Helvetios

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Helvetios
Studio album by Eluveitie
Cover

Publication
(s)

February 10, 2012 ( Nuclear Blast Europe)
February 22, 2012 (Japan - Columbia )
February 28, 2012 (Nuclear Blast USA)

admission

September – November 2011

Label (s) Nuclear Blast

Format (s)

CD , DVD , vinyl , download

Genre (s)

Pagan Metal , Melodic Death Metal , Folk Metal

Title (number)

17th

running time

59 min 16 s

occupation
  • Tin- & Low Whistle, various bagpipes : Patrick "Päde" Kistler

Guest musicians:

  • Christoph Pelgen - vocals

production

Eluveitie, Tommy Vetterli , Dan Suter

Studio (s)

chronology
Everything Remains as It Never Was
(2010)
Helvetios -

Helvetios ( Latin for ‹(die) Helvetier › or ‹(the) Swiss›, accusative plural ) is the fifth studio album by the Swiss folk metal band Eluveitie . It is the band's first concept album and deals chronologically with the topic of the Gallic War . The concept was worked out with the help of historians over a period of a good two years. Together with the recording and production of the album, it took almost five years until the album was released in German-speaking countries on February 10, 2012 on the record label Nuclear Blast .

The music on Helvetios is a combination of melodic death metal and folk metal. There are also influences from other genres such as black , thrash , gothic and symphonic metal , but also elements of current pop music and traditional folk .

The album entered the charts in several European and American countries and was highly praised by the specialist press . In some cases, shortly after its publication, it was highlighted as «genre-defining» or as a «milestone». The album promotion took place from January 2012 to December 2013 as part of the Helvetios World Tour , which was made up of several individual tours.

Emergence

prehistory

Drummer Merlin Sutter came up with the idea for a concept album about the Gallic War while on the phone with Chrigel Glanzmann in 2007. He designed the concept and storyline of the album until early autumn 2010. The songwriting took place during the Everything Remains World Tour , and was only completed just before the recording began. On September 1, 2011, the album, including the final title Helvetios , was announced in the band's official 2012 weblog.

Recordings

Tommy Vetterli was hired as the main producer , and the drums, guitar and vocal tracks were also recorded in his New Sound Studio in Pfäffikon SZ . Vetterli also took over the production and mixing of all tracks . The band then played the remaining instruments in the Kriens Soundfarm Studios . There were working Anna Murphy and Marco Jencarelli as producers of the recordings. Smaller, played by himself instruments such Tin- & low whistle , uilleann pipes , the bard harp and bodhrán took Glanzmann addition at his home studio in Illnau-Effretikon on. Together with the Cheapaschips and Echochamber studios, the band used a total of five recording studios . This was mainly due to time and organizational reasons, as the recording time was significantly reduced by working in parallel. On November 25, 2011, the entire production of Helvetios was completed with mastering by Dan Suter in the Zurich Echochamber studio.

New Sound Studio

The recordings for the album began on the day the album was announced. First Merlin Sutter recorded the drum tracks in the New Sound Studio until September 7th. This was followed by the guitar tracks, which guitarist Ivo Henzi began to record on September 7th. Due to initial complications, these recordings were not completed until mid-September. The reasons for this delay in the schedule were, among other things, the need to repair Henzi's damaged guitar and the procurement of missing equipment such as additional guitar boxes .

With all instruments, Helvetios paid greater attention to achieving a natural sound in the recordings. Before the actual guitar recordings could begin, a suitable sound had to be found, which took several days. For this purpose, not only different amplifiers , loudspeaker boxes and microphones and their positions, but also different instruments, guitar construction methods and moods , strings , picks and other accessories were tested. The band proceeded in a similarly elaborate manner with the other instruments.

Cheapaschips Studios

On September 23, Scottish actor Alexander "Sandy" Morton recorded three spoken word passages for the songs Prologue , Meet the Enemy and Epilogue in the Cheapaschips Studios in London . Eluveitie frontman Chrigel Glanzmann became aware of Morton through the film Walhalla Rising , and explained his motivation for the actor's commitment to the press: “The idea of ​​the text [spoken by Morton] is that an old man, in his Youth experienced the horrors of the Gallic War first hand on the battlefield, but survived all the war years, looking back at the end of his life ... and talking. » He also commented on the recordings as follows:

«We are happy and proud that we were able to win our dream candidate for these parts. [...] With his deep, rough and sonorous voice, Sandy is simply perfect for the parts on 'Helvetios'! [...] He put himself into the characters of the album, felt himself into the lyrics and conveyed the 'spirit' absolutely convincingly! "

- Chrigel Glanzmann

Soundfarm Studios

The folk instruments ( hurdy-gurdy , violin , mandola , dulcimer , Zugerörgeli and recorder ), the acoustic guitar as well as the bass and the vocal tracks by Anna Murphy were recorded in the Soundfarm Studios.

On October 1, 2011, the hurdy-gurdy recordings began in the Soundfarm Studios and were completed on October 5. Anna Murphy noted in the Eluveitie blog that "[she] has never been as challenged musically as with this album," and emphasized the complexity of the compositions. Meri Tadic then played the violin parts until October 12th. This was followed by the mandola recordings by Sime Koch, not, as usual, by Chrigel Glanzmann, since he could not record the voices due to lack of time. On the same day, Koch also recorded all of the acoustic guitar tracks.

When Ivo Henzi recorded the bass in the Soundfarm Studios, the Helvetios recordings were completed in mid-November . For reasons unknown, Kay Brem, Eluveitie's regular bass player, did not take on this role. Nevertheless, Brem is listed as a bass player in the booklet of the album. Since the recordings in their entirety had been delayed longer than planned, the production of the album could not be completed by the start of the Neckbreaker's Ball tour on October 28, 2011. In order to be able to keep to the schedule until the release, a mobile recording studio was set up in the back lounge of the band's tour bus , in which the musicians worked on the album for several hours every day before the concerts, with Anna Murphy taking over the sound engineering.

Further development

Promotion phase

Two days after the Neckbreaker's Ball tour ended, the band traveled to Warsaw on November 21, 2011 to shoot two music videos for the songs A Rose for Epona and Havoc with the renowned film crew Groupa 13 on November 21 and 22 . The first prelistening event for selected representatives of the metal press took place on November 26th, 2011 in the presence of Glanzmann and Murphy at Nuclear Blast in Donzdorf .

The band released the first album trailer, in which the lyrical and musical concept of the album was presented, on December 16, 2011. The song Meet the Enemy was released on December 24, 2011 via the Facebook and YouTube profiles as their first online single the band. The song was performed live for the first time on December 30, 2011 at the Eluveitie & Friends festival in the Volkshaus in Zurich together with Coroner , Korpiklaani , Powerwolf , Excelsis and Blutmond.

The second teaser was the song A Rose for Epona on January 4, 2012 . Shortly after its publication, the rumor was circulating on the Internet that this song was a cover or tribute song or even a plagiarism by Blood Stain Childs Metropolice . In the band's official forum, Anna Murphy and Chrigel Glanzmann commented on the background to A Rose for Epona and the supposed similarity between the two songs. According to Glanzmann, the similarity arose from the simple structure of the two melody arcs, as it is only a four-note tone with changing basic tones and a slight rhythmic shift.

Almost two weeks after the song was published, the video clip for A Rose for Epona , which was filmed in Świny Castle in November 2011 , was presented to the public for the first time on January 17, 2012 . Previously, two videos were published for Meet the Enemy (January 9th) and A Rose for Epona (January 13th), which were highlighted with impressions from the album artwork and the respective lyrics. As a further teaser, a making-of video of the music clip for A Rose for Epona was released on February 1, 2012 . The second and final music video (for Havoc ) was released on February 6, 2012.

publication

Content of the bonus DVD
  1. A Rose for Epona (video clip) - 4:29
  2. Havoc (video clip) - 4:08
  3. Making of A Rose for Epona - 4:29
  4. Making of Havoc - 6:08
  5. A Closer Look @ the Lyrics (interview) - 55:18
  6. Live @ Feuertanz 2010 (4 songs live) - 18:12
    1. Otherworld / Nil - 5:11
    2. Thousendfold - 4:02
    3. Bloodstained Ground - 3:29
    4. Gray Sublime Archon - 5:25

In the December 2011 issue of Metal Hammer was Helvetios announced for 24 February 2012 found. A little later, on December 4, 2011, the band announced that the album would be released in German-speaking countries on February 10, 2012 and also published the album cover and track list. In Japan it was released on February 22nd via Columbia , in the US and the rest of the world on February 28th via Nuclear Blast USA. Was published Helvetios in the following versions:

  • Regular version - only the album in the jewel case
  • Digital download version - contains the songs of the regular version, an acoustic version of A Rose for Epona , the video clip for the same song and a digital version of the booklet. This version is sold exclusively through the iTunes Store .
  • Helvetios Digipak - Digipak consisting of the album including the acoustic version of A Rose for Epona as a bonus track, as well as a bonus DVD.
  • Helvetios Digipak - CeDe.ch version - identical to the regular Digipak, but with Eluveitie guitar pick and only available in a limited edition via the CeDe.ch webshop - meanwhile out of stock.
  • Helvetios Mailorder Edition - Box set edition distributed exclusively through Nuclear Blast , consisting of the album including a bonus title, a bonus DVD, a flag with the album cover and a numbered certificate of authenticity, limited to 500 copies - meanwhile sold out.
  • Helvetios Amazon Edition - box set edition distributed exclusively through Amazon , consisting of the album including a bonus title, a bonus DVD and a patch - meanwhile sold out.
  • Helvetios Black Vinyl - 2-LP version consisting of two 180 gram black LPs in gatefold with DIN A2 poster.
  • Helvetios Gray Vinyl - 2 LP version distributed exclusively through Nuclear Blast, consisting of two 180 gram gray LPs in gatefold with DIN A2 poster. Strictly limited to 150 hand-numbered copies - meanwhile sold out.

Regional special editions:

  • Helvetios CD + Shirt - regular jewel case version, came with a t-shirt in album cover design and a 290 mm × 430 mm signed poster. This version was only available for the US market and had to be pre-ordered.
  • Helvetios (Japan Version) is identical to the regular jewel case version, but comes with a Japanese booklet - only available for the Japanese market.

As usual for new albums, several Helvetios songs were also released on samplers from music magazines. However, the sampler of the Legacy magazine (issue no. 77, 02-2012) is a special feature, as it contains an otherwise unpublished “Extended Folk Version” of the theme song Helvetios .

trip

Eluveitie live at her performance on January 20, 2012 in São Paulo as part of the Helvetios World Tour
Eluveitie performing on the Paganfest tour on March 25, 2012 in Leipzig

The promotion of the album took place in the form of a world tour, the Helvetios World Tour , which consisted of several individual tours . The tour kicked off with three concerts in Brazil on January 18, 19 and 20, 2012. This was followed by a performance in Mexico City on January 21, 2012, before the band traveled to Miami , where they played from January 23 to 27. Participated in the cruise 70,000 Tons of Metal on January 1st , 2012 . Immediately afterwards, Children of Bodom's North American tour began on January 30, 2012 and lasted until March 4, 2012. Eluveitie co-headlined this one. At the same time as the North American tour, numerous release parties took place in various rock and metal clubs in Germany between February 10 and 25, 2012, but the band could not be present due to the tour activities.

The first European part of the tour took place as part of the Paganfest tour from March 16 to April 1, 2012, with Eluveitie as the headliner. The concert in Tilburg on March 18, 2012 was recorded by the London company Concert Live Ltd and released on March 24, 2012 as the official Eluveitie live album entitled Live on Tour . In April and May only a few individual concerts took place, independent of a tour, and on May 18th the album was performed live in full for the first time in the KuFa in Lyss . In the summer of 2012 Eluveitie performed at numerous European festivals including Sonisphere , Metalfest , Metalcamp , Greenfield and Graspop . Following the open-air festival season, Eluveitie accompanied the Swedish band Sabaton on their Swedish Empire Tour across Europe from September 7th to November 11th, 2012 . A special concert on this part of the tour was the Metal Hammer Award Show , where Eluveitie and Sabaton, supplemented by Callejon , presented the musical program for the Metal Hammer Awards ceremony on September 14th in Berlin . After a break of around two weeks in November, the Helvetios World Tour continued on the North American continent on November 28, 2012. On this tour section, which lasted until December 21, 2012, the band was accompanied by Wintersun and Varg , who were promoting their new studio albums Time I and Guten Tag . Further performances took place in 2013 as part of individual concerts, mini-tours and festivals in Australia , Brazil , Costa Rica , the People's Republic of China , Taiwan , Russia , Israel , and in almost all European countries.

Songs

Historical background of the album concept

In 59 BC After the consulate , the Roman consul Gaius Iulius Caesar, with the support of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus and Marcus Licinius Crassus, had the administration of three provinces transferred to him, including Gallia Narbonensis , located in what is now southern France. In order to increase his reputation as a successful general and to build up an army devoted to him, he militarily intervened in the already tense internal Gaulish power relations. At that time, the various Helvetic tribes planned to emigrate from their traditional settlement area, which is roughly present-day Switzerland . The reason for this was the increasing military threat from the Germans in the north. The goal of this mass migration should be the area of ​​the Santonen on the Atlantic coast . The shortest route there was through Gallia Narbonensis; Caesar forbade passage through this area, who also had a wall built between the Jura and Lake Geneva , so that the Helvetii had to take a much more arduous route around the Roman province. Caesar seized this opportunity and it came in 58 BC. With the battle of Bibracte to the defeat of the Helvetii. Caesar reports that he sent the surviving Helvetii back to their original settlement areas.

In the following years several battles took place across Gaul between Caesar's legions and various Celtic tribes. From 53 BC The individual Gallic tribes began to unite against their common enemy. The pact reached its climax under the leadership of Vercingetorix in 52 BC. In that year, three of the four most important battles of the Gallic War took place with the Battle of Avaricum , the Battle of Gergovia and the Battle of Armançon until late summer. In September 52 BC The last uprising of the Gauls was put down by the conquest of Alesia in the battle of Alesia . The last Gallic settlement, Uxellodunum , the conquest of which was rather insignificant for the war, fell in the summer of 51 BC. To the Romans. This finally made Gaul a Roman province.

Content and background of the texts

Track list
  1. Prologue - 1:25
    ( Glanzmann )
  2. Helvetios - 4:01
    (Glanzmann, Henzi, Murphy)
  3. Luxtos - 3:55
    (Glanzmann, Henzi, Tadic)
  4. Home - 5:17
    (Glanzmann)
  5. Santonian Shores - 3:58
    (Glanzmann, Henzi, Murphy)
  6. Scorched Earth - 4:18
    (Glanzmann)
  7. Meet the Enemy - 3:46
    (Henzi, Glanzmann)
  8. Neverland - 3:43
    (Henzi, Glanzmann, Murphy, Tadic)
  9. A Rose For Epona - 4:26
    (Glanzmann, Henzi, Murphy)
  10. Havoc - 4:05
    (Glanzmann, Henzi, Murphy)
  11. The Uprising - 3:42
    (Henzi, Glanzmann)
  12. Hope - 2:27
    (Glanzmann)
  13. The Siege - 2:45
    (Henzi, Glanzmann, Murphy)
  14. Alesia - 3:58
    (Glanzmann, Henzi, Murphy)
  15. Tullianum - 0:24
    (Glanzmann)
  16. Uxellodunon - 3:52
    (Henzi, Murphy, Tadic)
  17. Epilogue - 3:14
    (Glanzmann)

Eluveitie adapted the historical events as follows in the lyrics to Helvetios :

  • The prologue is spoken by Alexander Morton in spoken word style and introduces the listener to the subject of the album. The story is told from the perspective of an old Helvetian who remembers the time of the war. The rustling of the wind can be heard in the background. Towards the end a bagpipe tune begins, which leads seamlessly into the following theme song.
  • Helvetios should show the listener the mythological origin of the Helvetii , for which numerous deities with their respective attributes are presented.
  • Luxtos serves to characterize the people. It is portrayed there, based on Caesar's remarks, as brave, warlike and courageous. In addition, the expansion efforts of the Helvetii are addressed, which the Roman Empire perceived as a threat and therefore one of the reasons for the Gallic War . Sarah Wauquiez can be heard on this song as a trainer nag player .
  • Home is about how the Helvetii are threatened by barbaric tribes from the north and the Romans from the south. As with the previous and the following song, the central aspect is how to deal with this threat, so that ultimately the plan arises to leave home and flee.
  • Santonian Shores addresses the desperation of the people. The action takes place on the day before the departure for the territory of the Santonen people on what is now the Atlantic coast of western France and thus marks the end of a three-year preparatory phase.
  • Scorched Earth is a pure folk song. Christoph Pelgen takes over the singing of this song in the gwerz style. Pelgen is the singer and multi-instrumentalist of the Tübingen folk ensemble La Marmotte . The song describes the practice of the Helvetii to burn their house and yard when they leave - whether this is possibly a cultic act has not been clarified.
Cover of the single Meet the Enemy
  • Meet the Enemy tells of the first clash between the two rivals. At Lake Geneva , Caesar asked the Helvetii for a few weeks "to think it over" in order to strengthen his army and ultimately to inform them that he would not let them pass through the area he controlled west of Lake Geneva. The Helvetii then took an alternative route over a narrow mountain pass and later crossed the Arar . When about three quarters of the tribesmen had already passed the river, one night six Roman legions attacked the Helvetii in their sleep at the Battle of the Arar and defeated all Helvetii who had remained east of the Arars. As a guest musician , Fredy Schnyder from Nucleus Torn played the dulcimer on this song, as did Home .
  • Neverland - After several minor skirmishes, the Helvetii realized that they were inferior to the Romans and suffered from the constant being pushed back by the enemy troops.
  • A Rose for Epona describes the call of the Celtic fertility goddess Epona by a desperate Helvetian woman. Chrigel Glanzmann commented on the background of the song as follows:

“The song 'A Rose For Epona' appears about in the middle of the storyline - so, it tells about the time when the gaulish war broke out already. The Helvetians decided to leave their homeland and migrate to the west coast of Gallia, to start a new life there. In the time the song tells about, many Helvetians had to face pretty much shattered hopes. And so does the protagonist, from whose viewpoint the song is written: A young gaulish woman. She was part of the helvetic migration, but after the battle of Bibracte, all hopes that she and her people would ever reach their new home were torn to pieces. Furthermore you can imagine: She probably had lost her husband on the battlefields of Bibracte and she had to face fact that she can be glad if their common newborn child would not be killed and she herself would be sold into roman slavery. To sum it up: Her situation was desperate. In this situation 'our' young gaulish woman despairs, can't accept her fate and turns to her goddess Epona… and accuses her for having forsaken her people. "

“The song 'A Rose For Epona' is thematically about in the middle of the story told [on the album]. So it describes the time when the Gallic War had already broken out. The Helvetii had decided to leave their mother country and migrate to the Gallic west coast to start a new life there. By the time the action takes place, many Helvetians had to grapple with shattered hopes [for success, peace, etc.]. This also applies to the protagonist of the action, from whose point of view the events are portrayed: a young Gallic woman. She was one of the emigrants from Helvetia, but after the battle of Bibracte all her hopes and those of her people to reach the new country were destroyed. One should also imagine that she may have lost her husband on the battlefield of Bibracte and that she can be happy if their newborn baby is not killed and she is sold into Roman slavery . So it can be said that their situation was hopeless. In this situation, 'our' young Gallic woman despairs, does not want to accept her fate and turns to her goddess Epona ... and accuses her of leaving her people. "

- Chrigel Glanzmann
  • Havoc describes how Caesar with eight legions in 57 BC. BC invaded Gaul, which was not yet conquered at that time, and the actual war events began.
  • The Uprising also tells of the mostly unsuccessful battles and uprisings of the Helvetii. But it also reports on the rise of Vercingetorix in 52 BC. When he was made the leader of the Gallic uprisings and was able to unite the various sub-peoples. In the middle part of The Uprising there is again a spoken word part by Sandy Morton.
  • Hope is a pure flute and bagpipe interlude. It was written against the background that Vercingetorix's efforts gave the Gauls new courage to fight the Romans. In the meantime, however, too many Gallic warriors had died to defeat the Romans, and tactically and technologically they were also subject to the enemy. Nina Macchi, the daughter of the Eluveitiemanager, played the recorder as a guest musician .
  • The Siege represents the events of the Battle of Avaricum . Vercingetorix had changed his tactics and now wanted to entrench himself in the well-fortified city of Avaricum in order to defeat the Romans during their attacks on the city. In order to cut off the food supply for the enemy, the Gallic prince also had all the villages in the vicinity of the Roman camp burned down. Nevertheless, through a large siege construction and a great battle, the Romans succeeded in taking Avaricum and continuing the campaign with the supplies found there.
The siege of Alesia with the double defensive ring
  • Alesia deals with the battle for Alesia . It describes how the city was surrounded by the Romans and cut off from the outside world. For a short time it looked like a turning point in the war, when the Romans were besieged by a relief army themselves, but were also able to withstand this second front. When the supplies in Alesia gradually became scarce due to Caesar's starvation tactics, all civilians were sent out of the city (even at that time they were already enjoying special protection in the event of war) so that they could flee, but on Caesar's orders the Romans did not let them through peel off roman ring. The Gauls either did not want or could not let the refugees into Alesia, so that they were caught between the two fronts. Women, children and old people - around 20,000 people in total - starved to death right before the eyes of the Romans. According to Murphy and Glanzmann, Alesia is the most emotional text on the album.
  • Tullianum serves as a spoken epilogue to Alesia and alludes to the dungeon in Rome ( Carcer Tullianus ), in which the defeated Gallic leader Vercingetorix was executed. Hoping to save his people in this way, they had surrendered voluntarily to the Romans.
  • Uxellodunon tells the story of the siege of the last Celtic settlement Uxellodunum , which was founded in 51 BC. Fell to the Romans. This marked the end of the Gallic-Roman War.
  • The epilogue begins with the third and final spoken word lecture by Alexander Morton. He tells again from the perspective of the old Helvetian, who was sitting in front of his house and was telling his grandson the previous story. This is followed by a flute style until the piece ends with choral singing.

style

music

Compared to previous albums, Helvetios is more “ epic ”, according to Glanzmann and several reviewers , and for the first time includes a choir on some songs . Several traditionals were also taken up again. Guitarist Ivo Henzi describes the guitars on Helvetios as "more varied, technically more demanding and sometimes darker" than on the previous albums. Also due to the lyrical concept, the album can be musically divided into three parts. The first third features traditional folk metal compositions, while in the second part the music (except for A Rose for Epona ) becomes heavier, while in the last third the pieces are arranged more melodically.

In addition to the dominant styles of Melodic Death Metal and Folk Metal , elements of Black (especially with The Siege ) or Thrash Metal can be found in several songs . The song A Rose for Epona also has a great influence on current pop music and is compared to the songs of Nightwish in terms of composition . Alesia is musically similar and is reminiscent of more recent works by the band Within Temptation , but with the typical Gothic Metal alternation between growling and clear female vocals.

The tendency for the hurdy-gurdy player Anna Murphy to take on more and more vocal parts is also continued on Helvetios . Her vocal passages are partly clear and partly, like those of Glanzmann, growled or screamed . In the review of the webzine whiskey-soda.de , the sometimes polyphonic singing on the album is highlighted as a "highlight".

The songwriting also changed compared to previous albums. In the early days of the band, Glanzmann led it as a “one-man project with seven guest musicians” and therefore wrote all the songs on his own. This approach changed over the years, so that the songs on Helvetios , mostly based on a basic structure by Glanzmann, were worked out by the whole band together. Guitarist Ivo Henzi in particular had a great influence on the compositions and arrangements. In addition to the band and the guest musicians, the Maria-Lourdes mixed choir from Zurich-Seebach, under the direction of opera singer Barbara Meszaros and Benny Richter, was the soundscape producer on the album. The Austrian composer Paul Gallister helped the band with the instrumentation .

Texts

Helvetios is a concept album both musically and lyrically , and deals with the subject of the Gallic War , told chronologically from the perspective of the Helvetii . The lyrics on Helvetios are partly in English and partly, as is typical for Eluveitie, in a partially reconstructed form of Helvetian Gaulish . The concept was developed with the help of Caesars De bello Gallico and historical Helvetian reports in collaboration with historians from the University of Zurich and the Celtological seminar of the University of Vienna . The most important contacts at the Celtological seminar were Armin Kaar and Dominic Rivers.

Anna Murphy mentioned the preparation to the press at the prelistening session in November 2011: “Chrigel does a lot of research in books, on the Internet and also with scientists who specialize in the Celts. What we do is tell a story, and it is historically based. So this is not just any esoteric or paganistic frills, it's just history. […] For me the [album] is a bit like a film soundtrack, because musically it is fully coordinated with the lyrics. "

Glanzmann wrote all the lyrics alone, except for the song Home , which was written in collaboration with Anna Murphy. Based on Glanzmann's texts, Kaar and Rivers wrote the Gallic passages in the songs Luxtos and Scorched Earth .

Artwork

The overall presentation of the artwork for Helvetios is very different. The cover is kept in simple black and white and only shows the band name, the album title and a triskele . Together with the black and white back cover, which is also very simple, the front and back should be reminiscent of a book cover. Inside there are several colored graphics, stylistically reminiscent of the artwork of Everything Remains as It Never Was . These are photographs of landscapes, some of which have digitally Celtic symbols inserted, or photographs of people who are supposed to act like the protagonists of the lyrics. Due to an image filter, all photographs appear like "scratched paintings". In connection with the supplement, Glanzmann speaks of a kind of "art-photo-picture book" and cites:

«We went to an immense amount of effort [to create the photos]. The idea was to create pictures as they would have been made if an art photographer such as B. Henri Cartier-Bresson or André Kertész (whose fantastic works actually served as stylistic models) would have been there at the time and would have photographed the events of the Gallic War. We worked again with Manuel Vargas on the photos. He was busy with the 'Helvetios' project for months, because he actually traveled quite a long way and actually visited sites of the Gallic War to take pictures. In some cases we even reproduced individual scenes authentically, whereby we of course had various models at the start and worked with various historical / archaeological societies in terms of the equipment of the models (clothing, replicas, weapons, etc.).

- Chrigel Glanzmann

The cover was designed by Glanzmann himself. The basis for the triskele was an ornament from a fibula , which was discovered during archaeological excavations in what is now Central Switzerland. According to Glanzmann, the intention to create this cover was to represent the Helvetii. All the rest of the artwork was done by Manuel Vargas and Niklas Sundin . Members of the Celtic group Nantaror participated as extras in the photographs taken by Vargas for the supplement .

reception

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
Helvetios
  DE 27 02/27/2012 (3 weeks)
  AT 34 02/24/2012 (2 weeks)
  CH 4th 02/27/2012 (18 weeks)
  US 143 03/17/2012 (1 week)

Commercial success and awards

The album sold several thousand times immediately after its release in Europe and entered the charts in many European countries . The highest position was achieved in Switzerland with 4th place. There the album was initially in the top 100 for 15 weeks until June 10, 2012 at a time. Subsequently, the album was listed in the Swiss Top 100 for a further three weeks; at number 100 in the week from June 17 to 24, at number 88 from July 1, 2012, followed by another week at number 100, until the album finally dropped out of the charts on July 15, 2012. In the United States , the album was sold 4,242 times in its first week of sales, reaching number 143 on the Billboard Top 200 , number 7 on the Billboard Hard Rock Albums chart and number 3 on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart . The latter are special charts that list artists who were first placed on the Billboard charts. In Canada, Helvetios entered Canada's Top 200 Charts at number 73 .

Reviews

Helvetios received consistently positive reviews from the specialist press. In addition to the very good production, for which Vetterli has often been praised, the album is also highlighted as a milestone in many reviews. The author Xeledon from the webzine metal.de also certifies the band to have revolutionized the folk metal genre with the album or to have set new standards for it. He concludes his review with the conclusion:

“All in all, 'Helvetios' is a strong folk-metal synthesis of the arts, which celebrates folk-metal standards that are excellently implemented in its weakest moments. But where Eluveitie really trumps, they break the worn out genre corset and play in a league of their own. The fact that they not only integrate a large number of traditional folk instruments harmoniously into their songs, but also that the use of elements from Black, Thrash or Gothic Metal never disturbs, makes this masterpiece (almost) perfect. "

- xeledon

In the review of whiskey-soda.de , Helvetios is also certified to be a genre-defining work. Author Colin concluded his review with the words « In my opinion Helvetios is an album against which future folk metal albums and artists will have to measure themselves. And they will rub against each other! Great!". Metal hammer editor Björn Springorum drew the conclusion of the listening session: "[Helvetios is a] successful continuation of Eluveitie's recipe for success - stormy metal, anthemic refrains and lots of atmospheric folk melodies." The author Morgenstern from the Swiss webzine schwermetall.ch gave the album 12 out of 13 points. He also gave the album a very positive review:

«Eluveitie has constructed a truly epoch-making marvel and intoned an emotionally epic soundtrack to the Gallic Wars by skilfully mixing history and myth lyrically. This means that the eight musicians not only present themselves in a special league in terms of piece-writing, but also know how to overwhelm conceptually and in terms of content. Mandatory purchase. "

- Morning star

In addition, Helvetios at time-for-metal.eu and metal1.info to the album, and the report for review named to the month. Only in a few cases was there negative criticism; B. in the review by Powermetal.de , in which Julian Rohrer expressed the view that the album did not bring enough new music with it. Nevertheless, he concludes his conclusion positively and gives the album 8.5 out of 10 points. There is also some criticism in the German magazine Rock Hard when the reviewer Jens Peters sees the “tried and tested” “recipe” of the past continued and writes: “Basically everything on“ Helvetios ”is great and wonderful, only the penetrative annoying trumpet, which is used in various songs (among others) in the title track and in ‹The Uprising›, really shouldn't have been. " The album was "excellently produced" and "as expected, fully chart-ready". He awarded eight out of ten points. The album reached 39th place out of 50 reviewed albums in the magazine's issue, with an average rating of 6.3 from all editors.

Web links

Commons : Eluveitie Helvetios World Tour  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. a b c d e f g h i j Kira Appelt: Special Studio Eluveitie . In: Legacy , Edition No. 76, 01-2012, Devil.Inc, Saarbrücken 2012, p. 178
  2. ^ Karl Ernst Georges: Small German-Latin concise dictionary. Volume 2 (LZ). New set of the 1910 edition, published by Karl-Maria Guth, Hofenberg Collection (published by Contumax GmbH), Berlin, 2014, p. 489
  3. ^ Stefan Popp: INTERVIEW: Eluveitie (April 14, 2012). (No longer available online.) Metal1.info, April 14, 2012, archived from the original on May 5, 2012 ; Retrieved April 18, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.metal1.info
  4. a b c Enrico Ahlig: Modern history lesson . In: Metal Hammer , March 2012 edition, Axel Springer Mediahouse Berlin GmbH, Berlin 2011, pp. 42–45.
  5. a b c d e f g h i j k l m n soulsatzero: .: INTERVIEWS :: Chrigel von Eluveitie. (No longer available online.) Metalnews.de, January 18, 2012, archived from the original on May 5, 2012 ; Retrieved February 11, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.metalnews.de
  6. a b c d New album announced, HELVETIOS is coming in 2012! (No longer available online.) Eluveitie.ch, September 1, 2011, archived from the original on June 12, 2012 ; Retrieved October 23, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / eluveitie.ch
  7. a b c Anna Murphy: Studio blog: hurdy-gurdy! (No longer available online.) Eluveitie.ch, October 4, 2011, formerly in the original ; Retrieved October 23, 2011 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / eluveitie.ch  
  8. a b c d e f g h i j k l Eluveitie: Helvetios (supplement), editorial information, p. 21f.
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  10. a b Merlin Sutter: STUDIOBLOG: Drums, Part 2. (No longer available online.) Eluveitie.ch, September 7, 2011, formerly in the original ; Retrieved October 23, 2011 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / eluveitie.ch  
  11. a b c Ivo Henzi: Studio blog: Guitars, part 1. (No longer available online.) Eluveitie.ch, September 24, 2011, archived from the original on October 13, 2011 ; Retrieved October 23, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / eluveitie.ch
  12. ^ A b Christian "Chrigel" Glanzmann: Studio blog: Narrations (first guest musician known). (No longer available online.) Eluveitie.ch, September 26, 2011, archived from the original on October 13, 2011 ; Retrieved October 23, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / eluveitie.ch
  13. Meri Tadic: Studio blog: violin! (No longer available online.) Eluveitie.ch, October 12, 2011, formerly in the original ; Retrieved October 23, 2011 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / eluveitie.ch  
  14. a b Sime Koch: Studio blog: Mandola & acoustic guitars. (No longer available online.) Eluveitie.ch, October 31, 2011, formerly in the original ; Retrieved October 23, 2011 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / eluveitie.ch  
  15. ^ Ivo Henzi: Studio blog: Bass. (No longer available online.) Eluveitie.ch, November 18, 2011, formerly in the original ; Retrieved December 5, 2011 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / eluveitie.ch  
  16. a b c Björn Springorum: Just leave nothing to chance . In: Metal Hammer , December 2011 edition, Axel Springer Mediahouse Berlin GmbH, Berlin 2011, p. 18.
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This article was added to the list of excellent articles on April 14, 2012 in this version .