Singularity is a double-edged sword. Immediately identifiable bands are a scarce commodity that carry an unwelcome burden: dedicated fans who decry any deviation from the band’s established sound. A band will often feel locked into a sound they may have perfected or even pioneered, and rather than risk alienating the fans who support them, they’ll often repeat themselves rather than grow or evolve their sound.
I fear that Eluveitie, a band I’ve hailed as the finest the folk metal world has to offer for nearly two decades, may be approaching that uncoveted crossroads. There is absolutely nothing wrong with Ànv, and a new listener would rightly be awed by the band’s flawless fusion of Celtic folk music with Gothenburg-styled melodeth. But given that this Swiss horde of Helvetian heathens have delivered multiple genre-defining albums, “Ànv” falls just short of a mark they themselves set.
Ànvis paradoxical in that while it doesn’t reign in the Eluveitie‘s signature folk fury, it feels poppier and more streamlined than previous efforts. “The Prodigal Ones,” for example, opens with a downright cheerful melody that would sound right at home on an Illumishade album. Both that cheer and melody are carried into the Fabienne Erni-led refrain and so starkly contrast with the song’s crushing verses that the listener is left wondering if the song is cohesive or cacophonous.
It’s not a necessarily disjointed shift, but Eluveitie‘s marriage of beauty and beast has seldom felt this forced. In many ways, “The Prodigal Ones”is the defining track on Ànvin that while it does not lack rage, the influence of Erni and guitarist Jonas Wolf‘saforementioned power-pop metal side project overpowers both the brutality and the nuance that Eluveitie have famously wielded when uniting these once disparate approaches. If this was the aim, then Eluveitie have certainly hit the mark.
It’s worth noting that “The Prodigal Ones” is the only instance on Ànvwhere the pop factor surfaces. The problem is that the rest of the album relies almost entirely on wheel-spinning to balance that out, and on an album as brief as this one is (it’s a hair over forty minutes in length), that’s simply not enough. One could reasonably spin this album multiple times while on a walk or during a work commute, and that unwelcome foray into Delain territory is an uncongenial enough deviation for it to fool the listener into believing that it’s the album’s dominant mood. It took writing physical notes while listening to Ànvfor me to realize that Eluveitie was in fact not going power metal.
All that said, Ànvis no dud of an album. Cuts like the headspinning “Premonition,” the epic “The Prophecy,” and the Erni-led ballad “Awen” hit us with all the hallmarks that made Eluveitie special in the first place – a finely woven fabric that unites musical traditions that are centuries apart. “Premonition” in particular could have been lifted from Everything Remains as It Never Was, but therein lies the rub: these songs are outstanding on their own merit, but they retread ground that Eluveitie covered long ago, and they offer few if any fresh takes on the band’s admittedly unique twist on folk metal. These songs will slay live, but soaring anthems like “Thousandfold”or “Inis Mona” they ain’t. However, “Premonition” comes pretty damn close, and will surely become a set staple for the next several touring cycles.
Listeners would also be wise to not overlook such objectively excellent tracks as “Aeon of the Crescent Moon” or “Taranoías,”the latter of which peppers its interludes and outro with a string section the band wisely prohibits from stealing the show. The Eluveitie sound is as dense as it is compelling, packed with an array of traditional Celtic instruments that include pipes, whistles, hurdy-gurdy, fiddle, and mandola that interplay with the traditional melodeath setup. To allow a string section – or Tír Tairngire forbid, an entire damned orchestra – to dominate an already profuse sonic landscape would simply be overkill, and we owe a debt of gratitude to Eluveitie for not getting too carried away.
All this raises a few questions: Are Eluveitie holding back from their own progress? Do the poppier elements on Ànvhint at what they have up their sleeves? Does the lopsided feel on Ànvowe to the great (and thankfully un-publicized) personal upheaval the band has endured since their last release? We’re in no position to know, nor do we need to know. But we must recognize that behind all the lyrical and musical genius in the Eluveitie catalog, it is the work of a multitude of musicians who all have one thing in common: they’re all human beings and are subject to all the trappings of the human condition.
We all have personal knowledge that turmoil will affect the output of one’s work, regardless of that work’s nature, and I challenge anyone who has been freshly subjected to the kind of maelstrom this remarkable outfit has suffered to make an album half as good as Ànv.I sure as shit couldn’t. Eluveitie will likely look back at Ànvas a testament to their determination, a reminder that they have the fortitude to plow through adversity and still come out strong. Lesser bands would be justified to be proud of an album likeÀnv, but for a force like Eluveitie, we must take comfort in knowing that they can, and will, overcome.
Release Date: April 25th, 2025 Record Label: Nuclear Blast Records Genre: FolkMelodic Death Metal
Among many other things, Eluveitie have consistently proven their ability to bounce back from comparative bumps like this one, and the stronger material on “Ànv” indicates that Chrigel and crew still have much to offer. I have no doubt that Eluveitie will quickly recover from the trauma that seems to have robbed them of the opportunity to follow an album as muscular as “Ategnatos” with something even greater. I just hope we don't have to wait another six years to reap the rewards of their collective healing
