Ensiferum – Winter Storm
Ensiferum – Winter Storm
Metal Blade Records
Release Date: 18/10/2024
Running Time: 43:08
Review by Rory Bentley
8/10
Unlike their former vocalist, Finnish Folk Metal legends Ensiferum have been pretty darn prolific over the course of their lengthy career, both in terms of quantity and quality. 2020’s excellent “Thalassic” was a real high point in the band’s discography, adopting a more epic, nautical feel, which is normally going to be a hit with me. The addition of Pekka Montin on clean vocals and keys was a welcome shot in the arm to their sound and added a powerful dimension to the mead-chugging anthemic backbone that made me love them in the first place.
Happily “Winter Storm” continues this powerful trajectory with more strong songwriting, cinematic production, and the rustic authenticity fans have come to expect. ‘Winter Storm Vigilantes’ is an ass kicking opener that makes full use of Pekka’s trad-metal pipes with its skull-splitting “tearing evil apaarrrrttt…” refrain and a crunching high octane guitar attack. Conversely ‘Long Cold Winter of Sorrow and Strife’ slows things down a pinch in favour of classic Folk storytelling and flagon-swaying, triumphant battle melodies. Think big lads singing in unison with swords raised high, sure it’s camp as hell but it feels right.
‘Fatherland’ picks up the pace again and has enough pyrotechnics and eye-popping vocal histrionics to slot nicely onto a Powerwolf album (if you know me you’ll know that’s a good thing), while retaining a harder edge thanks to Markus Toivonens raspy harsh vocals. This perfectly sets up the delightful, wistful ‘Scars In My Heart’, in which the boys hand the mic over to Eleine singer Madeleine Liljestam, who adds a touch of class and elegance to the album as she croons over some heart-warming Folk Metal magic.
I’m informed there is a concept running through the album based on an unpublished novel written by bassist Sami Hinkka. If I wrote for Metal Injection I would now copy and paste this part of the press release to hit my word count , but if you’re that interested you can look it up yourself. The reason this is relevant from my point of view is that there is a fantastic flow and sequencing to the record which must surely be attributed to this. I could personally do without the hokey spoken word interlude bits, but this is a European Metal band we’re dealing with here so you kind of have to take it on the chin.
The album climaxes with the sprawling ‘From Order To Chaos’, which would be one of the more grandiose Metal Epics of the year were it not for their former frontman I mentioned earlier dropping his annoyingly great masterpiece. Nonetheless it manages to accomplish the fantastical in a leaner, more palatable manner than Wintersun and is catchy as all hell. Not bad for a near 9 minute opus.
By the time things end with a bang, with the marauding ‘Victorious’, it feels scarcely believable that the album is over. Despite its lofty concept, “Winter Storm” is leaner than Leicester City’s chances of Premier League survival (sadly), and flies by quicker than a Sunday evening before you have to go back to your shitty job ( well, for me anyway). It’s a rare feat that a veteran band can pump out albums so full of life, zeal and new approaches to their core sound, but Ensiferum keep delivering the goods well into their storied career. Folk Metal fans will find a collection of songs here bursting with immediate hooks, rustic charm and kick ass riffs, and they didn’t have to wait 12 years for the fucker!
‘Winter Storm Vigilantes’ Official Video
TRACKLISTING:
01. Aurora
02. Winter Storm Vigilantes
03. Long Cold Winter of Sorrow and Strife
04. Fatherland
05. Scars in My Heart
06. Resistentia
07. The Howl
08. From Order to Chaos
09. Leniret Coram Tempestate
10. Victorious
LINE-UP:
Markus Toivonen: guitars, vocals
Sami Hinkka: bass, vocals
Petri Lindroos: vocals, guitars
Pekka Montin: vocals, keyboards
Janne Parviainen: drums
LINKS:
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