ensiferum from afar

Released: 21 September 2009 Label: Spinefarm

I’ve had Ensiferum’s fourth full-length album for a while now and I have to admit that I’m still not sure whether I like it or not. It’s got all the classic elements of Ensiferum from pacy, catchy riffs to a mixture of aggressive, growled vocals and clean sung ‘gang’ vocal chants and also sees the band refusing to rest on their laurels and branching out to include much more ‘epic’ (for want of a better word) sections and even seemingly Ennio Morricone influenced Western themed parts. So, a band I like progressing their sound to include new influences without completely ditching their trademark sound, I really should love this... and yet somehow a lot of it leaves me cold.

Don’t get me wrong, there really is some moments of brilliance here, Stone Cold Metal has a typically high energy first half before the second part of the song that displays the aforementioned Morricone influence (including a banjo solo) is probably one of the biggest gambles Ensiferum have taken yet it pays off in spades and is sure to become a future classic. Equally the first of two Heathen Throne songs combines the kind of lead melody which wouldn’t sound out of place in one of Amon Amarth’s more ‘epic’ songs with male choirs, a brilliant mix of growled and clean sung lead vocals and the obligatory full-pelt heads down, thrash inflected riffing in its eleven minute running time without ever dragging and is possibly the band’s most effectively grandiose composition ever.

So far, so good then... but for every moment of brilliance it seems the band have a part that’s either throwaway like the acapella Tumman Virran Taa that adds nothing at all to the album, sounds rushed like the incredibly jarring female vocal section in Twilight Tavern which just doesn’t fit at all and many of the keyboard parts seem completely superfluous.

There’s also several times when parts are dragged our far beyond their natural length, most noticeably during the (perhaps ironically named?) The Longest Journey (Heathen Throne Part II) which is at least three, possibly even four minutes longer than it needed to be

I don’t want to sound too downbeat as From Afar really is an enjoyable album with much-maligned vocalist / guitarist Petri Lindroos sounding as energised, both with his vocals and guitar playing, as I’ve heard him since the first two Norther albums giving what is probably a career best performance so far... but as a whole the album just has far too much filler to be a truly rewarding listen.


by Neil Woodfin