Quite frankly, one doesn’t know what to expect anymore about symphonic metal (I prefer to call it fantasy metal). Well, more precisely, one should know what to expect: songs with epic intentions, VST instruments, orchestrations, and plots bigger than Lord Of The Rings. So there: You play an album from a band that does, ahem, “fantasy metal”, and you exactly know where you are going to be. You just have to expect that whatever is done has some taste on it, some sort of thought. The German band, Blind Guardian, knows as they are definitely the kings of the genre. They have been able to pull this act off for years and have raised the bar for other bands to follow their lead.
Victory Songs, by Finnish band Ensiferum (Ensiferum means “sword bearing” in Latin, and, really, that’s all you need to know), has all elements of what I call fantasy metal… and has all the disadvantages of it. For starters, let me say that I was having fun listening to it until the singer opened his mouth. I was seriously into the double bass drum, the digital sound cold recording and then I heard what was supposed to be a voice. And said voice belongs to Petri Lindroos. Lindroos has the tonal quality of Napalm Death. And, indeed, the band takes pride in this. Wikipedia states the band has: “Growling/screaming vocals, often mixed with clean vocals for choruses and bridges.” Yeah. Growling/screaming indeed! About the clean vocals, not so much. If there are clean vocals, these are not engaging or beautiful.
The poor vocal quality is a damn shame because, musically speaking, Victory Songs works. Acknowledging the fact that this is a cheap production (and thus the cold digital sound), and that you have to like the genre, Victory Songs has a beautiful musical thread. I was engaged listening to its calm moments and the rhythm pulled me into the hard songs, only to be knocked out of them when the harsh growl, errr, singing started in the background. (Yes! The vocals are not even mixed up front! This is the magnitude of the disaster!) Sometimes? I even thought the singer was growling out of tune, which shouldn’t even be possible.
I would seriously recommend Ensiferum to start searching for another singer one who sings a bit more melodically, please! Besides Lindroos, there’s nothing terribly wrong with Ensiferum’s Victory Songs. Their act just falls short when all that disruptive noise begins going on in the background.
If you are interested in the genre, apart from German band Blind Guardian, Italians Rhapsody of Fire (formerly known as Rhapsody) also dominate the trade.
Website: Ensiferum
