The Swiss folk metal band delivered one of the most powerful performances of the 2026 edition, combining extreme metal guitars with violin, bagpipes and traditional sounds.
Eluveitie performed on 6 August at the Espace Jean-Pierre Pichard as part of the 55th Lorient Interceltic Festival. The evening also featured a collaborative appearance by Tanork, winner of the Breton Taol-Lañs programme.
The group’s presence broadened the musical horizons of a festival traditionally associated with pipe bands, dance and the different forms of Atlantic folk revival. It also brought Switzerland into an event usually centred on the Celtic nations. Violin, whistles, bagpipes, mandolin and harp shared the stage with electric guitars, rapid drumming and the guttural vocals that define the band’s sound.
Eluveitie was founded in 2002 by Christian ‘Chrigel’ Glanzmann with the aim of combining modern metal with ancient Celtic traditions. The band gained wide international recognition with Slania, released in 2008, and went on to develop a distinctive style based on melodic death metal, traditional instruments and references to the history and mythology of ancient Gaul, together with a strong nod to its language.
The line-up that performed in Lorient was led by Glanzmann, who handled guttural vocals, bagpipes, whistles, mandola and bodhrán. He was joined by Kay Brem on bass, Rafael Salzmann on lead guitar, Jonas Wolf on rhythm guitar and Alain Ackermann on drums.
Fabienne Erni provided clean vocals, Celtic harp and mandolin, while Lea-Sophie Fischer stood out on violin. The contrast between Glanzmann’s and Erni’s voices shaped much of the concert, with Fischer creating the main link between the metal passages and the traditional melodies, many of them Breton in origin, such as ‘Tri Martolod’, reworked in ‘Inis Mona’.
The performance formed part of the presentation of Ànv, Eluveitie’s latest studio album, released on 25 April 2025. The record explored Celtic mythology and traditions through a more modern production, while giving a prominent role to acoustic instruments. Its latest single had been ‘Taranoias’.
Before arriving in Brittany, Eluveitie had headlined the European Ànv Rising tour alongside Infected Rain and Ad Infinitum. The band had also taken part in Arch Enemy’s Blood Dynasty tour, together with Amorphis and Gatecreeper.
The concert confirmed that metal and interceltic culture could share the same stage. Eluveitie brought to Lorient a performance in which ancient melodies, traditional instruments, guttural vocals and some of Europe’s most iconic folk metal came together in a single musical language.
