ELUVEITIE Unveils 'Ategnatos' Cover Artwork, Announces European Tour With LACUNA COIL

Swiss folk metallers ELUVEITIE will release their new album, "Ategnatos", on April 5 via Nuclear Blast. The cover artwork for the disc was created by Travis Smith and can be seen below.

The band states: "'Ategnatos' probably became our most organic album by all accounts. It is the result of a thoroughly intuitive process, where we gave creativity full scope. And during this process quite some back-to-the-roots developments emerged in diverse aspects. Many a riff off 'Ategnatos' reminds on the guitar work on 'Slania'. Following our gut feeling, we brought the mixing duties back to Jens Bogren's Fascination Street studios, where our Nuclear Blast debut was produced. And regarding the album artwork, it soon became very clear to us that we'd love to work with the fabulous Travis Smith again, who already created the front covers of our albums 'Spirit' (14 years ago!) and 'Everything Remains As It Never Was'. And we're honestly excited with the result! The front cover shows a spectacular scenery in central Switzerland, a so-called 'vulva cave', as it was sought to mark sacred rites of fertility and celebrations of life in ancient times! The artwork mystically and beautifully expresses the 'Ategnatos''s very core and essence! Once again, it was a pleasure to work with Travis!"

Recordings for "Ategnatos" took at New Sound Studio with their engineer of choice Tommy Vetterli.

A work based on archaic archetypes and the ancient concept of renewal, "Ategnatos" unfolds an elemental force to be reckoned with. "These archetypes are still within us," leader Christian "Chrigel" Glanzmann says. "People didn't change that much during the last 3000 years — and men were always just men." No wonder the album follows a decidedly darker, monumental tone that suits them very well.

Of course, ELUVEITIE has long had its very own trademark sound, a sonic adventure often copied but never overcome. With "Ategnatos", the dedicated nine-piece not only worked with a real string quartet and granted Fabienne Erni's sublime mastery of the harp the room it deserved; they also undertook a holistic upgrade resulting in some of the catchiest, most aggressive and most epic tunes the Swiss metal nobility has ever offered.

ELUVEITIE has also announced a European tour with LACUNA COIL and INFECTED RAIN.

ELUVEITIE states: "Our last few months have been extremely intense, creating 'Ategnatos'. Now we simply cannot wait to bring our new songs to the stages and to share our passion, pure fucking metal and heartfelt Celtic mysticism with you all! And all the more we're excited to bring such great bands with us! We feel honored to team up with our fellows of the heavyweight institution called LACUNA COIL and also with the amazing wizkid that is INFECTED RAIN, whom we've shared festival stages with a few times already!"

LACUNA COIL adds: "Transformation is a process and as life happens you need tons of new music! That's why we are really excited to team up with ELUVEITIE and our buddies in INFECTED RAIN for this fantastic tour package. The bill is pretty diverse and interesting and we can't wait to bring it around Europe. We will play some of our classic songs and introduce some new tunes! We know this tour is going to be rocking, and we know the fans are going to enjoy this as much as we are!"

Lena from INFECTED RAIN comments: "2019 appears to be very promising for INFECTED RAIN! A lot of new releases, new relationships and new places to visit. We are excited about all of this and especially about the autumn tour that is going to end the year so perfectly. We are going to support two great bands and amazing people on tour for more than forty shows around Europe. We are honored to share the stage with ELUVEITIE and LACUNA COIL."

Tour dates:

Nov. 02 - I - Bari - Demodè **
Nov. 03 - I - Rome - Orion **
Nov. 05 - I - Bologna - Estragon **
Nov. 06 - I - Milan - Live Club **
Nov. 08 - D - Stuttgart - LKA Longhorn
Nov. 09 - D - Oberhausen - Turbinenhalle II
Nov. 10 - B - Antwerp - Trix
Nov. 12 - GB - Manchester - Ritz **
Nov. 13 - GB - Glasgow - Garage **
Nov. 14 - IRL - Dublin - Academy **
Nov. 15 - GB - Bristol - SWX **
Nov. 16 - GB - London - The Forum **
Nov. 17 - NL - Utrecht - Tivoli Ronda*
Nov. 19 - D - Frankfurt - Batschkapp
Nov. 20 - D - Hannover - Capitol
Nov. 21 - D - Berlin - Huxleys
Nov. 22 - D - Leipzig - Felsenkeller
Nov. 23 - D - Munich - Tonhalle
Nov. 24 - A - Dornbirn - Conrad Sohm
Nov. 26 - F - Bordeaux - Le Rocher de Palmer
Nov. 27 - E - Barcelona - Razzmatazz II
Nov. 28 - E - Madrid - Mon Live
Nov. 29 - F - Toulouse - Le Bikini
Nov. 30 - F - Rennes - L'Etage
Dec. 01 - F - Paris - Elysée-Montmartre
Dec. 03 - D - Saarbrücken - Garage
Dec. 04 - D - Nürnberg - Hirsch
Dec. 05 - SLO - Ljubljana - Kino Siska
Dec. 08 - A - Vienna - Arena
Dec. 12 - LV - Riga - Melna Piektdiena
Dec. 13 - FIN - Helsinki - Tavastia
Dec. 14 - FIN - Tampere - Pakkahuone
Dec. 15 - EST - Tallinn - Rock Cafe
Dec. 17 - S - Stockholm - Klubben Fryshuset
Dec. 18 - N - Oslo - Vulkan Arena
Dec. 19 - S - Gothenburg - Trädgarn
Dec. 21 - D - Hamburg – Docks

* without LACUNA COIL
** headliner LACUNA COIL

ELUVEITIE in May 2016 announced the departure of drummer Merlin Sutter, vocalist Anna Murphy and guitarist Ivo Henzi.

The band's new lineup made its live debut at the Eluveitie & Friends festival in January 2017 at Z7 in Pratteln, Switzerland.

ELUVEITIE is:

Jonas Wolf - guitars
Matteo Sisti - whistles, bagpipes, mandola, bodhran
Nicole Ansperger - fiddle
Alain Ackermann - drums
Chrigel Glanzmann - vocals, whistles, mandola, bagpipes
Fabienne Erni - vocals, celtic harp
Kay Brem - bass
Michalina Malisz - hurdy gurdy
Rafael Salzmann - guitars