Review Summary: Ensiferum's low point in their career (so far).
Expectations are everything, especially when you release a debut that is arguably considered a classic, along with other critically acclaimed albums within your discography. Unfortunately, Ensiferum never really picked up an excellent replacement for the mastermind and genius behind Ensiferum’s true sound, Jari Mäenpää, who was basically booted out of the band for the lack of committed time. Now I’m not saying that Petri is incompetent or anything, but when you look at the broader picture he still has painfully average harsh vocals, and mediocre guitar solos and riffs that can’t even be compared to Jari’s skills(no disrespect to Norther), the same can also be said about Toivonen without Jari’s collaboration. Basically, Petri is trying to be someone who he’s not - or it appears to be something as what it usually is looked upon as: living in the shadow of a legend. But the main complaint isn’t Petri, though he is a leading factor, to a degree. The main problem with this album is the fact that they’ve consecutively lowered the overall tempo of the album compared to their others.
Generally speaking, Ensiferum has a lot of ‘in-your-face’ type of songs that are presented throughout their discography. This time around
Unsung Heroes holds a less appealing balance between the tone of songs - a few upbeat metal songs, a few ballads, one epic, and a handful of mid-tempo songs. The thing is that Ensiferum has a lot of talent without a doubt, but they didn’t truly capture what they were aiming at this time. Though some songs like “Retribution Shall Be Mine” and the leading single “In My Sword I Trust” shows Ensiferum at their best (on this album) in the sense of staying somewhat consistently compared to their predecessors. Yet, Ensiferum also shines with other glimmering moments with a magnificent ballad entitled “Celestial Bond” that centers on a melodic and soothing atmosphere enhanced with a clear female lead that is mesmerizing. While the proceeding part to “Celestial Bonds” is a continuation of the ballad conceptually, but instead turns into a rather disappointing mid-tempo song with the best parts being the acoustic guitars. But the song that Toivonen’s composition was truly aiming for throughout the album can be summed up all in one song, and that’s entitled, “Burning Leaves”. This song is truly fascinating because it captures emotion, atmosphere, along with a concise song structure that leaves the listener expecting more from Unsung Heroes (that’s if you listen to the album from start to finish), but that doesn’t mean its follow ups will meet expectations.
Unfortunately, the second half of the album isn’t as good as the first, but then again that’s not really saying much considering the first half of the album can be considered mediocre compared to their other albums. Basically the first half of the album is, as I said, “Mediocre compared to their other albums”, but the second half is a lot worse. What I mean by that is “Star Queen (Celestial Bonds part 2)” could have been a lot better if the band decided to use female vocals rather than male vocals. The main reason being is that the male vocals in “Star Queen (Celestial Bonds part 2)” and also “Last Breath” are sung off key at times, but the songs themselves would’ve probably been executed in a better fashion if Emmi took that lead instead. Another disappointing aspect of the second-half of the album is the filler “Pohjola” and the seventeen minute epic “Passion Proof Power” which also doesn’t meet up to par. There are just too many things wrong with those songs to even put it in the catalogue of an Ensiferum epic or even a regular song for these guys, but they do have their moments, they’re just short lived.
The bottom line is very clear here.
Unsung Heroes is an obvious explanation of Ensiferum being at a low point in their musical career. Though it may have a few good moments, but it’s not enough to compensate for the bumpy parts within the album’s road. It’s also safe to say that
Unsung Heroes still has a better musical quality to it over Finntroll or any other folk metal band. Personally, I encourage any Ensiferum fan to listen to
Unsung Heroes at least once, because there are some nice songs on here that will re-enter any playlist.
