Five people from Italy, six from Iceland and eight from Switzerland. It may sound as a joke, but it was an amazing night at Fuzz club. Since February 2009 when we first saw Eluveitie in Greece (supporting Kreator) it has been six years and two other shows. This was the fourth one (second as headliners). Not bad at all.
Fuzz club was almost empty just before the starting time. Wind Rose from Italy were not very disappointed by that, as they started their show on time. Prog/power metal with many epic/folk sounds coming from Federico’s keyboards, which reminded me a lot of Ensiferum. The audience was very excited in their most epic moments, although they left me a mixed feeling with all the different influences in their music. They played songs from their second album “WardensOfTheWestWind” which was released this year. Very good performance from all the members, excellent sound (as in all of the bands that night) and 45 minutes later they ended their show gaining the audience’s warm applause.
Next in line…Skalmold from Iceland. Their name in Icelandic means “age of sword” and refers to the civil war of their country in the 13th century. Their music was best described as Viking Metal with the titles and the lyrics being in their native language. They played songs from all their three albums with a lot of passion, excellent sound and they gained the audience very easily. So easily that the audience responded to their bass player’s request for a wall of death and in the end of the show they were shouting the band’s name, something uncommon to see when an unknown band plays in Greece for the first time. I think that when they come again it will be a much more energetic performance, as they gained everyone’s respect and appreciation.
The time had come for the headliners of the night. The band took their place on stage with the intro of “Origins” and they started with “King”, the best song of their latest album and one of their best in general. The audience was shouting along with Chrigel “I am the crown of Gallia…”, the sound was amazing (again) and the band on fire. I couldn’t notice how much they have developed their stage performance over the years. One amazing song after another, such as the classic “Thousanfold”, the instrumental “AnDro” and the metal version of “Omnos” when we enjoyed the singing capabilities of Anna Murphy. She didn’t remind at all the shy little girl who started playing with Eluveitie some years ago. She now knows that most eyes are on her, she has worked a lot on her voice and has become a very important member of this band. When she asked us if we wanted to hear “The Call Of The Mountains” in english or in swiss-german (it was recorded in five different languages) the audience strangely asked for the swiss-german version! The night continued with old and new songs, a lot of headbanging and of course…wall of death! Their performance was excellent with all the members, oldest and newest, being simply delightful. Chrigel, Anna, Merlin Sutter (drums), Ivo Henzi (guitars) and Kay Brem (bass) were leading the stage with Rafael Salzmann (guitars), NicoleAnsperger (violin) and MatteoSisti (bagpipes) following with extreme ease. In “Alesia”, “A Rose For Epona” and “Quoth The Raven” we screamed the lyrics with Anna and the said their first goodnight with “Tegernako” only to return a few minutes later with “Helvetios” and the all-time classic “Inis Mona” where we used every bit of strength that we had left.
An overall excellent night with three bands who gave their hearts on stage. Let’s hope that we will see them again soon.
Setlist: Origins (Intro)/King/Nil/From Darkness/Thousanfold/AnDro/Sucellos/Omnos/The Call Of The Mountains (De Ruef Vo De Barge)/The Nameless/Inception/Hope/Kingdom Come Undone/Alesia/The Silver Sister/Carry The Torch/A Rose For Epona/Quoth The Raven/Tegernako. Encore: Helvetios/Inis Mona
George Terzakis
