In 2020, Ensiferum released their critically acclaimed full-length, Thalassic, via Metal Blade Records, an album “that brings pure joy to all of their fans” (Metal Hammer Germany).
Ensiferum have now announced a shorter headline tour through Central Europe for next spring!
Seafearer’s Dream Tour 2023 Ensiferum 28/03/22 DE – Lingen – Alter Schlachthof 29/03/23 DE – Aschaffenburg – Colos-Saal 30/03/23 DE – Regensburg – Eventhall 31/03/23 DE – Geiselwind – Metal Franconia Festival 01/04/23 DE – Lindau – Club Vaudeville 02/04/23 CH – Aarau – Kiff 04/04/23 BE – Sint-Niklaas – De Casino 05/04/23 NL – Breda – Mezz 06/04/23 NL – Leeuwarden – Neushoorn 07/04/23 NL – Heerlen – Nieuwe Noor
Ensiferum are a true powerhouse when it comes to folk-inspired melodic death metal, something they hammer home more resolutely than ever with eighth full-length Thalassic. The title translating from ancient Greek as “of or relating to seas”, it’s a suitably huge and wide-ranging collection that incorporates orchestrations and traditional folk instrumentation alongside the roaring guitars, bass, and drums. “I think we managed to take another step ahead musically and we also utilized the best parts of our old sound,” states bassist/vocalist Sami Hinkka. “There are lots of Ensiferum’s trademarks: beautiful folkish melodies, ass-kicking riffs, a nice mix of different vocals and great singalong choruses.” The addition of new keyboard player/lead clean vocalist Pekka Montin also “really raised the new songs to another level“, while Mikko P. Mustonen once again presided over the orchestrations, and violin virtuoso Lassi Logren recorded folk instruments on a few tracks.
Mixed and mastered by Jens Bogren, Thalassic was recorded and produced in Petrax and Sonic Pump studios by Janne Joutsenniemi, who was involved on their albums Victory Songs (2007) and From Afar (2009). “We like to go to a studio when we have all the songs 99.9% ready so the producer’s main job is to kick our asses while we record. Of course Janne Joutsenniemi is a world-class producer, and we asked his opinion if we were doubting any details. It was really a pleasure to work with him again, and I think this was one of the most easy-going studio sessions I have ever been part of. We are extremely happy with the result.“
Live Music to return to venues across Europe in Spring 2022 with a bang!
After such a long time without “real” concerts, Sweden’s DARK TRANQUILLITYand Finland’s ENSIFERUMare teaming up for a long-awaited tour with new music to be presented live to fans across Europe! The tour kicks off April 1st in Sweden’s capital Stockholm and continues through 23 countries across EUROPE, ending back in Goteborg on May 27th after 53 shows.
The Special Guests for each show will be announced shortly, so keep an eye out for these over the next few months!
Dark Tranquillity frontman Mikael Stanne about the tour:
“Let’s break the spell of silence and fear together this winter! We couldn’t be more excited to go back on the European roads again, and to finally play in front of people, to hang out and to vent all this frustration that’s been building inside for far too long. It’s going to be incredible to join forces with our Finnish brothers Ensiferum for this as well. Having toured together before and crossed paths many times we look forward to screaming the night away throughout Europe this spring. Can’t wait to see you all! Cheers!“
Sami Hinkka, Ensiferum, quotes:
“After such a long time of darkness & uncertainty in the live music scene, we are very happy to finally reveal a light at the end of the tunnel! We’ll be joining forces with the legendary Dark Tranquillity for a massive co-headlining tour around Europe. It’s no secret that back in the day, Dark Tranquillity was one of the bands that inspired Markus Toivonen to start Ensiferum and now we are hitting the road with our heroes. How awesome is that?! We are sure that everyone is craving some energetic and ass-kicking live music experiences (we sure are!) and with this line-up, this tour is not to be missed. Get your ticket in advance & help support the return of live music! We can’t wait to see you in the front row!”
TOUR DATES: *Finland shows without Ensiferum
01-04-22 | Stockholm | Slaktkyrka 02-04-22 | Oslo | John Dee 03-04-22 | Copenhagen | Pumpehuset 05-04-22 | London | Heaven 06-04-22 | Dublin | Academy 07-04-22 | Manchester | Club Academy 08-04-22 | Birmingham | Asylum 09-04-22 | Durbuy | Durbuy Rock Festival 10-04-22 | Nijmegen | Doornroosje 11-04-22 | Haarlem | Patronaat 12-04-22 | Siegburg | Kubana 13-04-22 | Hamburg | Markthalle 14-04-22 | Leipzig | Hellraiser 15-04-22 | Berlin | Orwo Haus 16-04-22 | Prague | Meet Factory 17-04-22 | Budapest | Barba Negra 18-04-22 | Munich | Backstage Werk 19-04-22 | Salzburg | Rockhouse 20-04-22 | Wien | Simm City 22-04-22 | Lichtenfels | Ragnarög Festival 20-04-22 | Schapen | Mosh’N’ May-Festival 24-04-22 | Paris | L’Elysee Monmatre 25-04-22 | Audincourt | Le Moloco 26-04-22 | Stuttgart | LKA / Longhorn 27-04-22 | Grenoble | La Belle Electrique 28-04-22 | Istres | L’Usine 29-04-22 | Barcelona | Salamandra 30-04-22 | Sevilla | Custom 01-05-22 | Madrid | Kapital 02-05-22 | Bilbao | Santana 27 03-05-22 | Bordeaux | Barbey Theater 04-05-22 | Nantes | Warehouse 05-05-22 | Metz | LA B.A.M. 06-05-22 | Orbe | Le Puisoir 07-05-22 | Luzern | Schüür 08-05-22 | Milan | Magazzini Generali 09-05-22 | Padova | Hall 10-05-22 | Rome | Orion 12-05-22 | Athens | Fuzz Live Music Club 13-05-22 | Thessaloniki | Principal Club Theater 14-05-22 | Sofia | Club Joy Station 15-05-22 | Bucharest | Arelene Romane 16-05-22 | Cluj-Napoca | Form Space 17-05-22 | Warsaw | Proxima 18-05-22 | Gdansk | B90 19-05-22 | Vilnius | Vakaris Club 20-05-22 | Riga | Melna Piektdiena 21-05-22 | Tallinn |Tapper 22-05-22 | Helsinki | Vanha Ylioppilastalo 23-05-22 | Jyväskylä | Lutakko 24-05-22 | Oulu | Club Teatria 26-05-22 | Göteborg | Pustervik 27-05-22 | Göteborg |Pustervik
This past July, ENSIFERUM released their critically acclaimed full-length, Thalassic, via Metal Blade Records – which landed on the worldwide charts:
–Finland: #1 – official albums chart –Germany: #3 – official albums chart –Switzerland: #5 – official albums chart –USA: #10 – current hard music albums chart –USA: #14 – top new artist albums chart –USA: #26 – current rock albums chart –USA: #94 – top current albums chart –Canada: #7 – hard music albums chart –UK: #11 – rock / metal album chart –Belgium: #22 – official albums chart (Wallonia) –Belgium: #83 – official albums chart (Flanders) –Austria: #26 – official albums chart
For a preview of Thalassic, a new lyric video for the album track “Run from the Crushing Tide” can be viewed here:
Ensiferum are a true powerhouse when it comes to folk-inspired melodic death metal, something they hammer home more resolutely than ever with eighth full-length Thalassic. The title translating from ancient Greek as “of or relating to seas”, it’s a suitably huge and wide-ranging collection that incorporates orchestrations and traditional folk instrumentation alongside the roaring guitars, bass, and drums. “I think we managed to take another step ahead musically and we also utilized the best parts of our old sound,” states bassist/vocalist Sami Hinkka. “There are lots of Ensiferum‘s trademarks: beautiful folkish melodies, ass-kicking riffs, a nice mix of different vocals and great singalong choruses.” The addition of new keyboard player/lead clean vocalist Pekka Montin also “really raised the new songs to another level”, while Mikko P. Mustonen once again presided over the orchestrations, and violin virtuoso Lassi Logren recorded folk instruments on a few tracks.
Mixed and mastered by Jens Bogren, Thalassic was recorded and produced in Petrax and Sonic Pump studios by Janne Joutsenniemi, who was involved on their albums Victory Songs (2007) and From Afar (2009). “We like to go to a studio when we have all the songs 99.9% ready so the producer’s main job is to kick our asses while we record. Of course Janne Joutsenniemi is a world-class producer, and we asked his opinion if we were doubting any details. It was really a pleasure to work with him again, and I think this was one of the most easy-going studio sessions I have ever been part of. We are extremely happy with the result.”
Last Friday (July 10th), Ensiferum released their new full-length, Thalassic, via Metal Blade Records. For a preview of Thalassic, a lyric video for the album track “For Sirens” can be viewed here:
Stream and purchase Thalassic now at: metalblade.com/ensiferum – where the record is available in various formats.
Ensiferum are a true powerhouse when it comes to folk-inspired melodic death metal, something they hammer home more resolutely than ever with eighth full-length Thalassic. The title translating from ancient Greek as “of or relating to seas”, it’s a suitably huge and wide-ranging collection that incorporates orchestrations and traditional folk instrumentation alongside the roaring guitars, bass, and drums. “I think we managed to take another step ahead musically and we also utilized the best parts of our old sound,” states bassist/vocalist Sami Hinkka. “There are lots of Ensiferum‘s trademarks: beautiful folkish melodies, ass-kicking riffs, a nice mix of different vocals and great singalong choruses.” The addition of new keyboard player/lead clean vocalist Pekka Montin also “really raised the new songs to another level”, while Mikko P. Mustonen once again presided over the orchestrations, and violin virtuoso Lassi Logren recorded folk instruments on a few tracks.
The biggest difference separating Thalassic from the rest of Ensiferum‘s catalogue comes from the fact that it’s the first of their albums to be built around a theme. “The idea of it started to brew in my mind when I was doing interviews for ‘Two Paths‘ and many journalists asked if it was a theme album, and I noticed that I was answering all the time that because of the way we compose it’s almost impossible to make a theme album. This really started to piss me off and the decision was made: the next album would have a theme. At that time, we already had a few songs almost ready for the next album, and I started to listen to the demos much more from the feeling aspect instead of analyzing them musically. For some reason, all of them took me to a seashore, and the theme was found: something related to sea or water. So I started to read about history, myths and legend around the world that had something to do with the theme, but even though all of the lyrics are obviously inspired by this, I tried my best to keep Ensiferum‘s heroic mentality in them. In the end, there were too many ideas for lyrics, because I didn’t set myself any boundaries – like all stories would have to be Nordic, etc, and one of my favourite songs on the album tells about Andromeda from Greek mythology. I can’t promise that this way of lyric-writing will be the future of Ensiferum, but at least we did this once.”
Mixed and mastered by Jens Bogren, Thalassic was recorded and produced in Petrax and Sonic Pump studios by Janne Joutsenniemi, who was involved on their albums Victory Songs (2007) and From Afar (2009). “We like to go to a studio when we have all the songs 99.9% ready so the producer’s main job is to kick our asses while we record. Of course Janne Joutsenniemi is a world-class producer, and we asked his opinion if we were doubting any details. It was really a pleasure to work with him again, and I think this was one of the most easy-going studio sessions I have ever been part of. We are extremely happy with the result.”
Thalassic track-listing
1. Seafarer’s Dream
2. Rum, Women, Victory
3. Andromeda
4. The Defence of the Sampo
5. Run from the Crushing Tide
6. For Sirens
7. One with the Sea
8. Midsummer Magic
9. Cold Northland (Väinämöinen Part III)
10. Merille Lahteva (Bonus Track)
11. I’ll Stay by Your Side (Bonus Track)
On July 10th, ENSIFERUM will release their new album, Thalassic, via Metal Blade Records. For a preview of Thalassic, a video for the new single, “Andromeda” (directed by Vesa Ranta and recorded on Rankki Island, Finland), can be seen here:
The first single, “Rum, Women, Victory”, can be heard at: metalblade.com/ensiferum – where the record can be pre-ordered in various formats.
On release day (July 10th), Ensiferum will host a record release show – “Studio Live” – at 9PM EET // 8PM CET // 7PM GMT // 12PM EST // 9AM PST. The band will be performing a selection of new, classic and rare tracks “live” from Sonic Pump Studio in Helsinki, Finland that will be streamed at keikalla.fi. The band will also be chatting with fans in between the live performance and after the show! For those not able to catch the show when it airs, the performance will be available online for 7 days immediately following the end of the show. Tickets are available now for purchase at: lippu.fi
Ensiferum are a true powerhouse when it comes to folk-inspired melodic death metal, something they hammer home more resolutely than ever with eighth full-length Thalassic. The title translating from ancient Greek as “of or relating to seas”, it’s a suitably huge and wide-ranging collection that incorporates orchestrations and traditional folk instrumentation alongside the roaring guitars, bass, and drums. “I think we managed to take another step ahead musically and we also utilized the best parts of our old sound,” states bassist/vocalist Sami Hinkka. “There are lots of Ensiferum‘s trademarks: beautiful folkish melodies, ass-kicking riffs, a nice mix of different vocals and great singalong choruses.” The addition of new keyboard player/lead clean vocalist Pekka Montin also “really raised the new songs to another level”, while Mikko P. Mustonen once again presided over the orchestrations, and violin virtuoso Lassi Logren recorded folk instruments on a few tracks.
The biggest difference separating Thalassic from the rest of Ensiferum‘s catalogue comes from the fact that it’s the first of their albums to be built around a theme. “The idea of it started to brew in my mind when I was doing interviews for ‘Two Paths‘ and many journalists asked if it was a theme album, and I noticed that I was answering all the time that because of the way we compose it’s almost impossible to make a theme album. This really started to piss me off and the decision was made: the next album would have a theme. At that time, we already had a few songs almost ready for the next album, and I started to listen to the demos much more from the feeling aspect instead of analyzing them musically. For some reason, all of them took me to a seashore, and the theme was found: something related to sea or water. So I started to read about history, myths and legend around the world that had something to do with the theme, but even though all of the lyrics are obviously inspired by this, I tried my best to keep Ensiferum‘s heroic mentality in them. In the end, there were too many ideas for lyrics, because I didn’t set myself any boundaries – like all stories would have to be Nordic, etc, and one of my favourite songs on the album tells about Andromeda from Greek mythology. I can’t promise that this way of lyric-writing will be the future of Ensiferum, but at least we did this once.”
Thalassic was recorded and produced in Petrax and Sonic Pump studios by Janne Joutsenniemi, who was involved on their albums Victory Songs (2007) and From Afar (2009). “We like to go to a studio when we have all the songs 99.9% ready so the producer’s main job is to kick our asses while we record. Of course Janne Joutsenniemi is a world-class producer, and we asked his opinion if we were doubting any details. It was really a pleasure to work with him again, and I think this was one of the most easy-going studio sessions I have ever been part of. We are extremely happy with the result.”
Thalassic track-listing
1. Seafarer’s Dream
2. Rum, Women, Victory
3. Andromeda
4. The Defence of the Sampo
5. Run from the Crushing Tide
6. For Sirens
7. One with the Sea
8. Midsummer Magic
9. Cold Northland (Väinämöinen Part III)
10. Merille Lahteva (Bonus Track)
11. I’ll Stay by Your Side (Bonus Track)
On July 10th, ENSIFERUM will release their new album, Thalassic, via Metal Blade Records. For a preview of Thalassic, a video for the first single, “Rum, Women, Victory”, can be viewed below – which features fan-submitted, sing-a-long content that the band collected after reaching out to their followers about recreating an at-home festival-like experience.
Ensiferum‘s Sami Hinkka (bass) comments: “Hi folks! So, the video of ‘Rum, Women, Victory’ is here! First of all, we want to thank each and every one who sent their video clip with such a short notice – You guys f***ing rock!
Even though we are not the most hip/state of the art/IT-know-how-expert-band when it comes to creating content, other than music, it was such a great experience to do this video. But absolutely the best thing of this video project was to see how much fun you guys had with the new song and how you all gave 110% for it! We can’t wait to see this energy in the front rows of the future gigs!
Enough talking. We hope you like the video because we love it!”
On release day (July 10th), Ensiferum will host a record release show – “Studio Live” – at 9PM EET // 8PM CET // 7PM GMT // 12PM EST // 9AM PST. The band will be performing a selection of new, classic and rare tracks “live” from Sonic Pump Studio in Helsinki, Finland that will be streamed at keikalla.fi. The band will also be chatting with fans in between the live performance and after the show! For those not able to catch the show when it airs, the performance will be available online for 7 days immediately following the end of the show. Tickets are available now for purchase at: lippu.fi
Ensiferum are a true powerhouse when it comes to folk-inspired melodic death metal, something they hammer home more resolutely than ever with eighth full-length Thalassic. The title translating from ancient Greek as “of or relating to seas”, it’s a suitably huge and wide-ranging collection that incorporates orchestrations and traditional folk instrumentation alongside the roaring guitars, bass, and drums. “I think we managed to take another step ahead musically and we also utilized the best parts of our old sound,” states bassist/vocalist Sami Hinkka. “There are lots of Ensiferum‘s trademarks: beautiful folkish melodies, ass-kicking riffs, a nice mix of different vocals and great singalong choruses.” The addition of new keyboard player/lead clean vocalist Pekka Montin also “really raised the new songs to another level”, while Mikko P. Mustonen once again presided over the orchestrations, and violin virtuoso Lassi Logren recorded folk instruments on a few tracks.
The biggest difference separating Thalassic from the rest of Ensiferum‘s catalogue comes from the fact that it’s the first of their albums to be built around a theme. “The idea of it started to brew in my mind when I was doing interviews for ‘Two Paths‘ and many journalists asked if it was a theme album, and I noticed that I was answering all the time that because of the way we compose it’s almost impossible to make a theme album. This really started to piss me off and the decision was made: the next album would have a theme. At that time, we already had a few songs almost ready for the next album, and I started to listen to the demos much more from the feeling aspect instead of analyzing them musically. For some reason, all of them took me to a seashore, and the theme was found: something related to sea or water. So I started to read about history, myths and legend around the world that had something to do with the theme, but even though all of the lyrics are obviously inspired by this, I tried my best to keep Ensiferum‘s heroic mentality in them. In the end, there were too many ideas for lyrics, because I didn’t set myself any boundaries – like all stories would have to be Nordic, etc, and one of my favourite songs on the album tells about Andromeda from Greek mythology. I can’t promise that this way of lyric-writing will be the future of Ensiferum, but at least we did this once.”
Thalassic was recorded and produced in Petrax and Sonic Pump studios by Janne Joutsenniemi, who was involved on their albums Victory Songs (2007) and From Afar (2009). “We like to go to a studio when we have all the songs 99.9% ready so the producer’s main job is to kick our asses while we record. Of course Janne Joutsenniemi is a world-class producer, and we asked his opinion if we were doubting any details. It was really a pleasure to work with him again, and I think this was one of the most easy-going studio sessions I have ever been part of. We are extremely happy with the result.”
Thalassic track-listing
1. Seafarer’s Dream
2. Rum, Women, Victory
3. Andromeda
4. The Defence of the Sampo
5. Run from the Crushing Tide
6. For Sirens
7. One with the Sea
8. Midsummer Magic
9. Cold Northland (Väinämöinen Part III)
10. Merille Lahteva (Bonus Track)
11. I’ll Stay by Your Side (Bonus Track)
Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 