Ensiferum (album)
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| Ensiferum studio album | ||||
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Publication |
January 7, 2001 |
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| Label (s) | Spinefarm Records | |||
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Title (number) |
12 |
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running time |
55 min 00 s |
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Studio (s) |
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Ensiferum is the first studio album by the Finnish Viking / Folk Metal band Ensiferum . It was released on January 7, 2001 via Spinefarm Records and received consistently very good reviews. The album was released as a remastered version in 2002 for the Russian, 2008 for the American and 2009 for the English market.
Emergence
The Finnish record label Spinefarm Records became aware of Ensiferum through the band's third demo, Hero in a Dream , and signed a record deal with the band at the turn of 1999/2000. The album was recorded and produced by Tuomo Valtonen in November 2000 at Sundi Coop Studios in Savonlinna, West Finland . Initially, the band was not satisfied with the mastering of the album, so they postponed the original release date in late 2000, as the album was re-performed by Mika Jussila.
Track list
Most of the songs have already been released on the three previous demos. New were added: Token of Time , Abandoned , Windrider , Treacherous Gods and Goblins' Dance .
| # | title | composition | length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Intro | Toivonen / Mänenpää | 1:50 |
| 2 | Hero in a Dream | Toivonen / Mänenpää | 3:40 |
| 3 | Token of Time | Maenpää | 4:16 |
| 4th | Guardians of Fate | Toivonen / Mänenpää | 3:34 |
| 5 | Old Man ( Väinämöinen ) | Toivonen | 5:33 |
| 6th | Little Dreamer (Väinämöinen Part II) | Toivonen / Fokin | 5:21 |
| 7th | Abandoned | Toivonen | 6:50 |
| 8th | Wind rider | 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 |
| # | title | composition | length | Contained on |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | Breaking the Law ( Judas Priest Cover) | Rob Halford, KK Downing, Glenn Tipton | 2:24 | Digipack & Japanese version |
| 13 | Old Man '96 | (Toivonen / Mänenpää) | 6:28 | English version (2009) |
| 13 | Into Hiding ( Amorphis Cover) | (Esa Holopainen / Olli-Pekka Laine) | 3:49 | American version (2008) |
Cover
The cover shows Ensiferum's warrior mascot standing in a boat sailing along a river. The Ensiferum band logo can be seen above. While the foreground is dominated by dark blue tones, the background, which shows a forest, appears mainly in yellow-green tones. The artwork was created and designed by Kristian Wåhlin .
criticism
The album received exceptionally good ratings in all reviews by the trade press. The album was also very well received by the fans.
Stefan Popp from the webzine metal1.info gave the album the highest number with 10 points and writes:
“Breathtaking guitar runs, cool drumming (not only in the ingenious double-bass passages), a wonderfully aggressive and scratchy voice, heroic choir songs and melodies over melodies ... This is where In Flames , Finntroll and Blind Guardian meet, meet somewhere in the middle , and Ensiferum comes out at least partially. […] Right from the start [everything] is very catchy, but nothing here seems flat, flat or monotonous - there is really no savings on variety, so each song has its own note and yet everything has the same signature and fits into one convincing whole. 'Ensiferum' is a lot of fun from start to finish [...]. "
The author, Throat Dragons , said the following during his review of the album for the webzine vampster.com :
“[…] What [Ensiferum] delivers on their debut can not only compete with everything that leads the field of melodic Death / Black Metal , but also convince with its own, unmistakable mix of styles, and that in what is actually an overcrowded genre. 'Ensiferum' [is] the congenial fusion of extreme metal, folk melodies and traditional metal. "
As usual for vampster.com, no rating was given in points. Once again, Alexander Melzer from the webzine metal-observer.com awarded the top grade with 10 points. He also comes to the following conclusion:
"[...] Ensiferum [are] already way up the genius scale of Heavy Metal with their debut! [...] Highly melodic Black / Death Metal , at all speeds from slow to hyperspeed [...], unbelievable melodies from traditional metal (the riffs) and folk, scruffy vocals as well as the most brilliant [sic!] choirs that would have done all Vikings all credit [...]. This album is an absolute contender for the top 5 of 2001, if not more! "
Claudja Pajzderski from the German Metal Hammer gave the album 6 out of 7 points and wrote in her review:
“[…] The music of Ensiferium is really original and beautifully catchy: Take a mixture of melodic death metal and traditional heavy metal, mix a good portion of folk music and medieval melodies and find yourself in the lucky position of having a singer who can both sing and scream. The result is a melodic album that does not lack a certain heaviness. It is precisely the mixture of screeched death metal and the folkloric parts with corresponding vocals that makes Ensiferum something special. "
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Ensiferum . Halbemiete.com, accessed June 1, 2011 (English).
- ^ A b Claudia Pajzderski: Review - Ensiferum - Ensiferum . In: Metal Hammer , January 2002 edition, p. 89
- ↑ Norman Hauer: Ensiferum . metalearth.de, accessed June 1, 2011.
- ↑ Thorsten Dietrich: Ensiferum - With 17 bands through the USA . myrevelations.de, accessed on June 1, 2011.
- ↑ Deniz: Ensiferum - Interview with bassist Jukka-Pekka . burnyourears.de, accessed June 1, 2011.
- ^ Stefan Popp: CD review: Ensiferum - Ensiferum . ( Memento of the original from February 1, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. metal1.info; Retrieved June 1, 2011.
- ↑ Pharynx: ENSIFERUM: Ensiferum . vampster.com; Retrieved June 1, 2011.
- ↑ Alexander Melzer: Review - Ensiferum - s / t . metal-observer.com, accessed June 1, 2011.
