Ensiferum - 10th Anniversary Live

*=Staff's pick	Intro Hero In A Dream Guardians Of Fate* Tale Of Revenge Dragonheads Windrider* Warrior's Quest LAI LAI HEI Old Man (Väinämöinen) Slayer Of Light Finnish Medley: * Karjalan Kunnailla * Myrskyluodon Maija * Metsämiehen Laulu Tears Token Of Time* White Storm Into Hiding Into Battle* Kalevala Melody (intro) Iron Treacherous Gods Näitä Polkuja Tallaan Battle Song

Genre	Heavy/Folk Metal	Petri L./Markus T.	Vocals
Tracks	21	Petri Lindroos	Guitar
Runningtime	105 Min.	Markus Toivonen	Guitar
Label	Spinefarm	Sami Hinkka	Bass
Release	28 June 2006	Janne Parviainen	Drums
Country	Finland	Meiju Enho	Keyboards
Similar artists	---

Finally - a live dvd with one of my favourite bands of all time and one of few bands that have managed to earn a full 10 points for an album on this site. How does their music come out live, then? Very, very good I must say. The gig is taking place in Nosturi, Helsinki on the 31st of december 2005, new years eve, and the venue for the day is small and intimate and the atmosphere and the crowd response is good, perhaps a few more vodkas than usual had been sunk to celebrate the fact that a not so frequent occuring Ensiferum gig is taking place.....

Musically it is impeccable, despite a few charming slips on a few tunes, and they are lining up pretty much every song from their two albums plus the crucial ones from the new mcd that was released earlier this year, so the setlist is as complete as it can be. The vocals, now handled by Petri Lindroos (also in Norther) are a bit better live than on cd. It was a decrease in quality when he replaced Jari Mäenpää, who went on to concentrate on his own band Wintersun, but it is acceptable despite a certain monotony and lack of the predecessors power.

The sound could have been a bit better, or rather more rich and full but it is nevertheless fully adequate. There is not much action taking place on stage, this band lets the music talk instead. I will not go into any specific song because all that needs to be said is that this is metal at its best with marvellous folk- and normal melodies and there is never at any point a dead moment during the concert. If you have not heard the band before, I urge you to do it if you think what you have read so far sounds even remotely interesting.

I am impressed over the musicality these guys possess with every song having its own character and even though I have heard them numerous times over the years, it always sound fresh and I still find something new in the songs. Extra credit must be handed out to new band member Lindroos who in short time have learned all songs and are playing them flawlessly while at the same time singing. Impressive, since the songs are seemingly not that simple from time to time.

This dvd contains no extra material, just a raw and vital live performance showing Finland's, to not say the worlds, finest in melodic metal. After having waited and anticipated this a very long time I can only say that I am very satisfied. Nothing more, nothing less. A mandatory purchase for the fans and I can only hope that the rest of you take my word for it when I say that this is really good and that you take the chance to discover a great band performing some great music.

See also review of: From Afar , Victory Songs , Ensiferum , Dragonheads

Production	Vocals	Compositions
7	7	10
Extra material
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Summary
8 chalices of 10 - Tommy