Ensiferum - Two Paths

Published September 16 2017

*=Staff's pick	Ajattomasta Unesta For Those About To Fight for Metal* Way Of The Warrior* Two Paths King Of Storms Feast With Valkyries* Don’t You Say I Will Never Kneel God Is Dead Hail To The Victor Unettomaan Aikaan God Is Dead (Alternative Version) Don’t You Say (Alternative Version)

Genre	Folk/Heavy Metal	Petri Lindroos	Vocals
Tracks	13	Petri Lindroos	Guitar
Running time	53 Min.	Markus Toivonen	Guitar/Vocals
Label	Century Media	Sami Hinkka	Bass
Release	September 15, 2017	Janne Parviainen	Drums
Country	Finland	Netta Skog	Accordion
Producer	Anssi Kippo
Similar bands	Týr, Turisas, Finntroll, Wintersun

Despite a texture of melodies and arrangements completely without innovation, this album feels fresh and there is a hunger from the band to make songs that engage again. The two previous albums from this, my once favourite band, never really made an impact on me but this has renewed my interest in them, even though they are far from their heydays.

As often, lately, I still find their production too dry and Petri's vocals to static and weak, but overall this is a good, energetic and dynamic enough album with For Those About To Fight for Metal and Way Of The Warrior as highlights and Feast With Valkyries and Don’t You Say as stand out cuts. Quite a lot of guitar leads and passages do sound dangerously familiar, however. Another album with the same sounding fast songs would be a bit over the top.

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
8	7	5,5	5	6

Summary
6 chalices of 10 - Tommy