Ensiferum was founded in 1995 by Markus Toivonen (guitar), Sauli Savolainen (bass) and Kimmo Miettinen (drums). 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.
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. 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.
In 2004, after the work was completed on the second album, Iron, Jari left the band due to conflicts between scheduled studio work on his side project Wintersun and touring with Ensiferum. 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.
The band has been described as folk metal, melodic death metal, power metal and Viking metal.
Official site bio:
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.”
It’s been three years since the towering Two Paths and the quintet kept themselves busy writing over that period. Viewing Two Paths and its predecessor One Man Army (2015) as being something of a pair, this time out they wanted to jump into the unknown and try a new approach, without forgetting their roots. Kicking the album off with the grand orchestral piece “Seafarer’s Dream” definitely makes an impression, though overall Thalassic scales back a little on such instrumentation. “I guess that has become kind of a part of Ensiferum’s sound, but on this album we actually used orchestrations less than before because the songs turned out to be more straightforward metal. We like to emphasize the story and the feeling of a song with the sounds that fit them best, so using huge orchestrations has to serve the purpose of the song and not be taken for granted and used all the time.” The likes of “Rum, Women, Victory” and “Run From The Crushing Tide” are certainly full on metal, but these sit comfortably alongside the jaunty “Midsummer Magic” and triumphant “Andromeda”. The band were helped in realizing these tracks by the addition of new keyboard player/lead clean vocalist Pekka Montin who “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 and we are extremely happy with the result. It helps a lot when you do proper demos of the songs, then everyone already has a very good picture of how each song will sound.” Gyula Havanchak handled the artwork and once again raised the Ensiferum standard, creating something that vividly reflects the songs, and indeed the theme running through them.
Looking ahead, the band only intend to keep on doing what they do best. “We are very privileged to be full-time musicians but you never know what the future brings. I hope we can keep doing the thing we love the most. What I really hope happens is a support tour with much a bigger band because in the folk/pagan/battle/whatever metal scenes everyone knows Ensiferum - so Steve Harris, if you are reading this: we are ready!”
Lost in Despair
Ensiferum Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And I couldn't bear the thought of my life
I was gone, caught in the torturing memories
And they burned like fire
Water can never heal such pain
Can't you believe
Nothing is real
I cannot feel
Take me away
Bury me in the sand
Cause after all these years I am still the same
A sad and bitter man
Crush my hope, grow my hate
There's no home for me
Nothing to give, nothing to say
So tell me it's a dream
The lyrics in the song Lost in Despair by Ensiferum portray a person who is lost and alone with their thoughts. The singer expresses their struggle with the memories that are torturing them, which feel like they are burning inside them. They are unable to cope with the pain, and feel like water cannot heal such hurt. The lyrics also suggest that the singer has lost touch with reality and is unable to feel anything, and there is a sense of despair and hopelessness. As the song progresses, the singer asks to be taken away from the situation, to be buried in the sand, as they are still the same ‘sad and bitter man’ they have been for years. In the end, the singer’s hope is crushed and they are left with nothing to give, nothing to say, and wish for it to be a dream.
The message in the song Lost in Despair is an essential reminder of how detrimental the feeling of hopelessness can be. The lyrics show how one’s thoughts can control and overpower them and how difficult they are to combat. The theme of the song is the struggle of the human psyche with grief and depression, and how one can be lost in their own despair.
Line by Line Meaning
I was lost, on my own
I felt directionless and alone
And I couldn't bear the thought of my life
The idea of my own existence was unbearable
I was gone, caught in the torturing memories
I was consumed by painful memories
And they burned like fire
The memories caused intense emotional pain
Water can never heal such pain
There is no easy fix for such deep emotional wounds
Can't you believe
I hope you can understand
Nothing is real
Life feels like a dream
Can't you see
I hope you can empathize
I cannot feel
Emotional numbness has set in
Take me away
I wish to escape
Bury me in the sand
Cover me up in nature to escape reality
Cause after all these years I am still the same
Time has not healed my emotional wounds
A sad and bitter man
My emotional pain has made me unhappy and resentful
Crush my hope, grow my hate
My hopelessness has turned into anger and resentment
There's no home for me
I don't feel like I belong anywhere
Nothing to give, nothing to say
I feel empty and without purpose
So tell me it's a dream
I hope this isn't really my life
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: JARI TAPANI MAEENPAEAE, JUKKA-PEKKA MIETTINEN, MARKUS ALEKSI TOIVONEN, MEIJU RUOTSALAINEN, OLIVER FOKIN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
TSAVRVS
“Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.”
Chrisafisn
@Buttnuttz this quote will always be relevant. 😉
Buttnuttz
Marta Rybka I feel like this quote is relevant now more than ever
Marta Kupczak
2000 yo quote is still actual.
This is wisdom.
Pera Cuchulainn
I really love Ensiferum, one of my favorite bands out there, but there is something on Jari's era that I really enjoy the most. Songs like this, Abandoned and Eternal Wait just got that right, proper sorrowful feel on it.
Scourge 05
Ikr I wanna find other bands with this sad sort of tragedy vibe but idk, most sad metal songs are boring
Forward Momentum
That's exactly the same for me.
kazuyaqq
Jari is true metal legend and GOD!
Tomás d
Mystic and powerful music from the north, greetings from the end for the world, the bottom of the southern lands, Argentina.
Dragona Mantheniel
I love this song 😊