Unsung Heroes

"One of the things people can't believe about Finland is just how popular heavy metal is,” muses Lindroos. “And I'm not talking about being popular like in the underground. In Finland the charts are often full of heavy metal albums; people here love the music.”

Sounds like the housewives of Finland are all rocking out to Ensiferum and Nightwish then. “Well I'm not going to say that they listen to us, but yes it's not just young people who listen to metal, it's a mainstream thing – and you'll find metal fans of all different ages and doing different things with their lives.”

While this may sound like the 'holy grail' to us here in Australia where metal is for the most part shunned by the mainstream, isn't there a danger that this widespread acceptance and 'normalisation' of the culture could turn the genre from a potent outsider force to something safe and sterile? “No, I don't think that's a problem,” answers Lindroos. “It's not like all these bands are changing their style to get on the charts. It's just that Finnish people love and respect heavy metal.”

As to the reasons why Finland is a heavy metal Mecca, Lindroos is in no doubt. “Heavy metal matches the Finnish personality,” he says. “Metal is dark and melancholic and Finnish people like dark stuff. We live in the dark for half of the year and heavy metal is the perfect soundtrack to the weather,” he laughs.

Late last year Ensiferum unleashed their fifth album on the metal world. Entitled Unsung Heroes, it showcased a band willing to take some risks and expand their sound. Predictably, opinions on the album were split. Those who worshipped the band's traditional blend of rapid-fire metal and Finnish folk music cried 'sell out'. Others enjoyed the slower tempos, clean female vocals and polished sound.

“We knew that the material was good from the moment we recorded the songs,” says Lindroos, of the mixed reception. “We knew some people would be upset by the slower songs but again the songs themselves are great. Besides, if we had upped the tempo on those songs just to be able to say we were fast they would have sounded stupid.

“We didn't deliberately try and write slower songs or songs we thought would sell the album to a wider audience,” adds Lindroos. “We didn't want to write the exact same album that we have already released – as songwriters, we thought 'what's the point?'”

Which could have been the reason why they included a 17-minute epic in Passion Proof Power on the album. “That song is the result of years of hard work,” reveals Lindroos. “That song started off as a few different parts and we realised that they fitted together. We then got it to about eight or nine minutes when we were demoing the album and we thought, 'okay, now we need to break the record for the longest song by Ensiferum',” he chuckles, “and before we knew it, we had!”

Unsung Heroes was clearly a risk for the band, but one that's been paid in full, according to the frontman. “In a way I think that's fair – a deliberate risk I think,” he says. “It all comes back to what I said before, there's no real point making the same album over and over again. We could have done From Afar part two very easily, but I think after a while that would have worked against the band. Now, with this album, we have very different material to play live and the new songs are being very well received when we play [them] to the fans. At this stage, I'm very happy with how things are going for Ensiferum and we're really excited to be back in Australia to play the new material.”

Ensiferum will be playing the following dates:

Friday 15 March - The Hi-Fi, Sydney NSW
Saturday 16 March - The Espy, Melbourne VIC
Sunday 17 March - Coniston Lane, Brisbane QLD