Ensiferum - Ensiferum (debut) [Review]

Folk Metal, a distinct sub-genre of metal. Easily recognizable for its epic qualities, fun traits, and turning metal from an aggressive expression, to...melodic poetry and atmospheric warmth...
One album that stands out and shook the world of Folk Metal was the legendary debut by one of the most recognizable names in the genre, ENSIFERUM.
Ensiferum's debut was received very, very warmly, earning a 10 out of 10 stars from the MetalObserver.

The details:
1. "Intro" (Toivonen/Mäenpää) – 1:50
2. "Hero in a Dream" (Toivonen/Mäenpää) – 3:40
3. "Token of Time" (Mäenpää) – 4:16
4. "Guardians of Fate" (Toivonen/Mäenpää) – 3:34
5. "Old Man (Väinämöinen)" (Toivonen) – 5:33
6. "Little Dreamer (Väinämöinen Part II)" (Toivonen/Fokin) – 5:21
7. "Abandoned" (Toivonen) – 6:50
8. "Windrider" (Toivonen) – 5:41
9. "Treacherous Gods" (Toivonen) – 5:12
10. "Eternal Wait" (Toivonen) – 5:14
11. "Battle Song" (Toivonen) – 3:20
12. "Goblins' Dance" (Toivonen) – 4:29
-All lyrics by Mäenpää except "Goblins' Dance" by Valtias Mustatuuli.

The Band:
Jari Mäenpää - Harsh vocals, clean vocals, rhythm guitar, guitar solos
Markus Toivonen - lead guitarist, choir vocalist
Oliver Fokin - Drums
Jukka-Pekka Miettinen - Bass guitar

Session:
Henri "Trollhorn" Sorvali (Finntroll, Moonsorrow) - Keyboards

Review:
1.) The intro is a soft acoustic rise on a strange folk instrument, as it begins softly from just a simple melody, it rises to include a stringing section on the keyboards provided by Finntroll/Moonsorrow keyboardist Henri Sorvali. It gradually rises and falls as it leads straight into track 2.

2.) Hero in a Dream starts off with a powerful but short drum intro by Fokin, joined by Toivonen and Mäenpää doing an atmospheric twin guitar melody, leading into a speedy assault of chords and the shrills of Jari. Enter a speedy power-metalesque attack and a beautiful bridge. A perfect opening track! 9/10

3.) One of the prime songs of Ensiferum, and considered one of their signature masterpieces. Written fully by Jari Mäenpää, this song starts with a nice chording on an acoustic, shortly joined by some fills on the hi0-hat, going onto a full folkmetal assault with Jackson guitars, steady double bass rhythms, and the droning keyboard to add to its epic feel. Jari then begins his vocalizations on what could be one of his most legendary performances, immediately after that, the band breaks down into a full folk assault with acoustic guitar, flutes, jingles, tambourines perhaps, and continues right into the chorus with a atmospheric electric guitar folkmelodies once more. In the middle of the song, Jari shows he's tough stuff with fast and clean sweep solos and shreddage. Ending the song is another upbringing chorus, delivered beautifully! 11/10

4.) Starting with almost a techno style beat, then going into some serious riffage! Guardians of Fate features a different vocal styling of Jari, his trademark clean vocals, with their brilliant epic quality of harmony and chill! The song suffers through two tempo changes combining to create one badass song! 8/10

5.) This track starts off in almost a slow ballady fashion, then gradually builds its speed. Speed and aggression is sacrificed for more atmosphere, feel, and emotion. The folkinstruments make their return here with some more Jaricleans! 7.5/10

6.) Part two of the Väinämöinen. It starts off in that nice ballady entry as part 1, however, the speed and aggression make its return with more folk sounds. Jari brings back his signature wolfscreams again, and this track is one to chill your mind! 8.5/10

7.) The album's prime ballad. It starts off with a blizzard of guitar and drums, with an atmospheric keyboard section in the background. It slows down to feature only the soft melody of a folk instrument and a basic drum beat and some of the most beautiful clean vocals one can ever put in such a song. Soon it adds the guitar to play the same melody, and the lyrics are a sad tale. On the chorus, Jari overlaps his clean vocals and harsh vocals to create a hauntingly epic wall of sound! The song features an emotion packed guitar solo by Mr. Mäenpää that starts off slowly and with mighty reverb, and then surprising you with its inclusions of shreddage and sweepage! The song then proceeds to track eight. 10/10

8.) One of the greatest songs, period. Starting with a memorable entry of an aggressive riff attack with a steadily upbringing drum rhythm, the song progresses with Jari putting his lyrics of a warrior seeking revenge through some of the most powerful harsh vocal deliveries ever! Tremolo picking the pre-chorus, Toivonen and Mäenpää's double guitar melodies here bring into light as Jari exclaims the lyric's main word, "WIIIINRIIIIIDER!"
After the first chorus, the band breaks down into one of the most epic folk attacks ever, I seriously get chills EVERYTIME I hear this part, I always feel like opening my car windows and headbanging violently while driving. The riff after the first chorus has to be one of my Top 5 RIFFS OF ALL TIME! During the bridge, the song includes a military-style snare rhythm along with some melodies on an acoustic before proceeding to the main chorus once again.
Ensiferum plays this song at live shows, very very often! 11/10

9.) Treacherous Gods starts off with triplet riffage on a 4/4 time signature. Then it all stops as Jari says "The land is silent, before the storm!" (the final word being delivered in a way so orgasmic you cannot believe). The song then continues the triplet pattern in a typical metal delivery. During the mid-section, all stops to hear a bunch of overlayered Jari vocals create a fully epic warchant of strength and nature! The folkmelodies in this song are especially prominent, creating some of the most beautiful metal masterpieces ever! 9.5/10

10.) Eternal Wait is one of those songs that starts off slow and then it goes almost, extremely folk, and even though you want to hate it, you just can't. You know why you can't? Because it's a beautiful sound one cannot just click out of, this song has to be the softest song on the entire album. It's brilliant again, and the folkmelodies are EXTREMELY prominent here. The folk instrument makes its comeback here to create the most haunting part of this song! 8.5/10

11.) The title says it all, it is a pure aggressive delivery of harshness. The song features overlayered tracks of Jari's harsh vocals to create the stimulated effect of a shouting army. This song features the double-bass almost the entire time, Jari's cleans are then multiplied by many to create the warchant sound again! Before the tempo change, all the instruments stop, but there is a massive battlecry (that is probably Jari's voice layered on 50 times or something) that gets right in the mood for the speedup. This song is short and sweet, and i'd recommend it for any new listener! 9.5/10

12.) This song is a massive Finntroll-esque breakdown. Featuring rolling drums and a grinding guitar section with the sounds of beer bottles clinking together and the humppa sound! 8/10

Overall album rating: 9.5/10

I recommend any metalhead to get this album, no true metalhead can afford to NOT have this album in their library. This album was a major breakthrough in metal, why? Folk Metal is relatively new, Finntroll definitely popularized it with the release of albums like Jaktens Tid, but this album is very equally as important. It presented Folk Metal in a Melodic Death/Power Metal fashion, creating the epic viking metal-esque feel they are known for and that many other bands in the future will try to emulate.
Ensiferum entered the metal world strong with this album, receiving very strong positive reviews! Albeit they did not break the United States until "Dragonheads" and "Victory Songs", Ensiferum made fans worldwide with this simple power production!