Ensiferum - Thalassic

The Finns' eighth album sounds even more variable thanks to new keyboarder/singer Pekka. Wave noise surrounds the intro "Seafarers dream" and leads after the powerful final epic "Northland ('Väinämöinen part III')" from the nautical concept. The lively fellow groomer "Wine, women, victory" gets Alestorm's plank fun going, "Andromeda" takes the Amorphis course with playful guitar work and alternating vocals. "The defence of the sampo" combines Kalevala mysticism with spaghetti western flair. The lively "Run from the crushing tide" fires the first singalong directly and turns out to be a French "Romeo & Juliet" variant. "For sirens" takes a bow to Odysseus and would have fitted perfectly to the accordion playing of Netta Skog, whose time with Ensiferum was very limited. As a tragic reflection of the last man on earth, "One with the sea" is the exact opposite of hillbilly folk western punk in "Midsummer magic". Yee-haw!