Ensiferum - Unsung Heroes (2012) - Tales of versatile energy and one epic fail - 75% (05/09/12)

Ensiferum's new output received rather mixed and mostly even negative critics but in my humble opinion this album is clearly better than the previous faceless release "From Afar" and the overall quite boring "Victory Songs". Of course, this release doesn't top the energizing first two releases and genre highlights in the original line-up that are "Ensiferum" and "Iron" but it's the best one since the important line-up changes that occured around eight years ago now.

I must admit that the critics are though right about the epic "Passion Proof Power" that is in fact as stupid as its title suggests. The track simply goes nowhere over seventen minutes and has no gripping passages at all. The narrative passages in German towards the end add the cherry on the top of the cheese cake and sound completely ridicolous and filled with the most stupid stereotypes. Role play gamers might laugh about it but anybody else just feels ashamed. I'm not a role play gamer.

The other songs though pardon for this epic fail. One gets a good mixture of heavier tracks such as the fast paced "Retribution Shall Be Mine" and more laid back folk anthems based around acoustic guitars, chilling choirs and some enchanting female vocals as in "Celestial Bond" for example. The band simply resumes everything it stands for and portrays its vast potential and diverse style and genre variations on this record.

At some points, I'm though missing something like a clear guiding line and there might even be too much diversity on this release and quantity doesn't always pair with quality. I might also add that the calmer, epic and melodic folk parts are clearly more frequent than the more metal driven songs which might frustrate fans of the ealier days. This album is more in the vein of its two precedessors musically but the quality on this one here is definitely higher than before.

With the energizing "In My Sword I Trust" and the epic single "Burning Leaves", the band even has two of its catchiest tracks ever on board. Add to this that the bonus track "Bamboleo", a Gipsy Kings cover, is the best cover track the band has ever done and a really brutal metal song in the energizing verses while the chorus is really catchy, festive and powerful. The band experiments with rumba and flamenca sounds in this song which is something completely new to them and it works surprisingly well.

In the end, "Unsung Heroes" is a versatile and energizing record and easily the best album of the new Ensiferum era. The record would even get a better rating or some more praise by the critics if there were not a little bit too many calm tracks and especially if the Finnish band hadn't included the horrible "Passion Proof Power" on this release that represents more than one quarter of the entire record. That's why my final rating isn't that elevated even though I'm positive about this album and see a promising development of the band. Personally, I simply skip the worst track and enjoy most of the rest and I hope and suggest everybody to do so and give this record another fair try.