There is nothing that I like more than an exciting Metal concert experience and when I saw the news about the co-headlining run of Korpiklaani and Eluveitie I couldn’t wait to help share the news along. These are two of my favorite Folk Metal bands overall and I am so glad that they are constantly coming to our side of the pond thanks to their label Nuclear Blast Records. Read on through the extensive press release below and I will return at the close.
The Press Release:
Finnish Folk Metal Superstars KORPIKLAANI are proud to announce their North American Wanderers Towards Rebirth (Kulkija ad Ategnatos) co-headlining tour with label mates Swiss masters of death-infused folk-metal, ELUVEITIE. The 24-date trek will kick off at The Orpheum in Tampa, FL on September 19th and will make stops in Dallas, Seattle and Montreal before concluding in New York on October 14th. Joining the bands on tour is GONE IN APRIL.
Jonne states, “We are very much looking forward to the second North American leg of our Kulkija world tour. This time it will be a co-headlining tour with the Switzerland’s own Eluveitie. First half of the North American tour at the end of the last year was a great success, so it is only natural that we will return there this soon.
This will be our seventh North American tour, and we’ve played over 1000 shows around the world since 2003. Yet this still feels like we’ve only begun and have just now got the wheels properly rolling. However, before North America we still have a tour in Australia and New Zealand in May and of course a busy summer raising our pints around the various festivals in Europe.”
KORPIKLAANI are currently touring in support of their latest studio album Kulkija. To celebrate, the band released a special tour edition, which includes the Beer Beer CD, featuring 14 different versions of the eponymous track. Taken from this CD is also “Bier Bier,” sung by TANKARD’s Gerre, who even wrote the lyrics for the adaption.Watch the lyric video for the German “Beer Beer” version here: /www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfxfnAm7PK8
Chrigel Glanzmann states: “Hard to find words here and to express our excitement. First of all it’s been incredibly long this tour is overdue! We cannot wait to finally come back to North America! Secondly, we have our brand new album ATEGNATOS under our belts, plus we’ve finally released the much-anticipated second part of our purely acoustic ‘Evocation’ cycle since we’ve been to North America the last time. And so we cannot wait to share all the new songs with you! And last but not least it feels simply great to once again tour with our very dear friends and fellow road warriors of Korpiklaani!
Long story short: We’re super excited and very much looking forward to soon tour in the USA and Canada again! See you all soon!”
ELUVEITIE are touring in support of their latest album, Ategnatos. Today, the band revealed a new performance/lyric video for their latest single, “The Slumber,” which can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/_r6ikITRKXM
The Tour Dates:
Sept 19 – Tampa, FL – The Orpheum
Sept 20 – Atlanta, GA – The Masquerade
Sept 21 – New Orleans, LA – House of Blues
Sept 22 – Houston, TX – White Oak Music Hall
Sept 23 – Austin, TX – Come And Take It Live!
Sept 24 – Dallas, TX – Gas Monkey Bar & Grill
Sept 26 – Mesa, AZ – Club Red
Sept 27 – Los Angeles, CA – The Regent
Sept 28 – Oakland, CA – Metro
Sept 29 – Portland, OR – Bossanova Ballroom
Sept 30 – Vancouver, BC – Rickshaw Theater
Oct 1 – Seattle, WA – El Corazon
Oct 3 – Denver, CO – Summit Music Hall
Oct 4 – Lincoln, NE – Royal Grove
Oct 5 – Minneapolis, MN – Cabooze
Oct 6 – Chicago, IL – Concord Music Hall
Oct 7 – Toronto, ON – The Opera House
Oct 8 – Ottawa, ON – Brass Monkey
Oct 9 – Montreal, QC – Corona Theatre
Oct 10 – Quebec City, QC – Imperial Bell
Oct 11 – Worcester, MA – The Palladium
Oct 12 – Reading, PA – Reverb
Oct 13 – Baltimore, MD – Baltimore Soundstage
Oct 14 – New York, NY – PlayStation Theatre
ABOUT KORPIKLAANI: Finnish Folk Metal Superstars KORPIKLAANI released their current studio album titled Kulkija (“Wanderer”) on September 7th, 2018 through Nuclear Blast Records. They released a special tour edition, which doesn’t only include the regular songs, but also a bonus CD titled Beer Beer, which will only be available in this physical package. The aforementioned disc includes 14 versions of KORPIKLAANI’s iconic song ‘Beer Beer’, graced by the likes of Christopher Bowes (ALESTORM), Steve “Zetro” Souza (EXODUS), Andreas “Gerre” Geremia (TANKARD), Jesper Anastasiadis (TURISAS), TROLLFEST and many more of their friends’ bands and musicians.
With 14 tracks and a total running time of over 71 minutes, Kulkija is the group’s longest album to date. Working with producer Janne Saksa for the first time, the album was recorded at Petrax Studio (Hollola, FIN) and mixed at Sound Supreme Studios (Hämeenlinna, FIN). Mastering duties were handled by renowned engineer Svante Forsbäck (RAMMSTEIN etc.). The cover was designed by Jan Yrlund (BATTLE BEAST, MANOWAR etc.), who has already created several artworks for previous albums and singles for the band.
Are you a traveller or a wanderer? Be part of KORPIKLAANI’s journey around the world! Use the hashtag #KorpiklaaniWayfarers on Twitter and Instagram, and your photos will appear here nblast.de/KorpiklaaniWayfarers
ABOUT ELUVEITIE: Born in the rural mysticism of the Swiss alps and since a very early point deeply rooted within Celtic mythology, Gaulish history and proto-European culture, ELUVEITIE have long become Folk Metal’s trailblazers, spindoctors and rightful masters of their craft. All the more because they never limited themselves to simple forays through rune-decorated cliches or foolish drinking songs. From their fabled debut »Spirit« (2006) onward, theirs was an approach of respect, historic accuracy, depth and the most thrilling, catchy, primordial melange of Melodic Death Metal and Pagan Folk the world could have ever imagined.
Members came, members went. The soul of ELUVEITIE, though, the very essence of this pagan congregation remained undisturbed. Now, in the dawn of 2019, they look back upon an impressive seven studio albums, the last of which climbed to the very top of the Swiss album charts and also made a remarkable entry at No. 6 in Germany, as well as countless tours around the globe and headliner slots at the biggest Metal festivals. Still, this was only the beginning. A 13-year-overture for the things about to come. The sky is darkening, the ravens fly. The stage is set for the thunderstorm that has already been heralded by the tempestuous harbinger Rebirth in late 2017. Finally, everything is prepared for the colossal voice of the ages that is Ategnatos.
Recordings of Ategnatos took place in their beloved New Sound Studio with their engineer of choice Tommy Vetterli. “Yet it was radically different as we only had four weeks to record this time around – as compared to the eight weeks we had for Origins.” By taking mixing duties to the skilled hand of renowned studio wizard Jens Bogren in his Fascination Street Studios in Örebro, Sweden, ELUVEITIE returned to the very spot where they mixed their now legendary Slania album more than ten years ago. With Ategnatos, the dedicated nine-piece not only worked with a real string quartet (a premiere!) 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 most catchy, most aggressive or most epic tunes the Swiss Metal nobility has ever offered.
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PiercingMetal Thoughts: As a Metal fan who has been following both of these bands for more than a decade now, I am absolutely stoked about this pairing of Folk Metal titans. I am always a fan of a diverse lineup that makes sense on tour but when it comes to a few bands that amount to an absolute lock in sound well, I lose my mind for that. Korpiklaani always manages to bring the party to the masses and to say that they are delivering rousing circle folk dancing inspiring stuff would be an understatement. Eluveitie has gone through some considerable changes since I’ve last seen them in action but their music is still mind blowing and I can only say that if you are not yet sitting with us at this table, then please grab a plate and start filling it with these groups offerings. There is always room for one more to join in the celebration. As I close this one up I wonder what you folks think about the tour. Please chime in down below in the comments section and I will see you next time.