Eluveitie – Ategnatos

Label: Nuclear Blast  Playing Time: 60 Min  Release: 05.04.2019

Since the beginning of this band, Eluveitie have been a phenomenon. The combination of hard and soft sounds is in general nothing new in Heavy Metal music. But it is unique how consequently the guys and girls from Switzerland do it. Thrashing guitar riffs meet sweet flutes, harps and violins. The harsh growls and screams of Chrigel Glanzmann are being contrasted by the clean melodic vocals of Fabienne Erni. There is even a high dynamic range between the albums. On the one side are hard Heavy Metal releases (just like “Ategnatus”), on the other side are unplugged albums (“Evocation I & II”). The fascination of Eluveitie is created right out of these tensions. That was the case in 2002, when the band was founded, and it is still the fact in 2019. And there is one thing the band has achieved already with their first album: They created their own, unique signature sound, something many bands never achieve.

“Ategnatos” is the 6th full Metal studio album of the band and it follows the band’s well-known formula of success. But it is far away from being old fashioned. The band manages to mix the already mentioned ingredients into new, versatile songs. The title track, ‘A Cry In The Wilderness’ and ‘The Slumber’ are really well-done compositions. But in the end, there is one great catchy tune missing, something like ‘Thousandfold’ or ‘Helvetios’. I also have to say that the density of hits is decreasing in the second half of the album. Fortunately, there is no bummer at all, but a bit too much of average stuff. I also have to mention that there is, maybe, the first blast beat song in the band’s history ever, called ‘Threefold Death’. But it does not alter the fact that this album is rather average compared to other Eluveitie albums.

www.eluveitie.ch