"The Call of the Mountains" Released: 30 July 2014
Origins is the sixth studio album by Swissfolk metal band Eluveitie. The album was released on 1 August 2014 through Nuclear Blast. It was the last album to include longtime members Anna Murphy, Ivo Henzi, Merlin Sutter and Patrick "Päde" Kistler as band members.
Origins deals with the Celtic mythology, "or to be more precise, with aetiological tales from Gaul", commented vocalist and front man Chrigel Glanzmann.[1] Glanzmann also created the album artwork for this new offering and goes on to explain: "The album cover of Origins is designed after the hammer/club-shaped 'halo' of Sucellos, as seen on a statue that was found in a shrine of a Gallo-Roman household in today's France. It was created under the scientific supervision of experts from the University of Zürich".[1]
Upon its release, Origins received generally positive reviews from music critics. Björn Springorum of Metal Hammer said that Origins was "their strongest album to date". Glenn Butler of Powerplay continued the praise saying "Quite simply this album is a magnificent creation from the concept through to the delivery".[6]
For the first time in Eluveitie's twelve-year history their album reached number one in Switzerland. On hearing the news the band commented "That is just unbelievable. We are proud, happy, and most of all thankful to you, our fans. Together with you we've achieved the impossible and put metal where it belongs: at the top!". In addition to this, Origins reached number one on Billboard's Heatseekers Albums chart and broke the German top ten; peaking at number six.