Victory Songs is already the third full-length album of Ensiferum. Of course you can ask yourself if it’s really their third album because the last couple of years there were some major line up changes were they even got a new vocalist. Petri Lindroos already had the chance to prove he was a worthy follower of Jari Mäenpää on the Dragonheads EP, which he did very nicely. Adding all these things together you might say that this album is pretty important for the existence of Ensiferum.

 

Like their previous full-length Iron, Victory Songs starts with an atmospheric intro which immediately gets you in the right mood for the rest of the album. Eager for cracking some skulls I imagine myself in a mediaeval battle when ‘Blood Is The Price Of Glory’ comes blasting out of my speakers. Under the banner of Ensiferum I kill everyone that gets in my way. With the start of ‘Deathbringer From The Sky’  Ensiferum pulls me out of my fantasy, with the epic chorus.

 

During ‘Ahti’ Ensiferum gives almost everything they have before they give you the opportunity to sit back and relax for a while with ‘One More Magic Potion’ and ‘Wanderer’. Which are both songs that pulls out the folk influences of Ensiferum with a great acoustic intro and the keyboards who lead these songs. The most greatest thing of all is probably the easiness Ensiferum puts everything together with. A great example is 'Raised By The Sword' which starts with atmospheric keyboards that are followed by heavy drums and later some distorted guitars are added. During this song, both heavy parts and folk parts are switched easily like they haven’t done anything else for the rest of their lives.

 

After this it’s time for the last two songs of the album ‘The New Dawn’ and ‘Victory Songs’. Where ‘The New Dawn’ is just a little snack, 'Victory Songs’  is the cherry on the pie. This ten minutes masterpiece starts with an acoustic intro that slowly builds up to a great Viking metal song with a little pause before the slaughter ends. Ensiferum not only managed to create a great album, but they also gave their music a face of its own and produce a natural mix of metal and folk. This album is a must for every metalhead that ever listen to Viking metal.