07-03-2015 Ensiferum

Venue: Nosturi, Helsinki (Finland)
By: Nilla Meri

After publishing their sixth studio album, One Man Army not long ago, Ensiferum gave a great blast to their fans in Helsinki last Saturday (7.3). Frosttide, melodic death metal band from Jyväskylä was the support band of the night. Unfortunately, I could only catch the last song which sounded quite nice. I’ll definitely try to catch them next time when they have a gig around the town and tell about the band more later on.

Nosturi was full of Ensiferum aka Enska fans that night with warrior make-ups and some even with chain mails and drinking horns on them. This band has a great army behind them on the contrary to their latest album’s name!

That night had another special meaning as the last album has ranked number 1 in Finnish music charts the week before. This was the first time in Ensiferum’s career of 20 years. Later on the night everyone was celebrating this success by shouting “Liiiista ykkönen – lista ykkönen!” (number one!). Ensiferum was on the stage right on time as with their Finnish punctuality. Very first glance of the band’s new style was that their almost fully covered bodies. Seems like it will give them a hard time in summer gigs.:) After the intro, their first song was the second song of the last album, “Axe of Judgement”. Even though it has been only two weeks since they released their album, it seemed like everyone in the crowd was enough blended with the album to accompany to the songs. I call that crowd “the co-warriors of Ensiferum”. They truly were warriors!

From the very first song onwards there was a huge moshpit in front of the stage. Most of the times I felt like jumping in but chickened out at the end. Yet, I have to remark that the moshpit in Nosturi that night was one of the nicest ones I have seen so far. The whole process had been conducted by a experienced mosh-dude who was leading the crowd professionally. I believe nobody had injured although there were many brutal moments!
Ensiferum also had a “special guest” that night. Netta Skog(accordion), former member of Turisas and who is also appearing in One Man Army album. She will be also standing in for Emmi Silvennoinen (keyboards) in ‘One Man Army’ European and North American Tours. Probably the best moment of the night was when Two of Spades started to play. The whole crowd went crazy with the band. It seems like there is a bright future for Ensiferum as a disco music mucisians. If you haven’t bought the album yet you most probably didn’t get what I just said. Well, in that case you really should rush to order your own copy of the album!

Closer to the end, Enska had a great surprise for the crowd. With the funny presentation of Netta Skog, band members had been invited to the stage one by one. “Emmi Silvennoinen (keyboards), guitar!, Petri Lindroos(vocals, guitar) bass!, Markus Toivonen(guitar) drums!, Janne Parviainen(drums) guitar!, Sami Hinkka(bass) keyboards!”. And, Netta Skog herself took the vocals. I have to admit that seeing Mahi behind the drum set and Janne closer to the crowd was quite different. But, it worked quite well! They played Breaking the Laws by Judas Priest. And we heard a short bass solo from Petri as well.

After all, it has been a great gig once again wih Ensiferum. Don’t forget to check their tour calendar. Luckily, they have many of them coming! It’s a relief to know that there are many more fun days ahead with Ensiferum this year!

Setlist:
1. Axe of Judgement
2. Heathen Horde
3. Into Battle
4. Little Dreamer
5. Warrior Without a War
6. Ahti
7. Smoking Ruins
8. Two of Spades
9. Unsung Heroes
10. Burning Leaves
11. One Man Army
12. Victory Song
Encore:
13. Breaking the Law (Judas Priest cover)
14. From Afar
15. Token of Time
16. Iron

Links:
Ensiferum Facebook