ENSIFERUM

ENSIFERUM have always been a formidable force. As far back as their 2001 self-titled debut, the Finns had such faith and confidence in the greatness of their vision that they never really sounded like a new band foraging for attention. One of the biggest names to emerge from the folk metal splurge of the early 21st century, their steadiness and focus may not have made them as righteously entertaining as fellow countrymen FINNTROLL, but their music has connected in a way that no other comparable band can rival. Windswept, heroic and uplifting, the ENSIFERUM formula has been a reliable source of invigorating uproar for a long time.

If any criticism can be reasonably levelled at them, the fact that recent albums like 2017's "Two Paths" and 2020's "Thalassic" have not detonated with quite the same force that ENSIFERUM were packing back in the days of "Victory Songs" and "From Afar", 2007 and 2009 respectively. There has been no sudden drop in quality, but perhaps a slight drop in intensity. Either way, "Winter Storm" is precisely the album that ENSIFERUM needed to make. The poise and polish of their most recent efforts are still in effect, but from "Winter Storm Vigilantes"'s opening assault onwards, their ninth album bristles and spits with the fiery attitude of their early works. It's a subtle shift, but one that makes these songs sound momentous, exhilarating and rooted in the purest, shining steel.

While everything drops to a stately pace for the casually cinematic "Long Cold Winter of Sorrow and Strife", the overall atmosphere is one of war-hungry urgency and cold, bloody triumph. The likes of "Fatherland" and whip-fast closer "Victorious" are as colorful as they are brutal, but there is renewed spite in the delivery. Strong, folk melodies soar and sparkle with thinly veiled sentimentality on the ceremonial stomp of "Scars in My Heart" (featuring sublime vocals from ELEINE's Madeleine Liljestam),  and clean vocals from keyboardist maestro Pekka Montin bring light and humanity to bear on many of these songs; but "Winter Storm" still punches harder and cuts deeper than anything ENSIFERUM have released in a decade or more.

It sounds like they are having fun, too. "The Howl" is an unabashed attempt to cram multiple singalong melodies into one thunderous declaration, replete with audacious key changes and a deliriously overwrought final crescendo. The nine-minute "From Order to Chaos" is an absurdly rousing epic that spends the majority of its duration battering the living hell out of its enemies. Previous ENSIFERUM showstoppers like "Victory Song" or "Descendants, Defiance, Domination" (from 2015's "One Man Army") have often veered down an atmospheric blind alley, but here the band's metallic credentials are celebrated and flung back into our ungrateful faces with extra venom. There is plenty of penny whistle and bagpipe for the more poetically inclined to enjoy, too. These warriors think of everything.

Cheerfully proving that folk metal can still take people's heads off, ENSIFERUM take their role as the subgenre's chief flag-wavers seriously. "Winter Storm" is an ice-cold reminder that they still have the power.