As a fast and technical Finnish band, Ensiferum should be able to blow our minds with their lightning-speed heroic folk metal.

Sadly, they did not.
A crappy sound was a great hindrance to their performance; I could clearly see Petri Lindroos both sing and play guitar, but I couldn’t hear him! Only the bass and drums from misters Sami Hinkka and Janne Parviainen could be heard (damn you Jägermeister Stage!), with an occasional guest appearance from the keyboard wiz Emmi Silvennoinen…
The quality did pick up a bit as the show went on, but it never got as good as the band needed to get their music properly across.

The combination of the aforementioned problem and the fact that the bands performance as a whole was no more than ordinary made this show feel rather bland. Sure, they were walking around a bit, and the headbanging didn’t leave anything for the imagination, but somehow they never managed to completely get across the edge of the stage and involve the audience in a proper way.
Sadly, I might add, as there were quite a lot of people who had met up to see the band. Most seemed pleased with what they saw, that is true, but my guess is that this was a general happiness to actually see a favourite band live, maybe even for the first time, and to hear ones favourite songs played a few feet in front of you. Had the joy stemmed from a truly gripping performance, I’m sure the response would have far exceeded that which we saw at the actual show…

Having only heard a bit of their recorded material, I can still see that there is potential in Ensiferum. Sadly, they have as of yet only underwhelmed me in the live format. One can only hope for better results in the future.