CELLAR DARLING

The Spell NuclEaR BlaST

Ex-Eluveities’ second album is truly magical folk prog.

Hurdy-gurdy wrangler and vocalist extraordinaire Anna Murphy, and her fellow Eluveitie alumni Merlin Sutter and Ivo Henzi, have pursued a devilishly smart path with Cellar Darling since 2016. The Spell shows a combination of trad instruments, flutage, and heavy prog chops that’s grounded in Murphy’s fascinating imaginings. Murphy’s concept is the story of a girl who falls in love with Death. Thankfully, this ideal – high as the Swiss band’s beloved mountains – doesn’t take a tumble and is more assured than debut This Is The Sound, which saw the trio trying to throw off their folk prog past.

More industrial-sounding – especially in the statement opener Pain – The Spell sees Cellar Darling push deeper into the commercially attractive territory occupied by the likes of Within Temptation. This is no criticism. A track such as Love combines beautiful piano breakdowns with melodic riffage that invites radio play. But the dark folk and general weirdness has not been abandoned as the spectral title track – featuring a Sutter/Henzi wall of sound – is brilliant. What a voice Murphy has: agonised and vulnerable, yet powerful. A force to be reckoned with.