Review of the Album "Unsung Heroes" by Finnish Folk Metal Band Ensiferum

Finnish folk metal band Ensiferum not only made the country of Finland better by entering the heavy metal scene back in 1995 but they have popularized the sub-genre of folk metal as well. Their 2012 album called "Unsung Heroes" is truly a heroic effort! What is different about this album compared to their past albums?

First of all, the first instrumental song in this album called Symbols is shorter than the length of their typical instrumental songs. However, that’s not the main reason that the album is memorable. One of the reasons why Symbols is a very good opening song is because of the symphonic nature of the song. The song sounds like a song from a very good movie soundtrack. Ensiferum has grown very much as a band from their early days when Jari Maenpaa was with the band.

The next song features some good clean vocals and it is called In My Sword I Trust. This song is about using bravery, courage, and skill to achieve victory at whatever the cost is. Unsung Heroes is the next song in this album and it builds upon the theme of the previous song. Sometimes there is a tendency to forget about the people that have sacrificed their lives to make the world a better place to live in. An unsung hero is someone that has done so well and made so many important moves and these moves have led to success and victory especially in the world of sports.

The cover depicts a brave, honorable warrior holding a harp in his hand and the two swords are pointed into the soil to symbolize that he has banished the demons of his rough past and he has come out as the bravest warrior of all as the night sky is in the background. The shield is on the ground. A shield is not only used for defensive purposes but it is used to symbolize bravery and courage. He will live on to tell of the successful battles that he waged as he gave up his time and energy to be the bravest warrior in the world or the story shall we say.

The song Celestial Bond represents a new chapter in the band Ensiferum’s career as they have ballad style song with female vocals. This experiment works as the vocals are very soothing. When we have been hurt physically or emotionally, it will take time to heal our wounded hearts and deliver our biggest goals and dreams.

Star Queen is essentially the second part of Celestial Bond and this one has mostly clean male vocals. It is a good mid-tempo folk metal song. It takes a long time for us to meet or “Queen of Stars” or more appropriately, the love of our life. We know that this is one of the signs of our dreams being fulfilled. The Japanese version of this album has the cover versions of Iron Maiden’s Wrathchild and the very famous song by the Gipsy Kings called Bamboleo. The famous acoustic guitar sound starts before the song gets heavy. The growling is very similar to the French death metal band Agressor. Overall, Unsung Heroes is another solid album by Ensiferum but it still is not quite as good as 2007’s Victory Songs.