Ensiferum

Markus Toivonen played guitar in a band called Dark Reflections. After a while he decided this didn’t give him enough inspiration and he wanted to play something else. His big source of inspiration was folk music and melodic death-metal fascinated him too. He asked the drummer of this band to join him playing heroic heroic folk/death metal. Fortunately he said yes and when they found a friend who wanted to play bass, the band was complete. It only lacked a name. One day when they were visiting each other they discovered a Latin dictionary. He opened the book and the a word which caught his eye was Ensiferum. When he read on he realized this was a perfect name for the band. In 1996 they started practicing. Later on a second guitarist was asked in. He brought in a lot of talent and musical ideas. They had their first gigs in the same year. After a while they had to slow down, because some members had other occupations. The drummer and bassist were replaced. The bass-player by his younger brother who was only 14 at that moment. In 2000 they signed with “Spinefarm”. And this resulted in a début-album in 2001. In this year they added a keyboard-player to the band, so it became a five-piece form that moment on. In 2003 the singer decided to quit the band. They found a replacement in Petri Lindroos the singer of Norther. After this there were gigs with Finntroll and Ensiferum became a big name in Folk-metal.


Interview

From the Stars to the Core (2013)

Ensiferum logo

 Finland

Discography/Reviews

Albums
Demo I (1997)
Demo II (1999)
Hero in a Dream (Demo 1999))
Ensiferum (2001)
Tale of Revenge (single 2004)
Iron (2004)
1997 – 1999 (Demo re-release, 2005)
Dragonheads (EP 2006)
10th Anniversary Live (DVD 2006)
Deathbringer from the Sky (Single 2007)
One More Magic Potion (single 2007)
Victory Songs (2007)
From Afar (Single 2009)
From Afar (2009)
Stone Cold Metal (Single 2010)
Unsung Heroes
One Man Army (2015)
Two Decades of Greatest Sword Hits (2016)
Two Paths (2017)
Thalassic (2020)

Concerts
Ensiferum Two Paths Tour (2017)
Return of the One Man Army Tour (2016)
Heidenfest 2013
Niflheim 2013
Tour 2012
Metalfest, Loreley 2012
Black Troll Winterfest 2011
Wacken 2011
Heidenfest 2010
Ensiferum tour 2009
Paganfest 2008

Links

Facebook
Website