Cellar Darling (CH)

About

Cellar Darling set themselves apart from the moment they launched, with the hurdy gurdy front and centre in a band that weaves folk, classical, progressive and heavy metal into something genuinely its own. The three piece from Winterthur and Lucerne formed in 2016 after Anna Murphy, Ivo Henzi and Merlin Sutter all left Swiss folk metal act Eluveitie in a widely covered split. Their debut single 'Challenge' signalled straight away that this would not be Eluveitie part two. Signed to Nuclear Blast Records early in 2017, they released their debut album This Is the Sound that June to strong critical reception. Their second record, The Spell, arrived in 2019 as a full concept album following an unnamed girl through a world ravaged by human cruelty. In 2021 they put out 'Dance', a track inspired by the dancing plague of 1518, which had originally been written for The Spell but was reworked and released on its own. Murphy handles lead vocals, hurdy gurdy and flute, giving the band a textural depth that is hard to find elsewhere in metal.