Released by: Metal Blade Records
Release Date: October 18th, 2024
Genre: Folk Metal
Links: https://ensiferum.com/
Line Up:
Petri Lindroos – vocals, guitars
Markus Toivonen – guitars, vocals
Sami Hinkka – bass, vocals
Janne Parviainen – drums
Pekka Montin – keyboards, vocals
Tracklist:
Winter Storm Track Listing:
1. Aurora
2. Winter Storm Vigilantes
3. Long Cold Winter Of Sorrow And Strife
4. Fatherland
5. Scars In My Heart (Feat. Madeleine Liljestam)
6. Resistentia
7. The Howl
8. From Order To Chaos
9. Leniret Coram Tempestate
10. Victorious
11. Six Ribbons (Jon English cover) **
12. Lambada (Kaoma cover) **
** Special Edition Bonus Track
Less melodeath than their early material, Ensiferum have honed their sound to a tight, perfect mix of folk metal, melodic death metal, and epic/symphonic metal. If you put a Venn diagram together, there would be only a handful of acts in the middle, none more prominent than Ensiferum.
With over 25 years of music, with 2020’s Thalassic catapulting the band, finally, into the spotlight they so rightly deserved, it seemed like the portents were working against them when the pandemic essentially shut them down for two years. However, chart-topping success globally meant that in ’22 and ’23, big tours pushed them back into the light, and now, Winter Storm looks certain to continue the road to global dominance.
They keep you guessing with “what next” as each track brings something new to the mix, especially when both Pekka Montin and Sami Hinkka trade vocals. When you add the likes of Madeleine Liljestam (Eleine) who sings all of the vocals on Scars In My Heart and Lassi Logrén playing the nyckelharpa and violin, Ensiferum again get to remind us that no one else does this quite like they do. They may have their peers, they may have their copycats, but their sound is theirs and on Winter Storm, they get to tell a (as yet unreleased) fantasy novel that looks at warring factions, a classic underdog story where the smaller faction tries to invade and conquer but didn’t reckon on the resilience of the smaller forces.
If you’d asked me a few years ago to listen to bands like Ensiferum, I’d have struggled, thinking them to be too aggressive in style, especially vocally for me to appreciate. My editor though is a canny lad, and he chips away at my lack of understanding of the finer things in life. And now, bands like Ensiferum are as necessary in my life as beer and chips.
Read the lyrics, love the music, embrace the story. Great things await.
Score 8/10
Reviewed by: Adrian Hextall
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