Band:	Eluveitie
Album:	Vên
Style:	Celtic folk metal, Gothenburg metal
Release date:	2004
A review by:	Undercraft

01. D'Vêritû Agâge D'Bitu
02. Uis Elveti
03. Ôrô
04. Lament
05. Druid
06. Jêzaïg

Eluveitie are a Swiss band with an ambitious project under their hands, Helvetic Pagan Metal is the name, and in more simple words could be describes as Death Metal combined with Folk Metal. A wide array of instruments are involved in the recording, just to name a few: fiddles, Irish flute, tin & low whistles, Helvetic bagpipes, hurdy-gurdy, bodhrán, bouzouki and bombarde. Worth mentioning is that Eluveitie count with 10 musicians under their ranks.

When they mentioned that they play Helvetic Pagan Metal, they weren't joking, these guys take their job seriously, the whole lyrical concept of the album is the Celtic clan of the Helvetians, their everyday life, tales, history, their spiritual journey.
Even some of songs of Eluveitie are singed in Gaulish, a reconstructed form of the early Celtic language as it was spoken by the Helvetians. As a matter of fact, the word Eluveitie means "I am the Helvetian" in the ancient Gaulish language.

History apart, I must say that the music in this album is very refreshing, the six piece production starts with "D'Vêritû Agâge D'Bitu" a intro filled with chants, spoken passages and lots of folk elements, with the second song "Uis Elveti" things get more consistent, a mid paced track where you can enjoy the harsh vocals countered by the folk instruments.

"Ôrô" and the closer "Jêzaïg" are two instrumental pieces that will make you wonder on distant lands if you just give 'em a chance to do it so, for some real Metal tunes, skip to track 4, "Lament" a Death Folk song, which is a wonderful song, is like hearing Dark Tranquillity in a folk fest, "Druid" also have the same effect, but this one with more Blackish influences instead of Death.

So, you have a lots of Folk, Instrumental tunes, Death and Black ones and most important, an significant piece of European history here.
The next step for Eluveitie is search for a record contract, I'm thinking Napalm Records and their craving for Folk Metal bands right now, whatever the results may be, I wish the best for these guys, and of course, I place my bet on Eluveitie.