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Sep. 13th, 2009 | 12:52 pm 
 


Condition [mood icon] aggravated
Analgesic Ensiferum - Tale of Revenge
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So, Ensiferum's new album, From Afar, came out...four days ago, though of course it leaked a couple of weeks before that. I've done a lot of listening to this new album. This post, by the way, isn't a review; I'm not in that business and I'm far from qualified to start making judgements about music. It'd just end up being "MOOSE LIKE."

No, what this is is a complaint. Not about the album - I have no complaints about the album. My complaint is about the way the media (er, I say "media", I mean like two magazines and a few websites) have treated the last album, 2007's Victory Songs.

I love Victory Songs. I actually think it's probably Ensiferum's best album (though the new one may have taken that title. I'm not sure yet.) I think the scope, execution, and concept of the album and songs is fantastic. The non-metal instruments are well-integrated, the lyrics are actually meaningful and at some times even poetic, and there's a good balance between headbanging kickassery and more sensitive melodic content. I fucking love that album.

Apparently, this is not a view shared by the musical establishment. Or, rather, it was, but is no longer.

I can't remember (or find on the internet) how ZT and Terrorizer reviewed it but judging from everyone else's reaction of the time it was probably pretty good, if not entirely rave. Metal Hammer (*spit spit*) gave it 8/10, AllMusic gave it 4/5...that's a general indication of its reception. Positive with a few reservations.

Now, however...in the interview with Ensiferum in the most recent (#188) issue of Terrorizer, it's described as "a whimper" (as opposed to a bang, I guess). This is a view I'm seeing a lot in reviews of From Afar. It's as if, in the view of an outstanding new album, the merely very good older one has been kicked in the balls and relegated to the corner.

The hell? It's not really the first time this has happened, either. I don't disagree with Kyle of Metal Reviews when he calls Iron "One of the best folk metal albums of all time in my opinion" - a view that's echoed in many halls, since Jason of the same site gave it 96/100 and it's standing at 88% from 11 reviews at the Encyclopaedia Metallum - but it's generally used as a benchmark by which to judge all subsequent Ensiferum releases. The problem is, those comparisons inevitably wind up as "Iron was fantastic, ergo [insert release here] is shite." By the looks of it, this is what's happening now, retrospectively, in light of From Afar.

Bollocks. Iron was great. From Afar is great. But you know what? So was Victory Songs, so (to a slightly lesser extent) was Dragonheads, so was Ensiferum. Lest they turn into a Europop group, Ensiferum are unlikely to release a bad record. So can we please stop retonning our opinions of past albums to give the illusion of balance?
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