LIVE: Ensiferum, support: Brymir, A.R.G September 6th

At the end of August Ensiferum released a new album, Unsung Heroes, and consequently toured in Finland with Brymir and A.R.G. In spite of the tour hitting Tampere on a Thursday night, the venue had pulled in relatively big crowds of metalheads.

The evening kicked off with a show from Brymir. Brymir play very distinguishable pagan/folk/melodic death metal akin to Ensiferum, and apparently they were originally called Lai Lai Hei – a song by Ensiferum indeed.

Brymir's approximately 35 mins long show was so good that I spent my merchandise money for the night solely on them. I would even go as far as to say Brymir's show was the best of the night. I wasn't familiar with their material before, but I'm getting into it now. They have one full-length album at the time of writing this called Breathe Fire to the Sun.

A.R.G. performed after Brymir, and where Brymir were full of surprises, A.R.G. were full of disappointments. Their oldschool thrash metal just didn't strike out to me, and I resorted to watching parts of the gig from afar (Ensiferum pun intended) enjoying my beer. After a few songs I'd seen and heard enough -- unfortunately, for I was hoping to enjoy a decent thrash metal gig, especially from a band so cult in the Finnish thrash metal scene. Alas, no dice this time. After A.R.G. finished, it was getting time for Ensiferum. -dw_

Yours truly had contradictory feelings about the upcoming gig: on one hand Ensiferum have made plenty of songs which sound fierce when played live, on the other hand none of the new songs had exactly made such a strong impression beforehand. Being more into their older material, my song wishes comprised those from their self-titled album.

Not that the new album wouldn't have any songs with great live potential; In My Sword I Trust at the beginning works fine to set the audience on fire and get them engaged. The song works better live than it does on an album, being an easy singroar-along catch with its simple chorus.

Not every song from Unsung Heroes does have the same live potential. While Pohjola may be quite an epic track in its own right, it's merely an awkward addition to a setlist. Vesa-Matti Loiri's deep voice heard on playback seems out of place when a bunch of metalheads are either concentrating on their pints of beer or eagerly waiting for the next moshpit. (Speaking of which, even moshpits quickly suffer from inflation if your encourage people to do it too often.)

All in all, each of their albums was presented with more than one song, yet the selection could have been better. It was to be expected that their newest album would get the most attention, but many particularly good live songs were omitted. Studies show that Into Battle or Stone Cold Metal haven't been on the summer festival setlists either, which is a great pity. The lack of Treacherous Gods left me quite disappointed as well, yet it could be excused with Battle Song, which was, along with another gem from the first album, Hero in a Dream, the best part of the gig.

The most enjoyable thing about Ensiferum's gigs, however, is the fact that the band really seem to be enjoying what they are doing. They are having fun on the stage, they're showing it, and they're spreading that mood into the audience as well. -cm_