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.

Week 47: Melechesh - The Magickan and the Drones

The artist: Melechesh are a blackened death metal band coming from Israel. The extreme sound of their band has caused some issues in their homeland and had to move to the Netherlands where they wouldn't get any hassle over their lyrical themes or musical style. Melechesh prove to be out of the ordinary for both black and death metal where they incorporate middle eastern music with extreme metal. The band even go as far as forgetting their metal roots for the odd songs and make a strong focus on writing middle eastern music. If you want a band that do something a little out of the ordinary, this is one to check out, especially their latest album.

The album: The Epigenesis was released last year and with having 11 tracks totalling up to 71 minutes, you can be sure that the band put a lot of thought into this release. They cover some hypnotic rhythms with Ghouls of Nineveh, blazing fast songs such as Grand Gathas of Baal Sin and Defeating the Giants, two fully middle eastern instrumentals and of course, the grand finale to test the listener's capabilities. The Epigenesis is easily one of the finest metal releases from 2010.

The song: The Magickan and the Drones begins with a middle eastern feel to the song. This isn't like the instrumental tracks, though as the full metal force rises up with a mid-pace riff. However, out goes the intro and in comes intense drumming, crazy riffing and some relentless black metal vocals from Ashmedi. It's chaos all the way through but the band steps back a bit for the last two minutes of the song for some change of pace to keep the listener alert. The lyrics are based on the Sumerian king Ur-Nammu and the fall of his monarchy against the drones of Gutians. Covering this tale with the roller coaster of a ride from Melechesh make this one hell of a black metal song!

Week 46: Falkenbach - In Flames

The artist: Falkenbach is a one-man band from Germany whose real name is
Vratyas Vakyas. As a band formed by one single individual whose musical style consists of black/folk metal with a lot of Norse mythology sung in the songs, you can sure as hell bet Bathory is a major influence on Vakyas' own band. For a folk metal "band", Falkenbach plays some heavily folk songs unlike others who often combine one subgenre of metal with folk music. This side of Falkenbach heavily defines folk metal but on the other hand, there's a fair amount of his songs that have a strong sense of black metal and it's done professionally.

The album: Tiurida is Falkenbach's latest album released this year. It marks as his first album in six years since Heralding - The Fireblade. Surprisingly enough, Tiurida hasn't been a favourable album for some. Some claim the new album doesn't offer anything new to his music but it's hard to see it that way. Many popular metal bands such as Motörhead, Cannibal Corpse and Amon Amarth stick to the same formula and are respected for it but when it came to Falkenbach, some weren't impressed. Despite what they say, this is still a great album with being rich in character. If ...Where His Ravens Fly... and Runes Shall You Know don't click on for you, nothing will.

The song: In Flames (no, not the Swedish melodic death metal band) ironically starts off with sounds of waves. Vakyas makes an impressive kickoff with his clean guitars which is shortly interrupted by the main riff for the song which you will get to hear for the most part. Although the lyrics for this song were missing on the booklet for the album, it's still easy to determine he's a good harsh vocalist. It's not just his extreme vocals that make him good, though. The mid-section of the song has him implementing some choir vocals and these sound really good and add quite an atmosphere to this part. The song does throw you back to the main riff and will strike once more when the song settles down for the second time. Overall, In Flames is one of seven great songs from Tiurida. For songs like these and Runes Shall You Know, this is an easy contender for best of heavy metal in 2011.

Week 39: Týr - Lord of Lies

NOTE: Due to a holiday that wasn't even foreseeable 12 months ago when I originally started planning Monday Metal Treasures, this is posted early so you still get to see the following week's entry, despite it not being a Monday.



The artist: Týr are a particularly interesting folk metal band hailing from Faroe Islands. Their country of origin will easily strike out as it may be a country you've never even heard of. Infact, Metal-Archives only lists seven metal bands who originated from Faroe Islands. That's right, just a mere seven! There's more metal bands that ever found in Saudi Arabia and Syria than in Faroe Islands. Not only do they have an unusual country origin, they also incorporate progressive metal elements to folk metal whereas many folk metal bands have generally mixed their style with black, melodic death or power metal.

The album: Ragnarok is Týr's concept album released in 2006 and already it's been five years since its release. Ragnarok feels like the ideal Norse mythology lyrical-based album, even if roughly a third of the lyrics are spoken in Farose. This album as well as the rest of their albums in general show the world what Farose language is like. As suggested by the album title, Ragnarok covers the future events in battles resulting in the death of the Norse gods. This feels how Norse mythology themed metal music should be done, although the amount of interlude tracks won't make it a straight forward listen and will require patience in order to get the most from the album.

The song: Following the interlude track named Victory which has the sounds of entering a very lively tavern, Lord of Lies shows up right away with the loud folky guitars that makes you think "Damn, this is really good." and then it's succeeded by riffs with a much lower tone. Even with the darker riffs, the song still insists with the brighter atmosphere to march on in the story. It will go as far as showing off some very highly tuned solos and you can sense some power metal from this track. That and Heri Joensen's vocals make for some unique sound from folk metal. The song's lyrics covers Thor and the serpent Jörmungandr. This is closer to the end of the album and forsees prophecies of the true end of Ragnarok. Overall, you have a song with some extremely catchy melodies with some mixed tones to show the dark side of the prophecy but also the confidence to fight on.

Week 36: Elvenking - Under the Tree of Us'dum

The artist: Elvenking are a folk/power metal band coming from Italy. They released their debut album Heathenreel in 2001 and have made some changes with their sound throughout the decade. Some have been for the better while others didn't go well with the fans. Heathenreel was straight forward folk/power metal which suited the majority but years later they went a completely direction by adding metalcore influences to their music in The Scythe. Elvenking acknowledged the disappointment from the fans after hearing The Scythe and took a safer path with Two Tragedy Poets by giving it an all-acoustic folk sound.

The album: To Oak Woods Bestowed is Elvenking's demo recordings. Before Heathenreel was released, they had five demo tracks they worked on and three of them made the cut for their debut album. That left with Banquet of Bards and Under the Tree of Us'dum in the dark forever. Well, most likely anyway. These two songs are actually very good and it's a shame they were never included in the release of Heathenreel as both songs would have been great additions to the album. White Willow and Oakenshield demo versions feel less polished than the Heathenreel counterparts while the intro track To Oak Woods Bestowed is an extended version.

The song: Under the Tree of Us'dum is the last track in the demo album. This song shows the most complexity out of the five tracks starting with a majestic intro. There are plenty of tempo changes and some surprising turns. Keep in mind that this is a demo track so the performance is not likely to be top notch and will feel rough. Aydan's vocals still needed some work here and the rhythm isn't timed well for the first half of the song. However, it does feel better later on, particularly with the galloping section. Even if the song feels rough, there are still some fantastic solos found here and the whole song still manages to be catchy. With the tale of a warrior travelling around the land to fight the evil wizard (yeah yeah, clichés). The hero is companioned with the magical tree known as Usdu'm that conquers the evil one once and for all. It's a typical medieval story but it's still a fun one with a fun tune. It's just a shame this never made it to Heathenreel which would have had huge improvements from the demo session.

Week 35: Equilibrium - Des Sängers Fluch

The artist: Equilibrium are a recent German folk metal band with releasing their debut album Turis Fratyr in 2005. They only have three albums so far and with mixing folk metal elements with black and symphonic metal elemenets, they could do a lot with their style and one thing that would be great to see is more epic instrumentals such as Mana. That's a 16 minute monstrosity and it's a well written instrumental.

The album: Sagas is Equilibrium's second album released in 2008. The band provides a dynamic album with this one with playing fast folk metal numbers such as Blut im Auge and Heimwärts, the more complex structures with Unbesiegt and Des Sängers Fluch and of course Mana, the 16 minute instrumental behemoth. Out of the three Equilibrium albums so far, this one stands as the strongest one.

The song: Des Sängers Fluch (The Bard's Curse) is a song with a few major sections that manages to flow very well to make it sound like one big song rather than feel like you're listening to the next track. The song ranges from acoustic folk to black metal blast beating and screams to orchestral moments. For a first time listen it makes some unpredictable turns that make you wonder what the band will do with this one song next. The song lyrics, although they are in German, the English translations gives you a good idea on what the song is about. Des Sängers Fluch covers a dark time in the medieval world. A boy comes along to become a bard and is taught by an old man. He tries to confront the evil and play but fails and is killed. The elderly individual avenges him with the curse that destroys the evil once and for all. The song has the medieval feel to it so this story telling is highly appropriate. Overall, it's an excellent song with great song structure and comes with some interesting story telling, even if it requires translation.

Week 18: Heidevolk - Alvermans Wraak

The artist: Heidevolk are a modern heavy metal band forming in 2002 and releasing their debut album in 2005. Heidevolk come from the Netherlands to offer kickass folk metal to the metal world. These guys aren't very big right now but there's confidence that they'll climb their up the ladder over the next few years as they release more great albums and attend bigger shows. They've had a boost of popularity with their appearance at Heidenfest 2010 and here's hoping more will discover them soon enough.

The album: Uit Oude Grond is the third and most recent album by Heidevolk released only last year. Just like the other two albums, all the songs are spoken in Dutch. While having a very folk-ish sound to their band, they also provide some heavy riffs. Although many folk metal bands have succeeded this, one would think Heidevolk would be much lighter with their music but Heidevolk don't hesistate to play loud and certainly not in this album considering the first few tracks.

The song: Alvermans Wraak (Alverman's Revenge in English) is one of the instrumentals in Uit Oude Grond starting off with an acoustic intro. The song is shortly introduced with the drums and a violin to go with the acoustic guitar. The violin even goes as far as having its own solo which is badass! This might not sound metal enough to some listeners so far but Heidevolk insured this song is easily classified as metal with some guitar riffs and solos that add to the great atmosphere Alvermans Wraak. This is an instrumental that makes you feel like you're in a tavern from long ago and enjoying yourself with other customers at the place having a few pints and dancing along to the music in the background. That's the imagery that should be in your mind, especially the minor vocal appearance at the end that reflect on those customers at the tavern. Overall, Alvermans Wraak is a great instrumental from Uit Oude Grond which is definitely worth hearing along with the first two tracks Nehalennia and Ostara.