Band:	Ensiferum
Album:	Winter Storm
Style:	Extreme folk metal
Release date:	October 18, 2024
A review by:	musclassia

01. Aurora
02. Winter Storm Vigilantes
03. Long Cold Winter Of Sorrow And Strife
04. Fatherland
05. Scars In My Heart [feat. Madeleine Liljestam]
06. Resistentia
07. The Howl
08. From Order To Chaos
09. Leniret Coram Tempestate
10. Victorious
11. Six Ribbons [Jon English cover] [special edition bonus]
12. Lambada [Kaoma cover] [special edition bonus]

After a decade in which they seemed to be increasingly lost, 2020 saw Ensiferum find the right path, and they continue to reap the rewards.

Although From Afar seemed to indicate that Ensiferum would stride forth unimpaired following the departure of Jari Mäenpää (who opted to concentrate on Wintersun), albums such as Unsung Heroes and Two Paths represented increasingly diminished returns for the Petri Lindroos-fronted iteration of the group. How nice it was, then, that Thalassic radiated with renewed vigour on the part of the Finnish folk metal titans; while Winter Storm perhaps doesn’t have the peaks of its immediate predecessor, it’s another solid outing filled with fun and memorable songs.

A suspected catalyst for the band’s changes in fortune at the start of this decade was the addition of keyboardist/clean vocalist Pekka Montin, and after shining on Thalassic, he makes a number of positive contributions this time around as well. After a brief introductory track, Winter Storm gets right to work with “Winter Storm Vigilantes”, a track that strikes the same positive balance between folk and power metal that several of the standout songs on Thalassic managed, and Montin’s Michael Kiske-esque vocals soar during the track’s triumphant chorus, bolstered by heraldic trumpet blasts.

There’s an immediate change of pace after this song, however, as the first of two long songs on Winter Storm is introduced early. “Long Cold Winter Of Sorrow And Strife” strides in a more measured and grandiose manner, incorporating symphonic bombast and dramatic spoken word. The rich group singing in the pre-chorus sets up the chorus perfectly, in which Montin gets a bit closer to Tomi Joutsen’s clean vocal team by sticking to a lower vocal register, pulling off this sound as effectively as he did when belting out the power metal cleans on the preceding song. “Long Cold Winter Of Sorrow And Strife” is an all-round strong song with a really nice instrumental bridge and some exhilarating rapid-fire parts that border on blasting, although admittedly it does commit my cardinal sin of modulating up the final chorus unnecessarily.

Moving further into the tracklist, there’s more strong choruses to be encountered; I’m a particular fan of the driving, folksy chorus hook of “The Howl”, but find merit in the cheesy group singalong that is the centrepiece of “Fatherland”. Montin’s not the only clean singer on the album, however, as “Scars In My Heart” features exclusively guest vocals, coming courtesy of Eleine’s Madeleine Liljestam; her smooth, tender voice fits in nicely to a song that is slower and more sorrowful than much of Winter Storm.

I briefly acknowledged the past presence of Mäenpää in Ensiferum, and it feels relevant to bring up in this review as the end of Winter Storm gives me stronger Wintersun vibes (specifically the 2004 self-titled debut) than much of what this band has released since. The rapid, attacking opening riff of closing track “Victorious” keeps taking my mind to the verse riff of “Starchild”; conversely, “From Order To Chaos” (the album’s longest track at just shy of 9 minutes) opens with a gloomy feel that gives me “Sadness And Hate” vibes. This song does distinguish itself, however, in how it gradually ratchets up the intensity and speed, culminating in a rampant blast-laden climactic couple of minutes.

Across first Thalassic and Winter Storm, Ensiferum have done a really good job of correcting course in a way that seemed very unlikely after the release of Two Paths. I don’t think this new album quite has the highlights of its predecessor, and as a very petty nitpick, I do wonder whether “Victorious” is the best choice to close the album rather than “From Order To Chaos”. However, there’s a very respectable consistency to Winter Storm’s tracklist that makes full album listens a reliably pleasant experience. Despite the oncoming storm, the future seems bright for one of the leading forces in folk metal.