Even though two bands had already played the Pandæmonium stage, it was Ensiferum that got to open the Hades stage, and with it our second day at Copenhell.

“Hello Copenhell, it’s so good to be here for the first time!”
- Petri Lindroos (vocals/guitar)

Following their jolly intro music, March Of War, Ensiferum went at it with their new album, diving first into Axe Of Judgement of course, which follows the intro song on the album as well. Even though they were both new songs, we were still in very familiar Ensiferum territory when it came to the style of the music, so even those who hadn’t come across One Man Army, which is the name of the album, yet still felt very much at home here. After this the title track followed, and later we would have one more visit to the album in the form of the ‘Seventies disco song (according to Lindroos) Two Of Spades.
We were actually supposed to have at least one more from that album, Warrior Without A War, but something messed up in the technical department for the band, and the concert had to be cut short of songs due to lack of backing tracks.
Technical difficulties aside, Ensiferum worked hard to wake up the sleepy Copenhell guests that had arrived in time for their show, and especially Markus Toivonen and Sami Hinkka were going at it even more than usual. Hinkka even got an improvised bass noodling spot, when the sound decided to die for the backing track.

“It looks a bit chilly out there, so we’re gonna play burning leaves, and when the song starts you’re all gonna jump!”
- Sami Hinkka (bass)

It was actually quite an impressive amount of people who had defied their hang over and the early hour to get to see this show. It wasn’t the most active crowd though, but they were quick enough to respond when asked to do stuff, and Ensiferum seemed to be just what the doctor ordered, in order to awaken. The jumping aside, they also managed to instigate a good turn of applause for the beginning of LAI LAI HEI, a song which of course also generated a good deal of sing along action.
Whether due to the technical difficulties, or a set stage time, I cannot say though, but the concert seemed to be over almost before it had really started, and it wasn’t before the five band members stood arm in arm at the front of the stage to take a bow, as the first band on this festival (as far as I had seen).
This was not a top-quality show, but it was solid and did the job just fine. A good way to start the day.

Setlist:

March Of War
Axe Of Judgement
One Man Army
Twilight Tavern
LAI LAI HEI
Token Of Time
Ahti
Burning Leaves
Two Of Spades