Band:	Eluveitie
Album:	Everything Remains (As It Never Was)
Style:	Celtic folk metal, Gothenburg metal
Release date:	February 19, 2010
Guest review by:	Windrider

01. Otherworld
02. Everything Remains (As It Never Was)
03. Thousandfold
04. Nil
05. The Essence Of Ashes
06. Isara
07. Kingdom Come Undone
08. Quoth The Raven
09. (Do)Minion
10. Setlon
11. Sempiternal Embers
12. Lugdūnon
13. The Liminal Passage
14. Otherworld Set [digipack bonus]
15. The Liminal Passage Set [digipack bonus]

One can fall in love with this album since the first listening and with this review I will explain the reasons.

Right in the beginning one might feel like being taken on a journey when the song "Otherworld" opens the gates to a superior art of storytelling music.
The title track then introduces the listeners to the metal style Eluveitie have always been known for, mighty and beautiful folk melodies together with heavy guitars, bass and drums.
This union of Gothenburg and folk metal runs throughout the whole album while the balance often changes:
Where "Kingdom Come Undone" definitely bears more death metal characteristics, songs like "Lugdūnon" and "Quoth The Raven" express the folk side of this album.

"Quoth The Raven" shall here be named as a really characteristic and superior example of folk metal because of the total unity of all the instruments and vocals mostly played in mid-tempo and containing a beautiful duet in the chorus and a growl of Anna Murphy that makes you shiver!
Her voice has improved very much since the last album, fitting more to metal and Chrigel's vocals which are this time also great, harsher and a little bit darker than on the previous albums and therefore better for both the music and the lyrics on this album.

All the musicians do a very great job on this, especially the bass and drums which both underline the folk melodies in a "folk way" and the metal side as necesssary.
Guitar use often varies between the backing of the folk instruments and smashing forward with heavy and glamorous melodies. The folk melodies catch you soon with their underlining way to the lyrics, as well as with just the catchiness of most of them. Lyrics are a little different compared to those of the previous albums, the stories darker and concerning more elements of certain people in the Helvetian culture, thus giving a personal touch to the album and supporting the feeling of the music enormously!

The standard version of this album contains thirteen songs, where four of them are acoustic which might seem as too much at first but, in fact, is not.
"Isara" is an especially outstanding song in this category with magnificent acoustic guitar passages guiding you throughout the song. Other highlights include "Sempiternal Embers", "Thousandfold" and "Quoth The Raven".

The only weak passages are, in my opinion, the chorus of "(Do)Minion" which doesn't really get into my ear and the constantly over-repeated melody of "Setlon".
Overall, Everything Remains As It Never Was is a nearly perfect album, well thought-out and peerlessly implemented, containing a superior performance of Eluveitie with a new grade of folk metal!