuclear Blast
Members
Sevan Kirder Merlin Sutter Siméon Koch Chrigel Glanzmann Meri Tadic Rafi Kirder Ivo Henzi Anna Murphy

Eluveitie (pronounced el-way-tea) is a folk metal band from Switzerland. Their sound can be described as Celtic folk metal with melodic death metal influences. The band formed in 2002 and their first EP, Vên came out in 2003. The band has since then released a full length album, Spirit. In November 2007, Eluveitie was signed by Nuclear Blast.^[1] The first product of the collaboration, Slania, was released in February 2008. One of Eluveitie's two largest draws is their liberal, virtuosic use of traditional instruments amidst guitars and Chrigel's wide ranging, emotional screams. The other is their lyrics; instead of any of the languages currently spoken in their home country, the screams, clean vocals, and occasional spoken word parts are often in the extinct language Gaulish. Eluveitie is Etruscan for "the Helvetian", referring to an inscription dating to the earliest record of the Celtic Helvetii tribe from what is now Switzerland.

1 Biography
2 Members
- 2.1 Former members
3 Discography
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Biography

The band was founded in the winter of 2002 by Christian "Chrigel" Glanzmann as a studio project. In October of the following year saw the publication of the MCD Vên (Helvetian Gaulish for "wild joy"). After the very good reviews from the scene and the media, the band decided to make Eluveitie a real band instead of a studio project.

Shortly afterwards, the group performed its first shows, one including the Swiss metal festival Elements of Rock, and Eluveitie signed a contract with the Dutch record label Fear Dark which re-issued Vên in 2004. Other live performances were played, such as on some events of "Fear Dark Festivals", and even as support for the established international pagan/folk metal acts such as Korpiklaani and Cruachan.

During the 15-year existence of the German-Icelandic band Falkenbach, a limited edition tribute album was published for them in 2006, which also included Eluveitie's cover song "Vanadis"). Furthermore, it came at the beginning of this year to a change in the line-up. When Sarah Kiener was replaced by Anna Murphy to play hurdy gurdy, the band decided that they did not need Linda Suter to play fiddle anymore.

In the 2nd quarter of 2006, the album entitled Spirit was published on Fear Dark, and the September of that same year, Eluveitie toured Europe with the German band Odroerir. At the end of 2006, Eluveitie signed a new recording contract with the German label Twilight Records. In early 2007, they played at Ragnarök Festival.

In November 2007, Eluveitie signed a contract with label Nuclear Blast. The new studio album Slania (maiden name for the old Helvetia) was released on February 15, 2008.

On June 4, 2008, brothers Rafi Kirder and Sevan Kirder (bassist and bagpipe player, respectively) announced on their MySpace pages that they will leave Eluveitie following their concert at the Bloodstock Open Air Festival in England on August 15, 2008.

[edit] Members

Merlin Sutter (born 21.09.1986) - Drums
Siméon Koch (born 1982) - Guitar
Chrigel Glanzmann (born 1975) - Vocals, Mandola, Whistles, Pipes, Gaita, Acoustic Guitar, Bodhràn
Meri Tadic (born 1982) - Violin, Vocals
Ivo Henzi (born 1983) - Guitar
Anna Murphy (born 10.08.1989) - Hurdy Gurdy, Vocals