Ensiferum – From Afar (2009)

Two years after their amazing album “Iron”, Ensiferum is back with an even better album with “From Afar”. The band was touring for most of the 2 years in between releases but they managed to squeeze this brilliant album.

“From Afar” features nine racks that showcase the strengths that the band has showed in their previous releases and managed to make them more epic by adding new elements that blend to perfection with their old ones.

The band takes us into another epic battle with “From Afar” featuring their rich sounding Viking / Folk Metal it’s arguably the bands best effort in their career. The band’s use of elaborate musical compositions with amazing choirs provided by the backing vocals of most band members and the characteristic harsh vocals of Petri Lindroos.

The overall battle epic atmosphere created by the keyboards is unparallel and back with full force in this album, giving the band the perfect foundation to lay on top of it tight and well executed drumming and their great melodic guitar work that provides enough aggressiveness to the music to go with the harsh vocals. The riffing through out the album is very diverse and entertaining to enjoy for countless listens to this album.

Ensiferum even features a wild west inspired bit in the track “Stone Cold Metal” that is a brilliant addition to this album and it provides great diversity in their sound. The album which has no overall concept flows perfectly since each song feels like Ensiferum’s unique style from beginning to end.

After listening to “From Afar” go an pick up a battle axe and join Ensiferium in their pursuit of Viking / Folk Metal greatness, since they have climbed one more step in the right direction with their latest release.

Release: September 8, 2009

Country: Finland