MUSIC REVIEW: Ensiferum - “Winter Storm”
Ensiferum are old hats in the heroic folk/Viking metal scene these days, with eight studio albums already under their belts. Well, it’s time for a ninth to emerge, as October 18th, 2024, marks the release of “Winter Storm,” once again released via Metal Blade Records. Due to the pandemic prolonging touring for these guys, it’s been a whole 4 years since their last album, “Thalassic,” was released. Fans have surely been thirsty for more water since that nautically-themed album, but it seems this time, the atmosphere will be snowier.
Check out my Off the Record interview with Sami Hinkka here!
There’s also an interview with Pete Lindroos for “Two Paths” here and one with Sami for “Thalassic” here!
In case you’re new here, I often like to use this first paragraph to give a general personal history on the artist, so if you’d like to compare your favorites to mine to see how comparable our tastes are, this next paragraph is for you! After all, music is subjective! So, with that in mind, feel free to skip down to the next paragraph if you’re not interested in my personal history with Ensiferum.
I got into Ensiferum in 2009 when I moved to Finland and have a fairly storied history with them and their music. I had known of them prior to the move, but I had half-listened and not been very interested. It wasn’t until I got into Norther (truly, like, right when Pete got booted for spending too much time with Ensiferum) that I was lured into their music, with “Victory Songs” being the album that hooked me. I like a lot of material from “Ensiferum” (2001) and “Iron” (2004), aka the Jari Mäenpää era, but I’ve always been a bit hit-or-miss with Jari’s style (you can read my review of “Time II” here for more on that). Some of my favorites are the title-track “Iron,” “Lai Lai Hei” (aka the ‘foreigners favorite metal karaoke song’ here), and “Token of Time.” My all-time forever-favorite Ensiferum album is, however, the one that came out that same year I moved to Finland: “From Afar,” which is IMHO a perfect release (apart from any orchestral mix imbalances, which I only noticed after Sami pointed it out during the interview for “Thalassic,” tsk!). The “From Afar” album release show, incidentally, was one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to, for music and overall crowd atmosphere. Now, from here on out it gets dodgy: "Unsung Heroes” (2012) I only liked the first half of, and the only song from “One Man Army” that went on my favorites playlist (down below, by the way) was “Two of Spades.” I remember raging at “Two Paths” for putting what I felt like were two extremely inferior songs with clean vocals on the official album and putting Pete’s far superior growling versions as bonus tracks, and I also felt like Netta Skog’s accordions made their music sound too shanty-like, so in the end I don’t think I ever came back to it after the album release show. At that point, I decided not to expect too much from them, when they surprised me with “Thalassic,” which I ended up thinking was a really across-the-board solid release, perhaps their most solid package since “From Afar.” So now, I simply try not to expect too much (this really applies to most bands that I’ve liked for over 10 years), but with some optimism to allow myself to be pleasantly surprised.
The album opens with a deliciously heroic and very traditionally Ensiferum-sounding minute-or-so-long intro track, “Aurora,” which flows perfectly into the next song, “Winter Storm Vigilantes”; surely you’ve heard it already, as it was the band’s first single. There’s a lot of fiddly guitar work driving this song forward, followed by another rather traditional-feeling roar from Pete Lindroos. Admittedly, when I first heard this song, my response was, “yup, that’s another Ensiferum single,” but I admit that after a few listens, it grew on me a bit. It’s a pretty fun, speedy song and you get a nice mix of vocals, with Pete’s growls, Pekka Montin’s cleans, and the Viking choir, making for a really solid single.
The second single is “Long Cold Winter of Sorrow and Strife”… revisiting the Jari Mäenpää days with that name, perhaps? All joking aside, I think it’s a bold move to shuffle the longer, more dramatic tracks up towards the front of the album. Once again, I didn’t really like this song at first because I felt like it was much too slow for what it needed to be, but in the greater context of the album, this song actually works really well. The dramatic narrator returns, backed by solid work from the instruments, and some of the fills are very stylish. There’s something about these songs that brings me back to “Unsung Heroes,” which is not a bad thing. This was also the first track where I felt like Pekka Montin was sounding a bit like Mathias Nygård of Turisas, which is always a nice bit of nostalgia.
“Fatherland” is a pretty solid, rockin’ song. Once again, it’s pretty traditional Ensiferum, so I’m not sure that I have anything profound to say about it musically, but it has excellent power and flow, with a strong chorus from the Viking choir, surely making for a fun live track, no doubt. One of the highlights is the trade-off of vocals between Pekka and Pete—now that’s a little bit of something fresh from these guys! Pekka also delves into some deeper vocals as well, showing off that he’s far from a one-trick pony when singing.
The—I want to say half-ballad?—“Scars in My Heart” featuring Madeleine Liljestam of Eleine is a… nice song. Her voice is lovely, but also really rather… lackluster? It’s a bit of a flat performance, as she’s a very competent singer with a pretty voice, but it feels sort of surface-y, like she’s just doing a job. In songs like this, it’s important to have emotion, which is the thing I’m feeling is missing. If you’re not thinking too hard about it, it’s probably fine, but if you’re looking for a little more from a collaboration, this one falls a bit short of what it could have been. This could also relate to what I feel is a bit of a bland melody behind the vocals, as the music plods on. When compared to “Celestial Bond” from “Unsung Heroes” (the band’s last ballad with a female guest vocalist), the backing music feels a bit lackluster.
“Scars in My Heart” goes so smoothly into “Resistentia” that you may not notice that the song changes. “Resistentia,” however, is an interlude with the dramatic narrator again, so don’t get confused! There’s a more notable break in between songs before “The Howl,” which is another really straightforward, rather kickass Ensiferum piece.
“From Order to Chaos” is a pretty solid epic, implying that the album’s climax lies in this track. On the whole, I’d say it’s quite good, consistent in quality with their other epics, while benefiting from some new flavor from Pekka. He may have seemed like a bit of a standard power metal singer on “Thalassic,” so it is really cool to see how much more he has to offer. I did find myself rocking out a bit in my seat to this one during my listening sessions.
The album has a little playful trick, teasing “Leniret Coram Tempestate” acting as a soft and beautiful little musical interlude, before the speedy, rather epic, and frankly, rather victorious-sounding “Victorious.” I love that they took a moment to breathe before going into this boisterous and quick song. I also love the way it refers back to “Winter Storm Vigilantes,” giving the album a feeling of coming full circle in its finale. It is a solid track to end on, leaving the listener wanting more (which is what I always think you should aim for). This song will surely have some fun mosh-pits live. Oh, and one more thing that’s noteworthy in this one? Hearing Pekka screaming right next to Pete growling. It sounds really good! I would say that “Victorious” is probably the highlight of the album for me!
So did this new Ensiferum hit it or miss it? In the end, I think that very much depends on what your favorite side of Ensiferum is. If you’re looking for short, punchy bangers, this will not be that album, as I feel like they’ve leaned more towards the songs with the dramatic narrators and epic stories, despite what “Winter Storm Vigilantes” may have suggested. Admittedly, I feel like I didn’t have so much to say about the songs individually, not because aren’t good or interesting, but just because they all sound so very much like Ensiferum in all of the instrumentation and vocal stylings, so do give the album a few listens before making up your mind, as some of the songs take a little longer to leave their mark.
The album’s high points include showing off what Pekka can do with a bit more artistic freedom, as well as some nice, atmospheric, dramatic moments, and of course the spectacular backing orchestrations (that’s Mikko Mustonen, right? I tip my hat, sir).
This feels like a more serious album than usual, which makes sense, as Sami mentioned in our interview that a lot of it was written during the pandemic and that wasn’t the most carefree time in anyone’s life. So obviously, there are no goofy “Two of Spades”-type tracks or bouncy drinking songs, but that might appeal to fans who aren’t so big on the band’s more whimsical material. Ultimately, this release feels very much like an Ensiferum album, shaken up just enough thanks to Pekka’s contributions, so I think this is a pretty solid inclusion into the band’s discography!
Tracklist
Aurora
Winter Storm Vigilantes
Long Cold Winter of Sorrow and Strife
Fatherland
Scars in My Heart ft. Madeleine Liljestam
Resistentia
The Howl
From Order to Chaos
Leniret Coram Tempestate
Victorious
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