{"id":23620,"date":"2012-11-08T19:55:55","date_gmt":"2012-11-09T00:55:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=23620"},"modified":"2013-02-05T16:43:00","modified_gmt":"2013-02-05T21:43:00","slug":"ensiferum-unsung-heroes-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2012\/ensiferum-unsung-heroes-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Ensiferum | Unsung Heroes<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Trevor Portz<\/span>
\n– Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Ensiferum\"Loved my many, thought too cheesy to enjoy by others, the tribe that is Ensiferum has been putting out folk-infused power metal for over a decade. They survived, and thrived, after front-man Jari M\u00e4enp\u00e4\u00e4 left to pursue the brilliant Wintersun and, in fact, managed to consistently top each previous release up to and including 2009\u2019s From Afar<\/em>. <\/p>\n

Until now. <\/p>\n

Unsung Heroes<\/em>, their latest offering, not only breaks their winning streak, but almost makes one forget what made them so great in the first place.<\/p>\n

The most obvious change found on Unsung Heroes<\/em> is the lack of speed. Virtually every song (with the exception of \u201cPohjoha\u201d) plods along at a mid-paced tempo. Not that speed is the key to good metal \u2014the entire doom\/stoner metal scene has proved that it\u2019s not\u2014 but instead of just clocking in at slower tempos, the songs sound completely devoid of all energy. There\u2019s no passion or power (except, occasionally, in the epic closer, \u201cPassion, Proof, Power\u201d). Remember what Kiss started to sound like toward the end of the reunion tour? This feels the same. It\u2019s as if the songs were meant to be played faster and more powerfully, but something keeps dragging them down.<\/p>\n

The dullness extends to most of the songwriting as well. Virtually every riff, folk melody, acoustic passage, and choral vocal sounds phoned-in. There\u2019s nothing here interesting or memorable\u2014it\u2019s essentially an album of filler. For a band with fewer than ten albums under their collective belt, it\u2019s scary to think the mid-life crisis has already hit. <\/p>\n

On an odd note, \u201cStar Queen\u201d sounds almost like a sister song to Wintersun\u2019s \u201cSleeping Stars.\u201d It would appear, though, that the stars are likely sleeping due a performance of \u201cStar Queen.\u201d It\u2019s a pity that this is a standout moment for the album.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Unsung Heroes<\/em> is a serious dark spot in the Ensiferum catalog. Perhaps the band is tired after constantly recording and touring. Who knows, maybe someone replaced their mead with NyQuil. If it\u2019s an artistic statement they\u2019re trying to make, it obviously didn\u2019t come across. But whatever the cause, the result was an album perhaps better left unsung.<\/p>\n

Genre: \tPower Metal, Folk Metal<\/p>\n

Band:
\nPetri Lindroos – Guitar, Vocals (Harsh), Backing Vocals
\nMarkus Toivonen – Guitar, Vocals (Clean), Backing Vocals, Acoustic Guitars, Dulcimer, Bouzouki
\nSami Hinkka – Bass, Vocals (Harsh\/Clean), Backing Vocals, Acoustic Guitars
\nJanne Parviainen – Drums
\nEmmi Silvennoinen – Keyboard, Hammond, Grand Piano, Pump Organ, Backing Vocals<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1. Symbols
\n2. In My Sword I Trust
\n3. Unsung Heroes
\n4. Burning Leaves
\n5. Celestial Bond
\n6. Retribution Shall Be Mine
\n7. Star Queen (Celestial Bond Part II)
\n8. Pohjola
\n9. Last Breath
\n10. Passion, Proof, Power<\/p>\n

Label: Nuclear Blast<\/p>\n

Website: www.ensiferum.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 4.7\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Trevor Portz – Columnist — Loved my many, thought too cheesy to enjoy by others, the tribe that is Ensiferum has been putting out folk-infused power metal for over a decade. They survived, and […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6772],"tags":[336,2942,339,1097,334],"class_list":{"0":"post-23620","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-arcrvws2012","7":"tag-cd","8":"tag-folk-metal","9":"tag-nuclear-blast","10":"tag-power-metal","11":"tag-review"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23620\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}