Ensiferum! Viking death metal from Finland Live in Worcester MA (12/04/09) Dec 05 '09 (Updated Sep 19 '10)    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet Popular Products in Music The Dirtchamber Sessions, Vol. 1 by The Prodigy From $11 Jersey Boys [Original Broadway Cast Recording] by Original Broadway Cast From $8 The Bottom Line Ensiferum is an awesome band from Helsinki, Finland. Their live performance was excellent and a good time was had by all. It was an exciting night at the Worcester Palladium Friday night.  One of my favorite viking death metal bands headlined a great show.  Ensiferum, a Finnish band called viking metal, folk metal or death metal, toured in support of their new album From Afar, and put on one hell of a show in the small night club portion of the Worcester Palladium. Warming up for them was Swashbuckle, BlackGuard, and Ex Deo.  I brought my son and one of his friends. Opening Acts Swashbuckle was the first on stage.  We missed about 20 minutes of their set, arriving a bit late at 7:20 p.m. Worcester is a long ride!  They were a pirate metal band.  The music was decent, they clearly were on stage having a good time, but we all thought that their pirate get ups were a bit silly looking. Yes, the entire band was clad in pirate hats, pirate shirts and even a faux parrot on one of their shoulders.  I had never heard of the band, but I honestly would not have been surprised if they burst into a rousing rendition of Sponge Bob Square Pants (as pirates did in the feature movie) Up next was BlackGuard, a Canadian death metal band.  They impressed us, they put on a great melodic death metal set with guitars, keyboard and drums.  My son's friend said he would definitely go see them again. The band even stayed after the show to sign autographs, take photos and sell merchandise. Ex Deo was a trip, they came out in full Roman Regalia and sounded like what I would call power metal.  Bombastic overtures and Roman themes defined the bands heroic aggressive sound. The singer was quite good he uses a clean style of vocals. ENSIFERUM Finally, the band I came to see hit the stage at about 9:45 p.m.  Looking very Finnish, Petri Lindroos came out, long blonde hair, war paint under his eyes and weilding a Jackson Dinky guitar and started to play. On a six string bass, also in war paint, and long blond hair, Sami Hinkka joined him. On rhythm guitar, also weilding a Jackson was Markus Toivenen. Although you couldn't see her too well, in the back of the stage, and  wearing war paint, was the lovely Emmi Silvennoinen on keyboards. Finally buried behind his drum kit, Janne Parvianen. The band shares singing clean and rasping vocals and sometimes all singing together for choruses.  They truly look the epitomy of a Finnish death metal band.  I wish I could tell you the entire set list, but I was just having an incredible amount of fun.  They performed a number of songs from their latest album including my favorite Twilight Tavern right near the beginning.  They also performed From Afar, Stone Cold Metal and Tumman virran taa (a chant entirely in Finnish). From Victory Songs, they performed One More Magic Potion to the delight of the crowd, as well as the title cut.  From their eponymous first album, they performed Little Dreamer and for the encore they did a rousing rendition of Battle Song. Ensiferum's encore also including a great live Iron from the album of the same name.  More songs than that were performed, the band was on stage until about 11:30 p.m.  Most of the songs, including ones in Finnish had the audience singing along!  I could sing along with a few of my favorites, but I was most impressed when some sang along in Finnish! (My grandmother only taught me a few words).  The band sounded fantastic, they blended folk, heroic and death metal in one awesome show.  My son and his friend had an excellent time. 10 Rules for the Mosh Pit This show was in a small club, so to really see well, we all stood near the stage, which necessitates standing on the periphery of the maelstrom that is the mosh pit at all heavy metal shows. It was my son's first time, and he thought it was pretty fun. He and his friend stood at the edge of the pit for most of the show and did their fair share of entering the pit itself.  One young woman eagerly pushed my son into the pit during one of the opening acts.  He faired well enough, although he made the mistake of trying to go against the direction of the mosh pit the first time.  Myself, I had someone dropped on my head and someone thrown at me, but that's pretty standard. I had a blast, it brought back memories of my college days seeing bands like Motorhead at the Channel. I was able to use the momentum of the mosh pit to project me towards the front of the stage to get a great view of the show. Since the stage is only slightly higher than the floor, and I am not as tall as most concert goers, it can be tough to see well.  Anyway here are ten rules if you go near the pit. 1. Tie your shoes, you don't want to trip. 2. Keep your balance! Both in the pit and on the edge you will be hit several times so balance is imperative. 3. Go in the direction of the flow. If the mosh pit is moving counterclockwise, don't try to go clockwise! My son learned this quickly! 4. Pull people up if they fall. It's the right thing to do. 5. When someone crowd surfs above you, hold up your share of the weight. 6. Watch out for the crowd surfers feet. 7. Keep it cool. If you start an actual fight, you will be ejected from the club amidst the cheering of the  fans. No one likes a jerk. 8. If you don't want to be caught up in the pit, don't stand near the front of the stage. 9. Mind your elbows and knees. They can hurt someone. 10. Have fun. After the show we gathered up our concert merchandise and headed home from Worcester, our voices shot and our hearing temporarily impaired.  We'll be back again soon for shows like Epica, Korpiklaani, Moonsorrow, Swallow the Sun and Finntroll. Check out some of Ensiferum's Albums! Ensiferum - From Afar Ensiferum - Iron Ensiferum - Victory Songs Or other metal tales from the Worcester Palladium! Korpiklaani and Tyr Arch Enemy and Exodus Devil Driver, Behemoth, Suffocation, Thy Will Be Done and more Epica, Blackguard and Threat Signal Atticus Metal Festival with Unearth & more Finnish Metal Festival! Finntroll, Moonsorrow and Swallow the Sun New England Metal and Hardcore Festival 2010 Hypocrisy, Scar Symmetry, Hate, Blackguard and Swashbuckle Fear Factory, Silent Civilian, Prong, Thy Will Be Done and Acaro Dream Theater Transmission Festival Hell and other places Mayhem Festival 2010 - Korn, Rob Zombie, Lamb of God & more OzzFest 2010 - Ozzy, Motley Crue, Rob Halford & more Rush - The Time Machine Tour

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