Ensiferum - Unsung Heroes (2012)

Ensiferum is one of the most famous finnish folk metal bands. It's formed in 1995 and it has now released its 5th studio album Unsung Heroes.

Ensiferum has always had its own style of making music. Album by album they have always managed to make a better album than before. First two albums Ensiferum and Iron were pretty good but only after Jari mäenpää left the band the music has taken a huge step forward. Unsung Heroes is definitely their best album. There can be noticed a huge progress compared to their earlier albums. Unsung Heroes sounds more fresh and there has been used much more orchestrations and choirs.

The album starts with an intro Symbols. Its very nice peace of calming music. it prepares listener for  the adventures into battlefields and ancient forests with its cinematic orchestrations. Second song In my sword I trust which was a single song for the album and there's also a music video made by it, is an energetic song that fits perfectly to the opening. Next one is a tittle track Unsung Heroes. It's a bit different song than their earlier stuff. Tempo is much slower than Ensiferum usually has and the orchestrations sounds very cool in the end. Burning Leaves is an ordinary Ensiferum song. Theres a cool folk melody that leads through the song. There's also used finnish in the latter part of the song and it makes a nice variety to the vocals. Celestial Bond is a nice calm before the storm. Next song is Retribution shall be mine. It shows up the faster side of Unsung Heroes. I quess the fans who likes more Ensiferum's older stuff like iron would like this song. Star Queen (Celestial bond part ll) starts with an acoustic guitars playing the Celestial Bond's main theme and continues with bassist Sami Hinkkas vocals(which I think sounds very good in this album) Star Queen is a good song with very nice chorus. Pohjola is the best song in this album in my opinion. There's very much variety in this song. Big choirs, finnish language, growls, clean vocals, blast beats and a famous finnis actor/musician Vesa-Matti Loiri! The song ends with an epic Finntroll like melody that stucks into your head for a long time. Last Breath is a second calming song. It's an acoustic song with bassist Sami Hinkkas vocals. It's very good song and shows this new side of ensiferum. There's also a catching flute melody and choirs in this song. The last song is seventeen-minutes-long massive peace of art Passion Proof Power. It starts with a long a bit boring intro but when the guitars and drums start playing you know that something epic is coming out soon. The melody in verse is very good. I think the clean vocals has never sound this perfect in any of ensiferums earlier songs. Passion Proof Power is full of cool melodys and riffs. There's also some time signature changes, which are very welcome in Ensiferums music. I could praise this song for hours and hours, but I quess it's better for everyone to just go and listen to this song and enjoy the epicness it provides.

I must say that Ensiferum has reached completely new levels with Unsung Heroes. Vocals are better than I could ever expect. Even the clean vocals are now hundred times better than before. I still would have hoped there to be a bit more growls. Orchestrations sound a bit like in Turisas' newest album Stand up and fight and that's a very good thing. They are going to the right direction. I also noticed that some of the melodies sounded very much like Finntroll. For Exampel in the latter part of In my sword I trust and Pohjola. But that's a good thing too.

Unsung Heroes is much different compared to From Afar and it might take a few times of listening before it shows all the good features it has. I recommend this album to all fans of good folk metal. Go to buy it and enjoy!

Rating: 5/5 stars


Tracklist:

01. Symbols
02. In My Sword I Trust
03. Unsung Heroes
04. Burning Leaves
05. Celestial Bond
06. Retribution Shall Be Mine
07. Star Queen (Celestial Bond Part II)
08. Pohjola
09. Last Breath
10. Passion Proof Power