Bitter Pillage

Unsung Heroes, released through Spinefarm records in August 2012, is the latest in a long line of releases for Ensiferum. While Lindroos has only been a member of the five-piece since 2004, the band has been building momentum since 1995. It's their fifth full-length, and the ten tracks show their Viking-themed style more maturely than ever before. While the band certainly hasn't mellowed out, things have slowed down, and there's a little more room for their pieces to breathe.

“Well it's very much down-tempo from the other album,” explains the harsh vocalist and guitarist. “We only have one faster song on it. It's also very much stripped down from the amount of tracks, what we used on this Unsung Heroes album. We were cutting down a lot of unnecessary guitar tracks. Also a lot less keyboard stuff, and also try and keep the other orchestrations as minimal as possible to get the best sound for the songs. In our opinion, it's very stripped down, for example when compared to our From Afar album (2009), which is full of, well, everything.”

So was there a specific reason for deciding to strip things back? “The songs turned out the way they did, so the tempo going down on the songs was a natural event. At that point we also started to think about the amount of tracks what we wanted to put on the album. We came to the conclusion that less is more, to keep it more simple for the sound, and also to get the best result for the songs. Not all the songs need to have 500 tracks in them to make everything sound perfect.”

While the band is certainly conceptual in nature, their latest album doesn't extend beyond that – each track has its own story to tell. Lindroos tells that the band's bassist Sami Hinkka is responsible for the lyric writing, and thus he's unequipped to get into much more detail than that. Asked if their interest in Viking history and mythology extends further into their lives outside of the band, Lindroos says, “I would say in some parts yes, what we're doing on a daily basis, checking out new stuff or whatever. Pretty much we're getting more info when writing new material, checking out lyrics and stuff. At that point we take a little more consideration.”

Donning traditional kilts and warpaint during their live performances and video clips is standard for the group, who also sometimes appear with other props like shields, weapons and flags. For their second Australian tour, however, we'll only be getting the kilts and paint.

“I think it's going to be very minimalistic props we can bring over, since it's a low budget trip anyway. We cannot afford that much stuff for the shows, like we would bring to European shows for example. But I can guarantee that it's going to be a kick-ass show anyway – all the three shows that we're gonna do.”

Lindroos recalls their previous visit to Australia in 2010 with a very fond tone, explaining that, “we were welcomed with very warm hearts over there”, and recalls an amusing anecdote about some unfortunate fans from Perth.

“I remember in Perth, we saw two guys after we played our show, that they just missed it, because they were on the next door bar having happy hour beers. So they missed our show, and they were waiting for like five or seven years to see us over there. So they were kind of pissed off. But well, cheap beer is also good in my opinion. But anyway we had a couple of beers with them after, so they were happy for that too.”

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