Tracklist:
01. Ferrum Aeternum
02. Iron
03. Sword Chant
04. Mourning Heart –INTERLUDE
05. Tale of Revenge
06. Lost in Despair
07. Slayer of Light
08. Into Battle
09. LAI LAI HEI
10. Tears

Band info

Vocals, guitars: not found yet
Guitars: Markus Toivonen
Bass: Jukka-Pekka Miettinen
Drums: Oliver Fokin
Keyboards: Meiju Enho

Country: Finland
Label: Spinefarm
Similar bands: Einherjer, Moonsorrow, Thyrfing

The Finnish folk-influenced Viking Metal band Ensiferum could already impress me a lot with their great debut album in 2001 and I have to say that their follow-up album called "Iron" is even better than the same-titled debut. This hightly anticipated album is definitely one of the contenders for the "album of the year"-title. The five-piece band continued their work musically exactly where they stopped with "Ensiferum" and even improved it. The only sad story is that vocalist Jari Mдenpдд left the band after the recordings of this album and this is surely a great loss for the band. Enough said, now let's see what "Iron" has to offer: The album starts off with an instrumental song called "Ferrum Aeternum" which is a perfect introduction to the album since it's very melodic, includes lots of flutes and other traditional instruments and it takes the listener really 'into' this album. With regarding to the music itself, Ensiferum used the same melodic and folkish elements they used on the previous album but without copying themselves. You can basically say that (almost) every song convinces in its own way. One song called "LAI LAI HEI" is the only one which is different since they used both English and Finnish lyrics, but the Finnish language fits perfectly into the folkish atmosphere as we know it from some other Folk/Viking bands using this language. To pick some other recommendable tracks out of these ten, I would say that title track "Iron", "Sword Chant" and "Tale Of Revenge" (also released as a single) show the powerful side of this album whereas songs like "Tears" or "Mourning Heart (Interlude)" are rather slow, very melodic and atmospheric - here they gain points for a good contrast between the songs. The only 'weak' point might be the song "Slayer Of Light" which isn't as perfect as the others are. However, I can't tell you often enough how brilliant this album is, you have to listen to it yourself. Whether you like this genre or not, there's no way round this album.