The Swiss band Eluveitie was named as direct support for Children of Bodom’s 15 year anniversary tour and since I haven’t missed a single show of theirs I wasn’t gonna miss this one neither. Also part of the touring line-up was Canadian thrashers Threat Signal and Boston’s technical death metal dudes from Revocation.
The whole show started one hour earlier then advertised (but to no fault of the venue), which meant not that many people were inside the Gothic Theater when Threat Signal took the stage. But those who managed to show up early were treated to an awesome performance by the band.
I haven’t seen Threat Signal in years and was pretty stoked that they got added to the billing. Surprisingly a lot of people knew their songs so it was easy for the guys to warm up the crowd.
Next up was Revocation who has been to Colorado like 10 times in the last 2 years. No, not really, but the band around guitarist/vocalist David Davidson have been to Denver a lot in support of their 2011 release Chaos of Forms.
As usual, the band never disappoints with their tight ass playing, so it was no surprise to me that the crowd really got into their set.
To see more pictures check out the Gallery for Revocation and Threat Signal
Then it was finally time for the 8 piece ensemble Eluveitie to take the spotlight. Not an easy task to fit all members on stage, especially since drummer Merlin had to set up his kit in front of the headliners gear, but they managed nevertheless.
The room went dark; the Intro came out of the speakers and Eluveitie opened the evening with “Everything Remains (As It Never Was)” from their same titled 2010 album and went straight into “Nil” afterwards.
Call them what you will; folk metal, pagan metal or melodic death metal, but IMO they are straight up kick ass metal.
Here you have it; I just invented a new genre and you heard it here first!
Anyhoo, with the incorporation of instruments such as the violin, bagpipes, mandolin and hurdy gurdy the band around founder and vocalist Chrigel sets themselves apart from anything that is out there today.Eluveitie started playing “Kingdom Come Undone” again from their 2010 album and I was wondering if their rather short set would entail anything older or newer for that matter. And with newer I meant songs off their upcoming album Helvetios (Febr. 2012) which was available for purchase at their merch stand and will be released once again thru Nuclear Blast Records on February 28th 2012 here in North America.
But as soon as the fast opening off “Meet The Enemy” hit my ear drums, my worries went away. Said song as well as another new track “Havoc” were unfortunately the only ones from Helvetios being played that night.
Eluveitie are doing some headlining gigs on this tour (when CoB does not perform) and hurdy gurdy player Anna told me in an interview (click here to watch it) that on those days the band plays a couple more new songs.
Well, I guess the Denver region has to wait until next time around to hear them live, but the wait will be so worth it, since their new album absolutely rocks!
And speaking of rocks; Eluveitie’s live sound that night was beyond phenomenal and all credit goes to their sound engineer Martin Zeller. Every instrument, and there are tons, were right spot on in the mix which made for an epic listening experience throughout their entire set.
After playing two more songs, once again off Everything Remains.. Eluveitie ended the night with the extremely popular piece “Inis Mona” (2008 – Slania).By that time everybody in the venue was singing, dancing, moshing and clapping in sync with the band. Pretty awesome sight, in part since a little over 900 people showed up for the concert, on a workday nevertheless, with temperatures dipping well below freezing in Englewood, CO.
I was a very happy camper that night and can’t wait for Eluveitie to return to North America.
And yes, I did stay for Children of Bodom as well, but this story you have to read somewhere else (link will follow)
Make sure you also check out the great live footage recorded by Superskum right HERE
Eluveitie at the Gothic Theater in Englewood, CO