Artist: Ensiferum



Genre: Pagan Metal

Label: Spinefarm Records / Universal

Link: http://www.ensiferum.com

Bandmembers:

Vocals, Guitar – Petri Lindroos
Guitar, Banjo, Vocals – Markus Toivonen
Bass, Vocals– Sami Hinkka
Keyboards, Vocals – Emmi Sivennoinen
Drums – Janne Parviainen

Time For Metal / Piety & Rene:
Hi Guys, how are you doing? Thank you for your time!

Ensiferum / Sami Hinkka:
Hi! I'm doing fine thanks. It's pretty busy now because the release date is getting closer but I'm not complaining.


Time For Metal / Piety & Rene:
As we had the opportunity to listen to your upcoming album Unsung Heroes, I have to say, that it is a masterpiece again. Great work! How long did the songwriting process take and was the whole procedure structured or rather spontaneous?

Ensiferum / Sami Hinkka:
Thank you very much. As always it took a while to finish all songs. Some songs have been around since 2006 but some we made during last two years. We are really slow composers because we want to twist and turned every note, every part and every option so that the result is perfect. The actual composing goes usually so that someone (usually Markus or me) brings a melody or a riff to rehearsal room and then we start to twist and turn it and try different combinations of different parts and different kind of arrangements. So we work as a band and I think it's really important to try every suggestion because sometimes even though you might have an idea of the song but others might come up with ideas that make the song even better.


Time For Metal / Piety & Rene:
For Unsung Heroes you actually entered two studios (the Petrax Studio in Hollola and the Yellow House Studio in Hämeenlinna). What did the studio procedure look like?

Ensiferum / Sami Hinkka:
Actually we recorded the album in three studios; Petrax, Sound Supreme and Yellow House. We recorded drums, Hammond organ, Grand Piano and most of bass lines in Petrax, Guitars in Sound Supreme and vocals, acoustic instruments and keyboards in Yellow House.

We played all songs together when we recorded drums and we played like ”whole song -takes” so that the groove/drama of the song would maintain. We wanted to have more organic and rocking sound and groove than before and there are lots of basslines that are from drum recording session because they had much better vibe and sync with drums than if I would have recorded them afterwards. We all liked to work like this old-school -method.


Time For Metal / Piety & Rene:
Unsung Heroes seems to be a little bit softer and more atmospheric than previous albums. Does this have any special reasons and what are the main differences to From Afar? Is the old flair still there and what new elements can be found on your upcoming album?

Ensiferum / Sami Hinkka:
This time we wanted to have more organic album than before and we also wanted to leave lots of tracks away compared to From Afar album because it was SO huge album. We were more aware this time of roles of different instruments and orchestral and choir arrangements. Let's see what kind the next album will be, i'm sure it will be again something different. There is no point to keep repeating yourself album after album. People get older and evolve so it's only natural that it affects their bands music also.


Time For Metal / Piety & Rene:
What was your inspiration while writing the songs for your new album? It is obvious that you spent a lot of time and effort on your newest work, would it be possible to do a short (some notes would be sufficient) track-by-track review of your own songs to give your fans some understanding for your compositions?

Ensiferum / Sami Hinkka:
Hhhhm, this is kinda impossible because we were all involved in the composing process and on the other hand I don’t want to explain my lyrics too much because I want every listener to find their own meaning to each song.
I think the inspiration for music and lyrics in general comes from everyday life. Like in all forms of art, the art is artist's way to express thoughts, emotions and visions. But of course it's a great challenge to make it so that it fits the bands mentality.


Time For Metal / Piety & Rene:
What is your favourite song on Unsung Heroes and what’s your all-time favourite Ensiferum-song?

Ensiferum / Sami Hinkka:
I really love Celestial Bond, it's definitely the most beautiful song we have ever made. It's hard to name the all time favourite because the new songs are ”too close” and there hasn’t been time to get objective perspective to them but lets say that Celestial Bond is my all time favourite for now.


Time For Metal / Piety & Rene:
Also the cover artwork is pretty cool. As I heard, Kristian Wahlin, who has already designed the covers for Ensiferum, Iron and Victory Songs, designed it for you. How was the work with Kristian and what does the album cover symbolize?

Ensiferum / Sami Hinkka:
Yes he is a great painter and we have been really lucky that he has done all our album covers. Its really easy to work with him because he is really professional guy. We just sent him few basic ideas of the cover and main colours and few months later he sends us the masterpiece. Again I leave the interpretation of symbolism to every person to do themself. Personally I think it's the best cover have ever had.


Time For Metal / Piety & Rene:
All in all: are you satisfied with Unsung Heroes? And what do you think about your fans’ feelings on it? Do you think they will also be as satisfied as you? Are you afraid of your fans reactions?

Ensiferum / Sami Hinkka:
Yes, we are really satisfied to the result. I'm not afraid at all what people will think about the album I'm more like curious because it's not an easy album. When we compose it's really important to us to be true to ourselves and be aware that we are doing the music for ourselves, not to please other people.


Time For Metal / Piety & Rene:
From Afar reached a great 25th position in the German charts and we are sure that your upcoming album will even overcome this achievement. Is this just important for statistic matters or is a great chart position a reward for your hard work?

Ensiferum / Sami Hinkka:
Of course it feels good to know that people want to support the bands instead of downloading albums illeagaly. For the first time I'm actually interested about the charts because the label manager of Spinefarm promised to tattoo me as Jesus on inverted cross to his back IF Unsung Heroes goes to top 10 in Germany. He already has a time reserved to a tattoo shop. That’s so absurd idea for a tattoo that it has to happen! People I'm counting on you!


Time For Metal / Piety & Rene:
But not only the production of Unsung Heroes meant hard work, also touring is quite exhausting. How do you cope with this enormous stress?

Ensiferum / Sami Hinkka:
Playing gigs is the best thing man can do so I don’t see tours being so hard or stressful. But touring is hard mentally and physically if you don't have anything reasonable to do. I try to yoga every day and read as much as possible. If you drink and party 24/7 you end up being totally exhausted after the tour. Anyway, people want to see a good show every night and not hangoverish/drunken fools who can’t play their own songs. We are really privileged to be fulltime musicians and the more we get the more I demand from my self and my bandmates. And we have really good spirit inside the band and crew so most of the time touring is like having a vacation with your best friends.


Time For Metal / Piety & Rene:
Headbanging and live performances are not that easy. Do you have a special fitness plan before touring?

Ensiferum / Sami Hinkka:
Some of us exercise like go jogging, gym etc. I do yoga almost every day, it has cured my neck, back and knee pains completely and especially on tours its good to stop for awhile and focus on something totally different than music. It gives time to get some perspective to things.

Also it's really important to warm up before every show because gigs are really physical things for us.


Time For Metal / Piety & Rene:
Touring and living in a tour bus often means not having enough privacy. Is this a reason for conflicts between the band members or is the atmosphere always great?

Ensiferum / Sami Hinkka:
We never have had problems because of that. We all have our own methods to be alone like going to see city, sports, read or watch movies.


Time For Metal / Piety & Rene:
What music are you listening to in your tour bus - your own hits or other music?

Ensiferum / Sami Hinkka:
In tour bus we have one rule: no metal, but of course we break that on every day off when there is a party going on. And we listen to other bands, no point listening to your own songs after you just played a gig.


Time For Metal / Piety & Rene:
Are you able to do some sightseeing between your gigs?

Ensiferum / Sami Hinkka:
Unfortunately not much.


Time For Metal / Piety & Rene:
At the end we have to come to a maybe tiresome topic: Wintersun and Jari Mäenpää. Our readers want to know, if there is any possibility to see Wintersun and Ensiferum on a collaborative tour one day or are the controversies still to heavy?

Ensiferum / Sami Hinkka:
Haha, we are friends with Wintersun guys so there is no bad blood between us and them. Also me and Markus sang backing vocals to one new song of upcoming Time 1 -album. I think its absolutely possible to do a tour with them in the future, it would be really cool tour for us and fans. Let's see... ;)


Time For Metal / Piety & Rene:
Finally the last words belong to you:

Ensiferum / Sami Hinkka:
Enjoy the rest of the summer and check out Unsung Heroes in August and see you on tour in September! Folk on!