"Evocation I - The arcane dominion" LP by Eluveitie

by Adam Weishaupt (03.02.2009) With their great album "Slania", the Swiss Pagan Metal combo Eluveitie didn’t only hit the charts, but the hearts of the whole Metal community, too. To shorten the wait until the next output, the musicians fullfilled themselves a wish and recorded 15 acoustical folk songs which present another, rather intimate facet of Eluveitie. It’s an experiment , concentrating on the folk side of the band - and distinguishes it positively from other comparable works of this genre. The tracks sound very natural, very close to nature due to the combination of flutes, bagpipes and acoustical guitars, and make you feel (in a figurative sense) naked, and pristine. In spite of the material being reduced and very basic, there’s a high level of musical versatility and it comprises moving, very intense, yet hard tracks like the ear catcher "Brictom", or cheery and danceably "Omnos", but also Medieval swing’n’sway folk smashers as "The arcane dominion", too. Numerous guest musicians from various acts (e.g. Primordial, Faun, or their compatriots Nucleus Torn) make this terrifc opus perfect - brilliant.