By Jason Williams
October 2nd 2014, House Of Blues Sunset Strip, West Hollywood CA: Over the past several years, the folk metal genre has undergone quite a few changes. From using growls, to adding more folk-sounding instruments to the mix, bands are incorporating various ways to enhance their sound. Eluveitie, hailing from Switzerland, are one of the bigger metal bands that show true variey in their style of folk/melodic death metal. Having just released their newest album ‘Origins’ Eluveitie set out on a US tour alongside Tyr from the Faroe Islands and Estonia’s Metsatoll. Sadly the weather in California in very recent time would not reflect the fall/winter mood as this tour would let you think. Nevertheless, this would be my first time seeing any of these bands perform live, and making it a mission to attend more folk metal shows as of late, tonight would hold in store a festival of folk, taking place on Hollywood’s famous House of Blues on Sunset Blvd.
Unfortunately, driving to Los Angeles has its challenges due to the traffic and sometimes down right hazardous conditions on the road. There was a huge car accident that prevented any flowing traffic for a considerable amount of time. Metsatoll went on at 8 PM and I was to be nowhere near the venue, instead waiting for traffic to flow on through. I arrived at around 8:45, just as Tyr started. I asked some in the crowd how Metsatoll was, and I heard nothing but positive remarks and comments. I hope in the near future I’m able to catch Metsatoll and invent teleportation, to avoid all things called LA Traffic.
As stated, I arrived as Tyr was playing “Tróndur Í Gøtu”. The crowd attendance was great tonight and you could see, as with many folk metal shows, tons of facepaint and even some viking style clothing throughout the venue. Tyr have been gaining popularity, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were better known than the actual Faroe Islands that they’re from. Playing a progressive folk metal style, the four-piece had the crowd in their hands with their surprising use of thrash lead guitar and catchy melodies. Guitarist and vocalist Heri Joensen was headbanging his hair out, feeding off this festive and active crowd. The lead guitar tradeoff between Joensen and his axe partner in crime, Terji Skibenæs was entertaining and something not too common in the folk metal genre. I was a little disappointed not hearing anything off their debut ‘Eric The Red’ but the crowd enjoyed every song they heard. The highlight of their set was actually the singing. Their musicianship while impressive, was maybe a little cocky and showing off to the crowd at times, nothing truly struck out for me. But when Skibenæs, Joensen and bassist Gunnar Thomsen all sang together, you could tell the quality and heritage. Clean-sounding, beautiful in unison, and really brought the spirit of folk to the crowd. It also enhanced the riffing and leads as well, having the melodies concide with the singing. The chorus in “By the Sword in My Hand” demostrates some of this in spades. In all honesty, I wouldn’t mind hearing an acoustic/folk set from them sometime in this life. Tyr played for close to 50 minutes, pleasing everyone in the audience with brews and horns in the air. The singing was my favorite aspect of Tyr representing themselves in the folk metal genre tonight. I can say with true confidence and knowledge, that Eluveitie so far have been the best Folk Metal band I’ve seen live.
Set List:
01. Blood of Heroes
02. Tróndur Í Gøtu
03. Mare of My Night
04. Ramund Hin Unge
05. Hold the Heathen Hammer High
06. Grindavísan
07. By the Sword in My Hand
08. Sinklars Vísa
09. Flames of the Free
10. Lady of the Slain
11. Shadow of the Swastika
12. Anthem
It was a pleasant surprise to see such a vibrant and large crowd on this Thursday evening. And at 10 PM, Eluveitie walked onstage to a roaring and ever joyful audience. For the next 100 minutes, I was completely astonished by the intensity and beauty Eluveitie displayed. “Origins” opened their set to a large pit, with some folk dancing somewhere in between the moshers. Someone forgot to tell Eluveitie that this wasn’t their last show ever, because Eluveitie put an incredible amount of effort and quality into their set. Vocalist, leader, founder and flute player Chrigel Glanzmann rocked the stage with his long dreads winding in the air, and his clean/death metal vocals glistening our ears. His engagement in between songs made me feel like he was reading me a story as I was ill in a hospital. You could tell with no hesitation how grateful and proud he was to play in front of this LA crowd. The blend between energetic folk metal and some downright intense melodic death metal really impressed me. Unlike Tyr, the focus on folk instruments was heavily apparent, with flutes, whistles and even a Hurdy Gurdy in the mix. With that said, the true highlight of the Eluveitie and the evening, was female singer and Hurdy Gurdy player, Anna Murphy. Her voice was angelic, the Hurdy Gurdy standing out in the songs, and just a prominent presence. Murphy wasn’t loud, overconfident, or anything close. Simply her understanding of the music and absolute engagment of the crowd was truly pleasing to witness. Her collaborations with Glanzmann impacted the audience with happy emotions throughout. Nine of their 21 songs in the set tonight came from the still very new Origins record, something the crowd did not seem to mind at all. I must also add, with all of the instruments in the mix, and seven total members, each and every bit of music was heard perfectly. Many times, too many instruments can be lost in translation through the mix, especially with non-traditional metal instruments. he violins, flutes and guitars all complimented each other, never too low or too high on the ears. Their set ended with “Inis Mona”, to which the crowd clapped on through, dancing with one another and moshing to sweeten the deal. Stellar, powerful sound; awesome interactions with the crowd, beautiful singing, gorgeous instrumentalization with all of the folk instruments and a wonderful blend of folk melodic death metal to summarize this absolutely surprising and unbelievable performance from Eluveitie. I can say with true confidence and knowledge, that Eluveitie so far have been the best Folk Metal band I’ve seen live.
The unfortunate cirumstance of missing Metsatoll aside, this show was a fantastic success for all in attendance in Los Angeles. While Tyr warmed up the crowd and gave a solid performance, Eluveitie absolutely took the thunder and lightning from them and let everyone at the House of Blues in Los Angeles, CA, what killer live folk metal sounds like. If you call yourself a folk metal fan of any kind, your card will stay valid as long as you have seen Eluveitie.
Set List:
01. Origins
02. King
03. From Darkness
04. Carry the Torch
05. Nil
06. Thousandfold
07. AnDro
08. Sucellos
09. De Ruef vo de Bärge
10. Gray Sublime Archon
11. The Nameless
12. Inception
13. Kingdom Come Undone
14. The Silver Sister
15. Vianna
16. A Rose for Epona
17. Neverland
18. Omnos
Encore:
19. Helvetios
20. Luxtos
21. Inis Mona
Remaining Tour Dates:
10/7/2014 El Corazon – Seattle, WA
10/8/2014 Rickshaw Theatre – Vancouver, BC
10/10/2014 Union Hall – Edmonton, AB
10/11/2014 MacEwan Ballroom – Calgary, AB
10/13/2014 Garrick Centre – Winnipeg, MB
10/14/2014 Mill City Nights – Minneapolis, MN
10/15/2014 House of Blues – Chicago, IL
10/16/2014 St. Andrew’s Hall – Detroit, MI
10/17/2014 Phoenix Theatre – Toronto, ON
10/18/2014 Corona Theatre -Montreal, QC
10/19/2014 Imperial de Quebec – Quebec City, QC
10/21/2014 Royale Boston -Boston, MA
10/22/2014 Irving Plaza – New York, NY