Ensiferum's music is melodic Death Metal. Make that melodic Death Metal with a traditional Heavy Metal twist. Throw in their fascination with traditional folk music and medieval melodies and you've got yourself a package that is not only heavy and raw, but also melodic, tight and (add your favorite superlative here). Their sound is very Finnish. There is no other way to explain it.
Ensiferum was started in ca. 1995 - 96 by Markus Toivonen (guitar), Sauli Savolainen (bass) ja Kimmo Miettinen (drums). In the end of 1996 they were joined by Jari Mäenpää on guitar and vocals. Pretty soon, in the beginning of 1997, Jari had to go to the army and the band froze for a while. Luckily, the service in the Finnish army is not too long and the band recorded their first demo the same year. About 300 copies found their way to tapeplayers across the globe and the response was very promising. At the time, the band drew influences from f.ex. Amorphis and folkmusic. 1998 was the year of a few line-up changes. Jukka-Pekka Miettinen stepped in as the new bassplayer and Oliver Fokin from Arthemesia filled the drummers seat when Kimmo Miettinen moved to Arthemesia. In other words, the bands traded drummers.
In the beginning of 1999 Ensiferum recorded their second demo that was also very well-greeted in the metalscene across the world. Later the same year a third demo was recorded with Janne Joutsenniemi (Sub-Urban Tribe) twisting the knobs at the MD-Studios in Helsinki. This was the demo that landed them the deal with Spinefarm Records. It also got them tons of gigs and it was chosen "Demo of The Month" at f.ex. Noise, Metal Blade and Suomi Finland Perkele magazine. And there's more; the demo even got airplay not only in Finland but also in Sweden and Italy. The band was naturally chuffed...
Ensiferum recorded their self-titled debut album late 2000 and due to minor problems with the mixing, the album was released as late as July 2001. The waiting paid off as Tuomo Valtonen (of Lappeenranta's SundiCoop Studios) did once again a superb job recording and mixing the album. It is quite safe to say that the album KICKS ASS.
LINE-UP:
Jari Mäenpää - Vocals, guitar Jukka-Pekka Miettinen - Bass Markus Toivonen - Guitar, percussions Oliver Fokin - Drums, percussions Meiju Enho - Keyboards (she's hiding in the lake..)
Source: http://www.spinefarm.fi/metal/ensiferum/ensiferum.htm
