Eluveitie – ‘The Early Years’ (2012)
Rating: 8/10
Release: 17 August 2012
Label: Nuclear Blast
And suddenly they were there; Eluveitie. They were at various Pagan- and Heidenfests, grew steadily in popularity up until today, where they’ve become one of the biggest bands in the folk-metalgenre. Yet it has been a long way to the top. The band has been around for 10 years now, and to celebrate this Eluveitie releases ‘The early years’.
‘The early years’ has become a collection of their demo “Ven” and the first full-length ‘Spirit’. Where Vên is completely re-recorded with the current line-up, spirit only gained a re-mastering with a new and fresh production.
This release shows immediately how much Eluveitie is grown in the past few years. Especially Vên, where all the songs are re-recorded, sounds amazing. On the demorelease, the ideas were good, but the musical elaboration wasn’t that great. Luckily this has been compensated on this release. Songs like ‘Uis Elveti’ get finally the attention they deserve with a crisp production and a fresh and modern sound we’ve known from Eluveitie since the last 3 album. It has been a very good choice to re-record these songs, since they sound better without losing any of the splendor we know from these songs.
The other part of the album, ‘Spirit’, is only re-mastered. The difference with the original songs is not that big. The production sounds a little fresher, and the songs sound slightly better.
All in all, Eluveitie delivered excellent work. This CD is ideal for new fans who just got to know Eluveitie, and aren’t yet familiar with the old work. The old fans also get some neat stuff with all-new versions of the oldest songs of Eluveitie. A nice, balanced birthday present from Eluveitie!
Tracklist
- Verja Urit An Bitus (Re recorded) 2:17
- Uis Elveti (re recorded) 4:00
- Oro (re recorded) 1:27
- Lament (re recorded) 4:06
- Druid (re recorded) 6:06
- Jezaig (re recorded) 4:56
- Spirit 2:32
- Uis Elveti 4:24
- Your Gaulish War 5:11
- Of Fire Wind & Wisdom 3:05
- Aidu 3:10
- The Song of Life 3:58
- Tegernako 6:42
- Siraxta 5:39
- The Dance of Victory 5:23
- The Endless Knot 6:59
- An Dro 3:42