Ensiferum
Ensiferum performing live at Metalcamp festival in Tolmin, Slovenia, 2007
Background information
Origin	Helsinki, Finland
Genre(s)	Viking metal Folk metal Melodic death metal
Years active	1995−present
Label(s)	Spinefarm
Associated acts	Wintersun Arthemesia Cadacross Norther
Website	www.ensiferum.com
Members
Petri Lindroos Markus Toivonen Sami Hinkka Janne Parviainen Emmi Silvennoinen
Former members
Kimmo Miettinen Jukka-Pekka Miettinen Sauli Savolainen Jari Mäenpää Oliver Fokin Meiju Enho Henri "Trollhorn" Sorvali

Ensiferum (Latin ensĭfĕrum (neuter adjective) meaning "sword bearing") is a viking / folk metal band from Helsinki, Finland. The band label themselves as "heroic folk metal". Metalcamp is a heavy metal music festival held annually in Slovenia since 2004. ... Area: 381. ... Location of Helsinki in Northern Europe Coordinates: , Country Province Region Uusimaa Sub-region Helsinki Charter 1550 Capital city 1812 Government  - Mayor Jussi Pajunen Area  - Total 187. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Viking metal is a term used in reference to heavy metal music with a dramatic emphasis on Norse mythology, Norse paganism, and the life and times of Northern and Central Europeans prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia. ... Folk metal is a diverse collection of music, encompassing a wide variety of different styles and approaches. ... Melodic death metal, (also referred to as Gothenburg metal, melodeath, and post-death) is a subgenre of death metal. ... In the music industry, a record label can be a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. ... Spinefarm Records is the recording label responsible for bands such as Children of Bodom, Dark Tranquillity, Eternal Tears of Sorrow, Finntroll, For My Pain, Impaled Nazarene, Nightwish, Norther, Sentenced, Sinergy, Sonata Arctica, Tarot, Throne of Chaos, Thy Serpent and Warmen. ... Wintersun is a Finnish melodic black metal band with power metal influences, founded by ex-Ensiferum frontman, Jari Mäenpää. // The first Wintersun album was supposed to be a side project of Ensiferum member Jari Mäenpää. However, the Ensiferum Europe tour was unfortunately scheduled for the same time with... Arthemesia is a Finnish Symphonic Black Metal band formed in 1994. ... Cadacross are a Finnish heavy metal band formed in 1997. ... Norther is a melodic death metal band from Espoo, Finland whose style incorporates elements of heavy metal, black metal and power metal. ... Petri Pete Lindroos is the Guitarist/Vocalist for and founding member of the melodic death metal band Norther, and more recently for Folk/viking metal band Ensiferum. ... Markus Toivonen, born in 1979 in Helsinki, is the founding member of the Finnish Viking Metal band Ensiferum. ... Sami Hinkka, born 1978 in Finland, is a heavy metal bass player, presently with Ensiferum. ... This page may meet Wikipedia’s criteria for speedy deletion. ... Jari Mäenpää, (born December 23, 1977 in Finland) is the founder of progressive metal band Wintersun in which he performs vocals and plays guitar. ... A picture of Meiju Enho Meiju Enho, born in 1981 in Finland, is the keyboard player of the Finnish Viking/Folk Metal band Ensiferum. ... Henri Trollhorn Sorvali Henri Sorvali (born October 20, 1977) is the guitarist of the Finnish folk metal band Moonsorrow,and he also plays keyboards in Finntroll. ... Viking metal is a term used in reference to heavy metal music with a dramatic emphasis on Norse mythology, Norse paganism, and the life and times of Northern and Central Europeans prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia. ... Folk metal is a diverse collection of music, encompassing a wide variety of different styles and approaches. ... Helsinki (pronounced with the stress on the first syllable in Finnish — think Helsin Ki), or Helsingfors in Swedish, is the capital of Finland. ...

Musical Characteristics

• Harsh vocals often mixed with clean vocals for choruses and bridges;

• Metal and folk melodies played on lead guitar or keyboard overlaying heavier traditional heavy metal backing rhythms such as the classic gallop rhythm;

• Lyrical themes relating to fantastical, archaic, or historic stories usually with heroic sentiment. Lyrics are inspired by literature, films, and poetry, such as the great Finnish epic "Kalevala" and the Norse sagas.

A gallop is a drum beat typically used in power metal songs, using a double kick pedal. ... The Kalevala is an epic poem which the Finn Elias Lönnrot compiled from Finnish and Karelian folklore in the 19th century. ... The Norse sagas or Viking sagas (Icelandic: Íslendingasögur), are stories about ancient Scandinavian and Germanic history, about early Viking voyages, about migration to Iceland, and of feuds between Icelandic families. ...

Band history

Formation, demos, Ensiferum (1995 - 2003)

Ensiferum was founded in 1995 by Markus Toivonen (guitar), Sauli Savolainen (bass) and Kimmo Miettinen (drums). For the band's name, they took the Latin neuter gender adjective ensiferum, which means "sword-bearing". In the next year, Jari Mäenpää was taken into the band as singer and second guitar-player. In 1997, the first demo was released, containing three songs. Markus Toivonen, born in 1979 in Helsinki, is the founding member of the Finnish Viking Metal band Ensiferum. ... For other uses, see Guitar (disambiguation). ... A sunburst-colored Fender Precision Bass The electric bass guitar (or electric bass[1][2]; pronounced , as in base) is a bass stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers (either by plucking, slapping, popping, or tapping) or using a pick. ... For other uses, see Drum (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Latins and Latin (disambiguation). ... In linguistics, grammatical genders, also called noun classes, are classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words; every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be very few which belong to several classes at once. ... Jari Mäenpää, (born December 23, 1977 in Finland) is the founder of progressive metal band Wintersun in which he performs vocals and plays guitar. ...

The highly stylized logo of Ensiferum has appeared on all of their releases.

In 1998, Sauli and Kimmo left the band and were replaced by Jukka-Pekka Miettinen (Kimmo's little brother, then 14 years old) and Oliver Fokin. In January 1999, a second demo was recorded, which although it did not produce a recording deal, boosted the band's confidence. In November 1999 a third demo, "Hero in a Dream", was recorded, which was successful in obtaining a record deal with Spinefarm Records. The logo that appears on all the bands releases was designed for the third demo by Tuomas Tahvanainen, who also designed the logos for the earlier demos.^[1] In 2000, the band went into the studio to work on their first album, Ensiferum, which was released in August 2001. In the same year, Meiju Enho joined them as a keyboard-player. Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Spinefarm Records is a Helsinki, Finland based record label focusing mainly on heavy metal artists. ... Ensiferum is the first album by the Finnish folk metal band Ensiferum. ... Synth redirects here. ...

Iron, Line-up changes, Dragonheads and 10th Anniversary Live (2003 - 2006)

In 2003, after the work was completed on the second album, Iron, Jari left the band to concentrate more on his project Wintersun. For the tour with Finntroll, Petri Lindroos from Norther replaced Jari on guitar and as singer, and became a member of the band after the tour. In December 2004, Jukka-Pekka left the band and was replaced by Sami Hinkka (Rapture). Oliver also left in 2005 to be replaced by Janne Parviainen. Iron is the second full length album by Viking/folk metal band Ensiferum. ... Wintersun is a Finnish melodic black metal band with power metal influences, founded by ex-Ensiferum frontman, Jari Mäenpää. // The first Wintersun album was supposed to be a side project of Ensiferum member Jari Mäenpää. However, the Ensiferum Europe tour was unfortunately scheduled for the same time with... Finntroll is a folk metal band from Finland. ... Norther is a melodic death metal band from Espoo, Finland whose style incorporates elements of heavy metal, black metal and power metal. ... Rapture is a band formed in 1997 by a group of musicians from Helsinki, Finland. ...

The new Ensiferum line-up entered the studio later that year to record an EP to be called Dragonheads, which was released in February 2006. As well as the title track, it also contained two reworked demo songs; an Amorphis cover and a short rendition of the Kalevala melody, as well as a medley of three traditional Finnish songs. EP can stand for: EP is the IATA code for Iran Aseman Airlines Extended play, a music recording (usually consisting of several tracks, but shorter than a typical album) European Parliament, the parliamentary body of the European Union Evolutionary psychology, a belief that psychology can be better understood in light... Dragonheads is an EP by the Finnish viking / folk metal Ensiferum. ... Amorphis is a Finnish metal band started by Jan Rechberger, Tomi Koivusaari and Esa Holopainen in 1990. ... The Kalevala is an epic poem which the Finn Elias Lönnrot compiled from Finnish and Karelian folklore in the 19th century. ...

In June 2006, Ensiferum released their live DVD, 10th Anniversary Live, which was recorded in Nosturi, Helsinki, on December 31, 2005. DVD (also known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc - see Etymology) is a popular optical disc storage media format. ... 10th Anniversary Live is a live performance DVD celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Viking/folk metal band Ensiferum. ... Nosturi (Finnish for crane) is a culture and music hall and a nightclub in the Punavuori district of Helsinki, Finland. ... Location of Helsinki in Northern Europe Coordinates: , Country Province Region Uusimaa Sub-region Helsinki Charter 1550 Capital city 1812 Government  - Mayor Jussi Pajunen Area  - Total 187. ... is the 365th day of the year (366th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Victory Songs, Meiju's departure & the future (2006 - Present)

The recording of the third studio album, called Victory Songs, took place between November 2006 and early 2007, and was released on April 20, 2007. A single titled One More Magic Potion (after the track of the same name) was released on February 7th. Following the album release, the band released through the producer's MySpace page, a music video for the song Ahti, which included all band members featured as extras. The video was released after the album release due to video filming problems. Victory Songs will be the third full-length album by the Finnish viking / folk metal band Ensiferum. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ... is the 110th day of the year (111th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ... One More Magic Potion is the second single of the viking / folk metal band Ensiferum. ... is the 38th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... MySpace is a social networking website offering an interactive, user-submitted network of friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos, music, and videos. ... In Finnish mythology, Ahti or Ahto is the god of the sea and of fishing, portrayed as a man with a beard of moss. ...

On 10 September 2007, it was announced that keyboardist Meiju Enho would leave the band. This was posted in a bulletin on their MySpace page and later confirmed on their website [1]. A replacement for her has not yet been named, and the band is currently using Emmi Silvennoinen of Exsecratus as a touring fill-in. is the 253rd day of the year (254th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ... A picture of Meiju Enho Meiju Enho, born in 1981 in Finland, is the keyboard player of the Finnish Viking/Folk Metal band Ensiferum. ...

Ensiferum will be headlining the Paganfest tour in Europe and the US in 2008. Others to play will be Týr and Eluveitie, with Moonsorrow and Korpiklaani also joining them on the European part of the tour, and Turisas in the US. They are also booked to support Megadeth on the opening night of their United Abominations - Tour Of Duty European tour. Týr (pronounced [tÊŠiːɹ]) is a band from the Faroe Islands which plays a combination of heavy metal and folk music, and signed a worldwide deal with Austrias Napalm Records in early 2006, while previously signed to the Faroese record label Tutl. ... Eluveitie is a folk metal band from Switzerland. ... Moonsorrow are a folk/pagan metal band formed in Helsinki, Finland in 1995. ... Korpiklaani (Forest Clan in Finnish) is a folk metal band from Finland. ... Turisas is a Finnish folk metal band founded in 1997 by Mathias NygÃ¥rd and Jussi Wickström and named after an ancient Finnish god of war. ... Megadeth is an American thrash metal band led by founder, frontman, guitarist, and songwriter Dave Mustaine. ... United Abominations is the 11th studio album of the American thrash metal band, Megadeth. ...

Band members

Current line-up

• Petri Lindroos – harsh vocals, guitars
• Markus Toivonen – guitars, clean & backing vocals
• Sami Hinkka – bass, clean & backing vocals
• Janne Parviainen – drums

Petri Pete Lindroos is the Guitarist/Vocalist for and founding member of the melodic death metal band Norther, and more recently for Folk/viking metal band Ensiferum. ... Markus Toivonen, born in 1979 in Helsinki, is the founding member of the Finnish Viking Metal band Ensiferum. ... Sami Hinkka, born 1978 in Finland, is a heavy metal bass player, presently with Ensiferum. ... This page may meet Wikipedia’s criteria for speedy deletion. ...

Former members

• Kimmo Miettinen – drums (ex-Arthemesia, Cadacross)
• Jukka-Pekka Miettinen – bass (Arthemesia, ex-Cadacross)
• Sauli Savolainen – bass
• Jari Mäenpää – vocals, guitars (ex-Arthemesia, Wintersun)
• Oliver Fokin – drums (ex-Arthemesia, ex-Wintersun)
• Meiju Enho – keyboards

Arthemesia is a Finnish Symphonic Black Metal band formed in 1994. ... Cadacross are a Finnish heavy metal band formed in 1997. ... Arthemesia is a Finnish Symphonic Black Metal band formed in 1994. ... Jari Mäenpää, (born December 23, 1977 in Finland) is the founder of progressive metal band Wintersun in which he performs vocals and plays guitar. ... Arthemesia is a Finnish Symphonic Black Metal band formed in 1994. ... Wintersun is a Finnish melodic black metal band with power metal influences, founded by ex-Ensiferum frontman, Jari Mäenpää. // The first Wintersun album was supposed to be a side project of Ensiferum member Jari Mäenpää. However, the Ensiferum Europe tour was unfortunately scheduled for the same time with... Arthemesia is a Finnish Symphonic Black Metal band formed in 1994. ... Wintersun is a Finnish melodic black metal band with power metal influences, founded by ex-Ensiferum frontman, Jari Mäenpää. // The first Wintersun album was supposed to be a side project of Ensiferum member Jari Mäenpää. However, the Ensiferum Europe tour was unfortunately scheduled for the same time with... A picture of Meiju Enho Meiju Enho, born in 1981 in Finland, is the keyboard player of the Finnish Viking/Folk Metal band Ensiferum. ...

Session members

• Henri "Trollhorn" Sorvali – session keyboards on Ensiferum (Finntroll, Moonsorrow, ex-Korpiklaani)

Henri Trollhorn Sorvali Henri Sorvali (born October 19, 1978) is the guitarist of the Finnish folk metal band Moonsorrow,and he also plays keyboards in Finntroll. ... Finntroll is a folk metal band from Finland. ... Moonsorrow are a folk/pagan metal band formed in Helsinki, Finland in 1995. ... Korpiklaani (Forest Clan in Finnish) is a folk metal band from Finland. ...

Touring members

• Emmi Silvennoinen – keyboards (2007) (Exsecratus)

Discography

Albums

• Ensiferum (2001)
• Iron (2004)
• 1997-1999 (Ltd. edition re-release of first three demos, 2005)
• Victory Songs (2007)

Ensiferum is the first album by the Finnish folk metal band Ensiferum. ... Iron is the second full length album by Viking/folk metal band Ensiferum. ... 1997-1999 is a demo compilation album by the Viking/Folk Metal band Ensiferum, sold through their website and at live shows. ... Victory Songs will be the third full-length album by the Finnish viking / folk metal band Ensiferum. ...

EPs

• Dragonheads (2006)

Dragonheads is an EP by the Finnish viking / folk metal Ensiferum. ...

Singles

• "Tale of Revenge" (2004)
• "One More Magic Potion" (2007)

Tale of Revenge is a single release by the folk metal band Ensiferum. ... One More Magic Potion is the second single of the viking / folk metal band Ensiferum. ...

Demos

• Demo (1997)
  1. "Frost"
  2. "Old Man (Väinämöinen)"
  3. "Knighthood"
• Demo II (1999)
  1. "Dreamer's Prelude"
  2. "Little Dreamer (Väinämöinen part II)"
  3. "Warrior's Quest"
  4. "White Storm"
• Hero in a Dream (1999)
  1. "Intro"
  2. "Hero in a Dream"
  3. "Eternal Wait"
  4. "Battle Song"
  5. "Guardians of Fate"

DVDs

• 10th Anniversary Live (2006)

10th Anniversary Live is a live performance DVD celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Viking/folk metal band Ensiferum. ...

References

2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 25th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Ensiferum

• Ensiferum Official website
• Ensiferum at MySpace
• Ensiferum at Spinefarm Records