Not so impressed by the single. Amazing artwork thought!

Agree! Awesome artwork.

After listening to it a few times I actually think it's really good. Not a fan of the intro but otherwise it's sounds very promising.

It seems to be getting bad press but I liked the snippets I heard so pre-ordered to download tomorrow

It may not live up to the legendary status of their first 2/3 albums, but I think it's their best work since From Afar.

Best album since from afar... Biggest problem is the normal versions and alternate versions should be switched... Those vocals are distracting and really don't sound good.

Bad cleans, amazingly lame choirs, misplaced accordion, low farce melodies and poor songwriting. Sounds like a bunch of thown out One Man Army leftovers. And I thought Unsung Heroes to be the lowest point.

Not nearly enough Petri and no long epic track at the end! And unfortunately the cleans were not as good as before. Choirs have been a bit annoying since One Man Army too. Where are the cleans like in Wanderer? Markus and Sami can do so much better.

6/10 on first listen but 7/10 after hearing God is Dead and Don't You Say as the alternate versions (with Petri as the main vocalist...). They were absolutely awesome with Petri's vocals - they should've been the original versions.

There was also potential for experimentation that was unfulfilled. They need to get out that banjo and do a Western track or two.

With that said, King of Storms is one of my favourites of all time for Ensiferum.

But moving away from Petri's harsh vocals is not so good if the cleans are like this.

I think the energy is back. I agree about the clean vocals, they are not very well made even if I actually like Markus on God is Dead, it reminds me of "real" nordic folk tales.
All in all, it's a mediocre album, no truly great song but no bad one either.
7.5

"God Is Dead" is probably my favourite track

Awesoem album sa,e feelings like when you're teenager, young man what so ever, same melodies, stories about finish forest, but wait a sec mirror don't lie, we all are older and its not same as it was

Not bad actually..,,though too much clean vocals at times but overall nice surprise!

Written by MeatWolf on 17.09.2017 at 09:02

Sounds like a bunch of thown out One Man Army leftovers. And I thought Unsung Heroes to be the lowest point.

I still think "Unsung Heroes" is their low point but you're absolutely right about the "One Man Army" leftovers. This is a good folk album, but Ensiferum can do so much better. Feels rushed and why isn't there an epic song at the end?

Everyone complaining about the clean vocals lol... I think they are cool and it makes for a bit of a different album, although not letting down in songwriting like Unsung Heroes. And theres the alternate versions... King Of Storms is a fucking amazing track too, I guess I just like their new "rock'n'roll and fuck it" attitude

Much prefer the alternative versions of the two songs at the end of the album to the ones on the album. To me, clean vocals really don't fit Ensiferum that well. I absolutely love King of Storms, it sounds like a lost track from one of their first two albums or Victory Songs. All in all, a good album.

All in all solid album. I also like the clean vocals, I think it gives the album variety and sense of depth which is always good.

What about the production style, how they choose to make the album? How much that effected to the end result? If anyone gets what i mean. But what do i know about making music...absolutely nothing. Just something i thought while watching the making off doc.

It seems like mix between Unsung Heroes and One man army for me

Straight up, this album is complete trash. Album name is so ironic because Ensiferum seem dead set on one path of free-falling descent in the quality of their releases. The whole album feels incredibly generic and lazy. This band seriously needs to take a break and just reevaluate where they want to go from here because what they're doing now is just not working at all. I also don't get the decision to focus more on cleans because they're just not any good.

Written by AndreMarcos on 28.09.2017 at 14:15

All in all solid album. I also like the clean vocals, I think it gives the album variety and sense of depth which is always good.

This band use more clena vox as extreme metal growls and has dome it for time, even here vox was more calm and clean. I like female vox here as well.

best songs;

04. Two Paths

07. Don't You Say
09. God Is Dead
12. God Is Dead [Alternative version]
13. Don't You Say [Alternative version]

Did an interview with Sami while they toured with SepticFlesh and Arsis:

Same as 2015, not one good track, better just keep first 4 albums on repeat and maybe 5th than listen to 6th and 7th ever again.