Quite often, bands that are described as melodic
death metal are not genuinely melodic.
At the Gates,
Age of Ruin, and
In Flames are examples of genuinely melodic contributors to
death metal, but in many cases, the word melodic has been applied to
death metallers who -- truth be told -- treat melody like a mere afterthought and favor brutality for the sake of brutality. Thus, it is important to stress that melody is never an afterthought on
Ensiferum's
Victory Songs; it is a crucial part of what the Finnish band does on a
death metal/
folk-
metal album that, for all its intensity and in-your-face aggression, is highly musical and thrives on intricacy and craftsmanship. There are quite a few different influences on this epic disc, ranging from power
metal,
thrash metal,
punk, and
progressive rock to
European folk; in fact,
Ensiferum combine their amplified guitars, bass, and drums with
traditional acoustic instruments that have been used in
Scandinavian folk for many years. The thing that makes
Victory Songs relevant to extreme
metal isn't so much the song structures as the vicious lead singing of
Petri Lindroos, who replaced former lead singer
Jari "Arbaal" Maeenpaeae and has worked out nicely for
Ensiferum.
Lindroos is usually mindful of metalcore's tortured screaming more than
death metal's deep "cookie monster" growling, and extreme singing dominates the album. But if
Victory Songs contained nothing but clean vocals,
Ensiferum would pretty much sound like a faster, thrashier version of
Manowar,
Savatage, or
Iron Maiden (with more of an interest in
traditional European folk instruments). And if
Victory Songs sounds somewhat
Celtic at times, that's because
Scandinavian folk was a major influence on
Celtic music thanks to the Vikings, who invaded the British Isles many centuries ago.
Victory Songs is an excellent, consistently rewarding demonstration of how
death metal can, in fact, be truly melodic. ~ Alex Henderson
![The Lonesome Crowded West [Bonus Track]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0767981144627_p0_v2_s90x140.jpg "The Lonesome Crowded West [Bonus Track]")
