Ensiferum

Infobox musical artist
Name = Ensiferum

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Img_capt = Ensiferum performing live at Metalcamp festival in Tolmin, Slovenia, 2007
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Origin = Helsinki, Finland
Genre = Viking metal
Folk metal
Melodic death metal
Years_active = 1995−present
Label = Spinefarm
Associated_acts = Wintersun
Arthemesia Cadacross Norther Waltari Sinergy Rapture
URL = [http://www.ensiferum.com/ www.ensiferum.com]
Current_members = Petri Lindroos
Markus Toivonen
Sami Hinkka
Janne Parviainen
Emmi Silvennoinen
Past_members = Kimmo Miettinen
Jukka-Pekka Miettinen
Sauli Savolainen
Jari Mäenpää
Oliver Fokin
Meiju Enho
Henri "Trollhorn" Sorvali

Ensiferum (Latin (neuter adjective) meaning "sword bearing") is a heavy metal band from Helsinki, Finland. The band label themselves as "heroic folk metal."Fact|date=May 2008

Musical characteristics

* Harsh vocals often mixed with clean vocals for choruses and bridges;

* Metal and folk melodies played on lead guitar or keyboard overlaying heavier traditional heavy metal backing rhythms such as the classic gallop rhythm;

* Lyrical themes relating to fantastical, archaic, or historic stories usually with heroic sentiment. Lyrics are inspired by literature, films, and poetry, such as the great Finnish epic "Kalevala" and the Norse sagas.

Band history

Formation, demos and "Ensiferum" (1995−2002)

"Ensiferum" was founded in 1995 by Markus Toivonen (guitar), Sauli Savolainen (bass) and Kimmo Miettinen (drums). For the band's name, they took the Latin neuter gender adjective "ensiferum", which means "sword-bearing". In the next year, Jari Mäenpää was taken into the band as singer and second guitar-player. In 1997, the first demo was released, containing three songs.

In 1998, Sauli and Kimmo left the band and were replaced by Jukka-Pekka Miettinen (Kimmo's little brother, then 14 years old) and Oliver Fokin. In January 1999, a second demo was recorded, which although it did not produce a recording deal, boosted the band's confidence. In November 1999 a third demo, "Hero in a Dream", was recorded, which was successful in obtaining a record deal with Spinefarm Records. The logo that appears on all the bands releases was designed for the third demo by Tuomas Tahvanainen, who also designed the logos for the earlier demos. [cite web |url=http://www.ensiferum.com/e_html/e_history.htm |title=Story of Ensiferum |accessdate=2008-01-25 |format= |work=Ensiferum site] In 2000, the band went into the studio to work on their first album, "Ensiferum", which was released in August 2001. In the same year, Meiju Enho joined them as a keyboard-player.

"Iron", Line-up changes, "Dragonheads" and "10th Anniversary Live" (2003−2006)

In 2003, after the work was completed on the second album, "Iron", Jari left the band to concentrate more on his project Wintersun. For the tour with Finntroll, Petri Lindroos from Norther replaced Jari on guitar and as singer, and became a member of the band after the tour. In December 2004, Jukka-Pekka left the band and was replaced by Sami Hinkka (Rapture). Oliver also left in 2005 to be replaced by Janne Parviainen.

The new Ensiferum line-up entered the studio later that year to record an EP to be called "Dragonheads", which was released in February 2006. As well as the title track, it also contained two reworked demo songs; an Amorphis cover and a short rendition of the Kalevala melody, as well as a medley of three traditional Finnish songs.

In June 2006, Ensiferum released their live DVD, "10th Anniversary Live", which was recorded in Nosturi, Helsinki, on December 31 2005.

"Victory Songs", Meiju's departure and the future (2006−present)

The recording of the third studio album, called "Victory Songs", took place between November 2006 and early 2007, and was released on April 20, 2007. A single titled "One More Magic Potion" (after the track of the same name) was released on February 7. Following the album release, the band released through the producer's MySpace page, a music video for the song "Ahti," which included all band members featured as extras. The video was released after the album release due to video filming problems.

On September 10, 2007, it was announced that keyboardist Meiju Enho would leave the band. This was posted in a bulletin on their MySpace page and later confirmed on their website [http://www.ensiferum.com/e_html/e_news.htm] . A replacement for her has not yet been named, and the band is currently using Emmi Silvennoinen of Exsecratus as a touring fill-in.

Ensiferum headlined the Paganfest tour in Europe and the US in 2008. Others playing the tour included Týr and Eluveitie, with Moonsorrow and Korpiklaani also joining them on the European part of the tour, and Turisas in the US. They are also booked to support Megadeth on the opening night of their United Abominations - Tour of Duty European tour.

Ensiferum is also backing Amon Amarth for their North American Twilight of the Thunder God tour.

Band members

Current line-up

*Petri Lindroos – harsh vocals, guitars
*Markus Toivonen – guitars, clean & backing vocals
*Sami Hinkka – bass, clean & backing vocals
*Janne Parviainen – drums

Touring members

*Emmi Silvennoinen – keyboards (2007-) (Exsecratus)

Former members

*Kimmo Miettinen – drums (ex-Arthemesia, Cadacross)
*Jukka-Pekka Miettinen – bass (Arthemesia, ex-Cadacross)
*Sauli Savolainen – bass
*Jari Mäenpää – vocals, guitars (ex-Arthemesia, Wintersun)
*Oliver Fokin – drums (ex-Arthemesia, ex-Wintersun)
*Meiju Enho – keyboards

ession members

*Henri "Trollhorn" Sorvali – session keyboards on "Ensiferum" (Finntroll, Moonsorrow, ex-Korpiklaani)

Discography

Albums

*"Ensiferum" (2001)
*"Iron" (2004)
*"1997-1999" (Ltd. edition re-release of first three demos, 2005)
*"Victory Songs" (2007)

EPs

*"Dragonheads" (2006)

ingles

*"Tale of Revenge" (2004)
*"One More Magic Potion" (2007)

Demos

*"Demo (1997)"
*#"Frost"
*#"Old Man (Väinämöinen)"
*#"Knighthood"
*"Demo II (1999)"
*#"Dreamer's Prelude"
*#"Little Dreamer (Väinämöinen part II)"
*#"Warrior's Quest"
*#"White Storm"
*"Hero in a Dream" (1999)
*#"Intro"
*#"Hero in a Dream"
*#"Eternal Wait"
*#"Battle Song"
*#"Guardians of Fate"

DVDs

*"10th Anniversary Live" (2006)

Cover songs

*"Into Hiding" (by Amorphis from "Tales from the Thousand Lakes") − Found on "Dragonheads", "10th Anniversary Live" as a live version and "Victory Songs" Special Edition
*"Battery" (by Metallica from "Master of Puppets") − Found on "Tale of Revenge" single and "Victory Songs" Limited Special Tour Edition
*"Lady in Black" (by Uriah Heep from the album "Salisbury") − Found on "One More Magic Potion" single and "Victory Songs" digipak and Japanese version

References

External links

* [http://www.ensiferum.com Ensiferum Official website]
*myspace|OfficialEnsiferum
* [http://www.spinefarm.fi/showband.php?id=27 Ensiferum] at Spinefarm Records