As with last week’s collection of reviews, all this music was heard while I was being trotted round the Baltic on a cruise ship. The latter half of the cruise took us to various ports around Scandinavia. It's probably no coincidence that one of my favourite cities on the trip has produced a great metal band.
It might surprise some, but there were two other black clad metalheads on the ship. Dave is a band that has opened for various bands reviewed in this column over the years. He and his lovely wife were shunned by many on the ship, but provided us with some candid chat and fond recollections of metal gigs in our past.
Ensiferum: From Afar
As I sat in a shop in Helsinki, while my wife looked at clothes, I was content listening to this great slab of Viking/folk metal. The fact the members hailed from the city in which I was in made it all the sweeter. Veterans by now, this bunch of Viking heathens improve with each release. Combining all the aspects that make metal, of its various ilks, great, they produce music which is both atmospheric and epic.
They bring the feeling of the vast open oceans of the Baltic, in a moderate chop, to life. The self-belief that filled those early Norsemen as they headed into the unknown across treacherous seas to trade, explore, and conquer shines through. It"s possible to believe that had they had the instruments Ensiferum would be something they could produce.
With their combination of rough and various sets of clean vocals (almost all of them sing) you get the whole drinking songs feeling in droves. The keyboards are merely there to add feeling or evoke a mood when it's needed.
There are no duff tracks on this release and I could happily listen to this for many months to come. If you have never been brave enough to face up to Viking metal, then this album is the one to attempt first. It’s a damn good metal album first and foremost, the Norse tinge just makes it all the more special.
Glorior Belli: Meet Us at the Southern Sign
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