''Unsung Heroes'' is the fifth album by Finnish

folk metal Folk metal is a fusion genre of heavy metal music and traditional folk music that developed in Europe during the 1990s. It is characterised by the widespread use of folk instruments and, to a lesser extent, traditional singing styles (for exampl ...

band

Ensiferum Ensiferum (Latin: , n adj., meaning "sword bearing") is a Finnish folk metal band from Helsinki. The members of the band label themselves as "melodic folk metal." History Formation, demos and ''Ensiferum'' (1995−2002) ''Ensiferum'' was founde ...

. It was released on 27 August 2012 through

Spinefarm Records Spinefarm Records is a Finnish independent record label focusing mainly on heavy metal artists. It is a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. History Spinefarm Records was originally founded in 1990 by Riku Pääkkönen as a mail-order distrib ...

Recording and production

In February 2012, the band entered the studio and started recordings for the then untitled album. The band also announced on their

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

page they would keep their fans up to date on thei
Mobile Twilight Tavern
and with a weekly studio diary on Spinefarm's

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

channel. The album would also include guest appearances by members of

Die Apokalyptischen Reiter Die Apokalyptischen Reiter (German for " The Apocalyptic Riders") is a Weimar, Germany based heavy metal band signed to Nuclear Blast in Europe and The End Records in North America. Musical style The band's original style, featured on th ...

and the Finnish singer and actor

Vesa-Matti Loiri Vesa-Matti "Vesku" Loiri (4 January 1945 – 10 August 2022) was a Finnish actor, musician and comedian, best known for his role as Uuno Turhapuro, whom he portrayed in a total of 20 movies between the years 1973 and 2004. According to Yle Ne ...

. In late March, the band was in the final stages of the recordings for the album and completed recordings in early April. In May, the band revealed the title for the album, ''Unsung Heroes'' and announced its release date, 27 August 2012. The album would also be released through Spinefarm Records. Then in late June the band unveiled the album cover artwork, again designed by Kristian Wahlin. On 9 July they posted on their Facebook page a

video with ''Burning Leaves'', one of their new songs on the album. On 17 July the band posted a link with the making of their new video clip for ''In My Sword I Trust'', also a new song to be featured on the album. The video was shot in

Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

by Grupa 13 who were also recruited for the recent video clips of other notable bands like

Amon Amarth Amon Amarth () is a Swedish melodic death metal band from Tumba, formed in 1992. The band takes its name from the Sindarin name of Mount Doom, a volcano in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth. Their lyrics mostly deal with Viking mythology and hi ...

and

Behemoth Behemoth (; he, בְּהֵמוֹת, ''bəhēmōṯ'') is a beast from the biblical Book of Job, and is a form of the primeval chaos-monster created by God at the beginning of creation; he is paired with the other chaos-monster, Leviathan, and ...

. The actual video was uploaded on August 8 on Spinefarm's YouTube channel, which reached over a hundred thousand views within the first week.

Track listing

Personnel

Ensiferum *

Petri Lindroos Petri Lindroos (born 10 January 1980 in Espoo, Finland) is a melodic death/folk metal guitarist and vocalist. He is currently the lead vocalist in Ensiferum. Previously, he was a founding member and lead vocalist for Norther. Biography At 14 yea ...

- harsh vocals, guitar, backing vocals *

Markus Toivonen Markus Toivonen (born 1979 in Helsinki) is the founding member of the Finnish folk/death metal band Ensiferum. Markus founded the band in 1995 and is the sole original member to have lasted the distance to Ensiferum's present incarnation. His ...

- guitar, acoustic guitars, dulcimer, bouzouki, clean vocals, backing vocals *

Sami Hinkka Sami Hinkka (born 27 April 1978 in Finland) is a heavy metal bass player, presently with Ensiferum. He joined his current band in 2004 as a replacement for Jukka-Pekka Miettinen after playing for some years in the melodic death/doom metal band R ...

- bass guitar, acoustic guitar, backing vocals (harsh/clean) *

Janne Parviainen Janne Parviainen, born 1973 in Finland, is a heavy metal drummer, who plays in the bands Sinergy, Barathrum and Ensiferum. He is a former member of Waltari and Zwanziger. Janne joined Barathrum in 2000, and Sinergy and Ensiferum more recently. ...

- drums, backing vocals *

Emmi Silvennoinen Emmi Silvennoinen (born 9 April 1988) is a Finnish keyboardist who is the former keyboardist for the folk metal band Ensiferum. She filled the role following the departure of Meiju Enho Meiju Enho, born in 1981 in Finland, is the former keybo ...

- keyboards, hammond, grand piano, pump organ, backing vocals Guest musicians *

- speech on "Pohjola" *Laura Dziadulewicz - vocals on "Celestial Bond" *Ulla Bürger - soprano vocals on "Passion, Proof, Power" *Lassi Lógren -

nyckelharpa A nyckelharpa (, "keyed fiddle", or literally "key harp", plural ) is the national musical instrument of Sweden. It is a string instrument or chordophone. Its keys are attached to tangents which, when a key is depressed, serve as frets to cha ...

Timo Väänänen Two Witches is a gothic rock band from Finland, formed in 1987. As with several other late 1980s bands (like Dream Theater and Nosferatu), Two Witches started basing the main part of their appearances and lyrics on vampiric imagery. The group ...

kantele A kantele () or kannel () is a traditional Finnish and Karelian plucked string instrument (chordophone) belonging to the south east Baltic box zither family known as the Baltic psaltery along with Estonian kannel, Latvian kokles, Lithuanian ...

*Pasi Puolakka -

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

, descant & sopranino Recorders *Kasper Mårtenson - moog * Volk-Man, Ady & Fuchs (

) - additional voices on "Passion, Proof, Power" *

Heidi Parviainen Heidi Parviainen (born 8 March 1979) is a Finnish heavy metal singer and lead vocalist of symphonic metal band Dark Sarah. She previously fronted Amberian Dawn. She is a classically trained lyric soprano. Career Agonia, Iconofear (1997–2 ...

(

Dark Sarah Dark Sarah is a Finnish symphonic metal band created by Heidi Parviainen, after her departure from Finnish metal band Amberian Dawn in 2012. Their style is often described as "cinematic metal". History Formation and creation of ''Behind the ...

, ex-

Amberian Dawn Amberian Dawn is a Finnish symphonic power metal band, formed in 2006 by Tuomas Seppälä and Tommi Kuri. Their fifth album '' Re-Evolution'' (a re-recorded compilation with a new singer) was released on KHY Suomen Musiikki & Encore Music in sum ...

) - choir vocals ;Crew *

Kristian Wåhlin Kristian Wåhlin (born 4 December 1971) is a Swedish musician, singer, graphic designer and album cover artist for many bands in the extreme metal scene worldwide. He is often credited under his pseudonym Necrolord. Biography Wåhlin's interes ...

- album artwork *

Hiili Hiilesmaa Kai "Hiili" Hiilesmaa (born December 1966) is a Finnish record producer and musician. He is the vocalist of the rock music, rock band The Skreppers, former drummer of the doom metal band KYPCK and former keyboardist of the rock band Daniel Lione ...

- production, engineering and mixing

References

{{Authority control 2012 albums Ensiferum albums