Monday 26 December 2011

Week 52 (FINAL): Ensiferum - The Longest Journey (Heathen Throne Part II)



Here we are, the very last post for Monday Metal Treasures. I've taken a lot of time to write up everything for all 52 weeks of the year. This may have not brought tons of traffic to me but I've sure as hell been happy with expressing my thoughts on the 52 different artists that were featured here. Most of them may have been key metal artists but I threw in some surprises and even if you've heard a lot from heavy metal, hopefully you found at least something here. Since Monday Metal Treasures wasn't a huge success and I found my newer gaming rants to be commented on more, I feel it's not really worth the effort to do a second round and be happy enough with what I've done throughout 2011. Expect more full-length reviews whether they be metal classics, new releases or finding something obscure and give that some light whether it be good or bad.

The artist: Finishing off the grand finale month as well as the whole of Monday Metal Treasures, we have the folk metal band Ensiferum from Finland. With a few albums alone, Ensiferum have put themselves at the top of the game for folk metal. Their style of music is typically mixed with melodic death metal and coming from someone who's not all that fussed about that particular subgenre, these guys (and girls) are a prime quality metal band. Whether they had the Wintersun mastermind Jari Mäenpää for the first two releases or ex-Norther guitarist/vocalist Petri Lindroos taking over Jari, Ensiferum's music has been nothing short of great. Once all the legendary metal acts from the 70s/80s have left us, this is one band that undoubtedly deserves to fill up those huge venues all around the world.

The album: From Afar is Ensiferum's most recent album that makes the ultimate step to put all doubts anyone had after Jari left at rest. While Victory Songs was another great album from Ensiferum, From Afar surpasses everything they did and even goes on par with Wintersun's debut album. Ensiferum take a further step by incorporating symphonic metal elements to their music and the orchestral characteristics justify the term epic for this record. Not only that, this band makes the most adventurous journey with two 10+ minute tracks both relating to each other. As a little bonus, Stone Cold Metal goes out of its way to take a Western route that manages to include a banjo solo. This is no joke, there is banjo in our heavy metal here. Still not convinced From Afar is one album to pick? Let's see if the featured song can convince you.

The song: The Longest Journey (Heathen Throne Part II) is the final track to end off From Afar. Ensiferum step up their game here with the slow-ish introduction which allows them to intensify the song halfway through to catch even more attention. Whilst building the way up there, the song takes an outstanding break with the marching drums and flutes/recorders. Turning back to the metal force, the clean vocals from Markus Toivonen and Sami Hinkka and with only one verse of that, the quest only becomes immense from the third verse and this is where the heroic feel comes in and appropriately so. This is the quest where only the strongest and bravest succeed and this song follows the true hero.

After the final verse of the song, the band relaxes and makes way for the orchestra/guitar co-operation for the 4 minute finale. While it could have been a minute shorter, it's hard to deny the great atmosphere this part provides. This feels like the hero's return to his homeland after his toughest quest yet and for these reasons, this is no doubt one of the greatest heavy metal songs that exceed 10 minutes joining the same leagues as Iron Maiden's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Helloween's Halloween and Keeper of the Seven Keys. This song must be considered a classic amongst many metal fans within ten years time.

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