Chrigel Glanzmann: Vocals, Tin and
                       Low Whistles, Mandola,
                        and Bagpipes
Kay Brem: Bass
Merlin Sutter: Drums
Ivo Henzi: Guitars
Sime Koch: Guitars
Päde Kistler: Bagpipes, Tin and
                            Low Whistles
Meri Tadic: Fiddle, Vocals
Anna Murphy: Hurdy-Gurdy, Flute,
                           and Vocals

CURRENT LINE-UP:

Vên (Demo 2003)
Vên EP (2004)
Spirit (2006)
Slania (2008)
Live at Metalcamp (2008)
Evocation I -
      The Arcane Dominion (2009)
Everything Remains as
       It Never Was (2010)

In the short time that the Swiss folk metal band Eluveitie has been in existence, they have gained quite a following.  Of course, with that following comes their fair share of critics.  Having released albums worthy of talk such as Slania and the acoustic Evocation I: The Arcane Dominion will have that effect on people.  This year, the band continues their hard work in the form of Everything Remains As it Never Was, and for this album, they went all out to make sure that it would meet the band’s lofty standards.  Recently, Metal Psalter had a chance to talk to lead vocalist Chrigel Glanzmann about all things Eluveitie.

Peter Santellan: For those who wish to know Eluveitie better, would you mind giving a brief history of the band?

Chrigel Glanzmann: We are a band that takes pride in, so far, being the only one mixing metal with traditional folk music (and the instrumentation needed for that) on this level. Started as a mere studio project by me in the early 2000s, we’ve quickly evolved into a full band and have, so far, released three full-length metal records, one acoustic concept album, and the first demo EP back in 2003. We’ve toured thirty-something countries so far, and whoever decides to give one of our albums a listen and likes what he/she hears should definitely look for a chance to see us live, since this is what we’re all about, bringing eight people on stage with unusual instruments such as violin, different kinds of bagpipes, flutes, whistles, hurdy-gurdy, and more.

Peter: Eluveitie will have a new album out in Everything Remains As It Never Was.  What can you say about the concept of the album and how, if at all, it relates to the cover art?

Chrigel: There’s no overall concept to the album itself, but every song tells its own story. What we’re trying to do is to deal with our history, but in a different way - instead of boring people with mere facts or sing about heroic warriors and battles, we try to imagine what the people of these times could have thought and felt, what went through their heads, and how they saw the world. It is best to give it a listen and make your own picture! The cover art is again, more related to the band and our concept instead of the album.  Also, if you’ve seen the cover art for our last metal album Slania, I’m sure you’ll figure out how it could be related to that one.

Peter: For this album, you recruited a who’s who of studio legends in Tommy Vetterli, Colin Richardson, and John Davis.  How did the band get in contact with each person and what did each bring to the band’s sound?

Chrigel: We’d been talking about Tommy Vetterli even before the production of Slania, but went for a full production in Sweden with Jens Bogren instead. Next up was our acoustic album, which we produced ourselves, but for Everything Remains..., we wanted to have the best we could get, so we spent a lot of time checking and thinking about different options. Our manager has already worked with Coroner back in the day and knew Tommy from then, so he suggested we meet with him at his studio and take a closer look, which we did and pretty much immediately, we felt that this is the right place and the right guy to do the main recordings. Tommy has been in the business forever and he brought professionalism and a “work atmosphere” to these recordings that we have been missing before, in my opinion.  On top of that, he simply is a great guy and it’s a pleasure to work with him. Colin Richardson, on the other hand, came into discussion pretty late - if I remember right, we were already recording at that time. Of course, all of us had heard the name before, and we all love his latest productions with bands such as Behemoth, Slipknot, and Machine Head.  All of those albums sound great, but unlike other producers in metal, he gave them all a very unique note, which was important to us. So we thought it’s worth a try and contacted him, and luckily he was interested in the band and, I guess, the challenge of our very unusual instrumentation as well, so he agreed. John Davis was Richardson’s choice and I think he couldn’t have made a better one.

So while Tommy Vetterli took the best out of each and every one’s performance, Colin Richardson gave the album its own sound and did wonders managing all those different instruments to create songs that have all we have wanted to put in them, but still sound compact and not “over the top”.

Peter: Recently, the band shot the video for the single “Thousandfold.”  Would you mind giving some of the details about the making of the video?

Chrigel: We first heard about the production company Grupa13 when Behemoth’s latest video came out, which we all loved. Apparently, they have been quite big in Poland for a while now and lately started working with international metal bands. Since all their videos look great, we contacted them and were excited to work with a young visionary team right away, so we packed our van and drove the seven hundred miles to Poland where we finished the shootings within one day.  Unlike our other videos, where we did a lot of writing & directing ourselves, we gave all the responsibility to those guys this time and I think we all agree that this was the right decision. Other than that, it was freakin’ cold, I can tell you.

Peter: This past Autumn, the band headlined the U.S. Heathenfest tour, which also featured bands such as Alestorm, Vreid, and Belphegor.  How would you compare that tour with the other times that you have toured the United States?

Chrigel: All our tours in the US have been full of special experiences and we love to come back every time and are thankful to have the opportunity to do so. While the first run we did with Paganfest USA was, of course, special because it was not only our first time, but also the first time a folk/pagan metal package toured the states, Heathenfest was our first headline tour in America and, therefore, we definitely felt a little more pressure this time.  Fortunately, there was no reason for it though, since the tour went well. This makes us even more thankful to the American fans for showing up every night and supporting our music!

Peter: Are there any plans for another tour of the United States in the near future?

Chrigel: Of course! We will be back supporting Amon Amarth from April 7 through April 25, which includes an appearance at the New England Metal and Hardcore Fest, and I’m pretty sure we will come back in Autumn also to cover territories we have to leave out this time.

Peter: Going back to last year, Eluveitie released an acoustic album in Evocation I: The Arcane Dominion.  As it is understood, it is the first of what will be two parts of an acoustic concept album.  Do you have the concept for the second album in mind and, if so, is there a set date for when people can expect it to be released?

Chrigel: That’s right, but right now, we are not thinking about its release too much.  As we did with the first part, we will take our time for the successor. The next one will probably be another metal album, so I really can’t say anything about the release of Evocation II at this time.

Peter: Is there anything else that you would like to add?

Chrigel: Take your chance to see us live on our upcoming tours: you won’t regret it. And if more questions come up, you can usually find the band members in a more or less drunken state hanging around somewhere in the venue.  And, most important of course, thank you for this interview and thanks to everybody that took the time to read it and take interest in our band.

Eluveitie's Chrigel Glanzmann

Interviewer: Peter

March 22, 2010

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Formed: 2002
Berna, Switzerland
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Genre: Folk / Melodic Death Metal

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Check out Peter's review of Eluveitie - Everything Remains As it Never Was here