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| | Victory Songs | | | Music Artist : | | Ensiferum | | Music Style : | | Death Metal | | Record Label : | | Candlelight | | Release Date : | | 2007-04-24 | | Store Price : | | $14.98 | | Artistopia's Price: $14.98 | |
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CD Tracks/Songs
Disc 11. Ad Victoriam
2. Blood Is the Price of Glory
3. Deathbringer from the Sky
4. Ahti
5. One More Magic Potion
6. Wanderer
7. Raised by the Sword
8. New Dawn
9. Victory Song
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Other Artist Albums
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Customer Reviews of This Album/CD |
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 Second to Top Notch
Submitted on: 2009-04-22 |
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Imagine there are 100 notches to rate this 100 being highest, 1 being lowest. This falls at 99, when compared to Iron, and Ensiferum when they are at 100.
As many know, Jari left Ensiferum because Spinefarm(or at least, I believe spinefarm did most of the planning for the tour) had Tour dates on the same days Jari was doing recording on Wintersuns first album, even after Jari told them he would not compromise those dates.
Now to the real review. Without Jari, the band has suffered a lot, Don't get me wrong, Petri is a good vocalist. But it's the difference between a Fillet Mignion, and a sirloin. Both are good, but one is significantly better. Jari Maenpaa, and Johan Hegg(Amon Amarth) Are quite positively the best vocalists(in my opinion) around. I think the only person who would possible, truly fill Maenpaa's shoes, would be Johan.
As for the music. The music is great, some of it is more fast paced, and epic than anything else(see One More Magic Potion, yay Drinking songs) while others really have the bands more melodic death roots (IE Blood is the Price of Glory). Petri does competent, good work, the Guitars are high quality, as would be expected from such an amazing band, and Meijho also does a good job on her keyboard.
Although I've stopped refering to Ensiferum as Melodic Death Metal, and started refering to it as Harsh Vocaled Power Metal. While it may not quite sound terribly power metally, It does the same job PM does, It uplifts my spirits, and energises me, the same way Sonata Arctica, and Running Wild do. |
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Great Pagan/Viking Metal Band
Submitted on: 2008-04-05 |
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| I just recently discovered Ensiferum after getting into the Pagan Metal Genre. Victory Songs has quickly put Ensiferum in my top 3 Pagan Metal bands. If you are a fan of bands like Eluveitie and Tyr, you definitely want to check this band out. I highly recommend their entire catalog. |
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My all-time favorite metal band
Submitted on: 2008-04-02 |
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An acquaintance mentioned Ensiferum to me and I gave them a listen - their "Victory Songs" CD has become #1 on my rotation. Really an amazing CD - a completely different style of metal than I've ever heard, with music composed and performed by a seriously talented group of musicians. I've never been into metal very much (well, was into Alice Cooper, Led Zeppelin, Queen... I'm too old to have understood Metallica, Motorhead, Megadeath...). But Ensiferum's music is quite different - more musical than any (recent vintage) metal band I've ever listened to. I think Ensiferum refers to their brand of music as folk/viking melodic metal; any of epic viking melodic folk battle metal work for me. In short, I think of Ensiferum as producing musical metal.
"Victory Songs" features some of the best crafted songs I've heard in a long time - actually, a really long time. I like the musicality of the group, but also that the band incorporates a lot of dynamic range. It is refreshing, for me, to hear metal musicians who don't play as fast or as furious as possible 100% of the time, instead showing their chops at the appropriate time during each song. My favorite track on the CD is "Victory Song" (track nine); it contains just about every musical feature you could ever wish for in one song. At ten minutes in length, if Ensiferum breaks into the U.S. in a big way I can see "Victory Song" becoming the "Green Grass and High Tides" (Outlaws) or "Highway Song" (Blackfoot) of metal. I'm not into the harsh vocal thing, but Petri (lead singer) actually carries a tune while doing them. Not my taste, but he does harsh for me better than anyone I've ever heard. The other guitarist and bass player do a great job with clean vocals.
Ensiferum's drummer (Janne Parviainen) is amazing, and Sami Hinkka (six-string bass player) is pretty darn good too. I wouldn't say they are as good as Keith Moon and John Entwisle, but they are each in the same ballpark - and very very few musicians are even in the same zip code as those two. I've never seen anyone other than Geddy Lee (Rush) follow note for note a lead guitarist (check him out on "Working Man" on the "Rush in Rio" DVD) - Sami can absolutely do the same thing. Additionally, both guitarists can smoke, when the song calls for it.
When you first get this CD, listen to the first track on your good stereo (preferably with subwoofer) as they use the kettle drum to great (but not overbearing) effect.
I've played this CD for a high school buddy who normally listens to softer music like the Eagles (and has been in the music business all his adult life), some 40ish friends who play in a country band, and their children in their late teens (who "know" metal). Every one of them loves this band, every one is surprised at the musicality and musicianship of Ensiferum. If you have ever liked any kind of metal, and unless you just hate the harsh vocals (not incorporated on every song), there is a good chance you will fall madly in love with Ensiferum. (Since there are no clips here on Amazon, check out the four songs on their myspace page; search for officialensiferum. And be amazed.)
Get on the bandwagon early and give this CD a try. (And check out Ensiferum's first U.S. tour ever, late April and most of May 2008.) |
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Awesome Metal from Finland
Submitted on: 2007-12-17 |
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| Ensiferum's cd Victory Songs is excellent. Brilliant blend of Metal and Folk. In my opinion, they are the next big Metal Band to come from Finland, Look out for them. Come to the United States, please! They have some of the best Artwork on their cd's and T-shirts. Top quality recordings, Highly Recommended. |
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 Better than I expected.
Submitted on: 2007-11-30 |
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I say it's better than I expected, however, that isn't entirely true. Victory Songs was the first Ensiferum album I've purchased, and I've heard a lot of their previous stuff off the web. So, I expected an average folk/viking metal album. After one listen, this CD met my expectations. After a few listens, it exceeded my expectations. This album follows themes of anything you would expect from any viking/folk metal band: battle, dubious pleasures, and victory. I must say that I love both Jari and Petri, and I do believe that Petri does a great job in Ensiferum.
The disc starts out with a nice, short instrumental entitled "Ad Victorium". Crashing waves, thundering skys, and a running horse are just a few features of this song. It starts slow with a steady (steel?) drum beat and light instruments which make you really feel like you're forming a line before a great battle. The perfect precursor to the second song on the album..
"Blood is the Price of Honor" really delivers in my eyes (ears?). Not many people talk about this song but I have to say I really enjoy it. It's played at a furious speed as Petri belts out the story of a great battle in which the victors absolutely crushed their opponents.
"Deathbringer from the Sky" is an interesting song. Musically I think it falls a bit short, however, the subject matter and lyrics are quite nice. It tells the story of a Dragon whom, I believe, is being hunted and must defend itself against his mortal enemy, man.
"Ahti" is a God of the seas who watches over sailors apparently. This is quite a good song, very singable and will be great Live. Probably one of those "it's better live songs than it is on the album" type of songs. This song doesn't seem to be about anything but Ahti and how he governs his world. Based on Finnish folklore.
"One More Magic Potion" is possibly the greatest song on this CD. I love drinking songs, and this doesn't disappoint! It has quite the fun story to it too. It's about some soldiers who got lost in the woods and found a house. The resident let them come inside her house to rest and she was making some alcohol (presumably some sort of moonshine), the soldiers liked the smell. She served some of it to them and it made them feel good and seemed to make their wounds hurt less, therefore they dubbed it a "magic potion". HAH! It goes on about how they keep drinking and have a good old time. Everything about this song screams sing-along!
"Wanderer" is a close second as favorite on this disc. When I listen to this song I can picture sitting around a campfire hearing a great tale of the Wanderer being told. He is a well known old man who grew tired of fighting wars, so he picked a direction and started to ride. He rode away from the cares of his world, and while he misses them, he welcomes new adventures.
"Raised by the Swords" is a song simply about men who were raised as warriors from birth. Kind of reminiscent of Ancient Roman soldiers. Another really good song, man those drums!
"The New Dawn" is another battle song in which warriors are riding into a final battle against their opponent. This song goes by pretty quickly, and isn't one that really stands out.
"Victory Songs" is amazing. Clocking in at just over ten minutes this song starts slowly and really kicks it up by the end. From what I can gather this song is about an invading army who sneak attacks our heroes in the middle of night. However, a guard manages to blow a horn before he is killed which wakes the inhabitants of the village. Our heroes manage to fight off these barbarians at a great loss of life. The village remained safe for their children to live and prosper. Beautiful song, a top one on this album. |
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