"Iron" CD by Ensiferum

by Andreas Reissnauer (July 2004) With their self-titled debut, Ensiferum could cause quite a stir three years ago and gathered a lot of fans around them. "Iron" takes up where the debut left off and really thrills with its mixture of Folk and Metal. In comparison to their Finnish country fellows, Finntroll, Ensiferum are less settled in death metal but rather rooted a bit more in traditional metal. The high vocals and the rattling double bass drums harmonise perfectly with the choir passages, the keyboards and the folk elements. Iin times, like in 'Lost in despair' they in fact become epic. Beautiful. However, there are heavier tracks, too. Like 'Lost in despair', for example. The calmer folk passages provide some loosing up so that the 44 minutes fly by in almost no time. Especially well done is the final ballad, 'Tears' performed by a femal voice with goose flesh guarantee. A great comeback that should thrill every fan of the first album.