In honour of Ensiferum's tenth year of existence Spinefarm releases this group's first live DVD "10th Anniversary Live", which was recorded on New Year's Eve (December 31st, 2005) at Nosturi, Helsinki. First of all, I have to admit I've never been the biggest fan of Ensiferum, and for a reason - sure the band has some good sections on their songs (especially the solos influenced by classical music), but as a whole their material doesn't impress me that much. I believe that Ensiferum's blend of metal-tinted folk melodies and pagan black metal screams along with the occasional clean sections just has potential for much more than is audible on this record... in my view, this group could have crafted even better songs, though the weak spot for Ensiferum is mainly their vocalists, not the music. I've never regarded the Norther-growler Petri Lindroos being one of the best extreme vocalists. Also, I think there's something wrong if one of the best songs on band's set is a cover - in this case, Amorphis' Into Hiding was one of the highlights of this gig.

The production on this DVD is rather mediocre... while the picture quality is OK, the sounds get fairly frequently distorted, and that always sets my teeth on edge. In addition, I don't like the current trend of most Finnish mixing and mastering engineers over-accentuating the boominess of bass frequencies. On the other hand, the lack of dynamic depth on the mix hinders my enjoyment too. Despite of all, I'm sure many fans of Ensiferum find 10th Anniversary Live worth checking out, after all it's the first DVD release of Ensiferum. I also reckon this release is the best way to familiarize oneself with Ensiferum's music if one hasn't listened to this group before, as this DVD contains songs from all of the band’s albums.

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- MAGE (July 15th, 2006)

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LINE-UP:
Toivonen, Markus: Clean Vocals, Guitars Hinkka, Sami: Clean Vocals, Bass Parviainen, Janne: Drums Enho, Meiju: Keyboards Lindroos, Petri: Vocals, Guitars Guest Musicians: Saari, Kaisa: Vocals on "Finnish Medley" and "Tears" Tuomi, Ville: Clean Vocals on "Into Hiding" Finntroll performed the Bonus Track
Producer:	Koskinen, Riina
Mixing by:	Laurenne, Nino
Mastering by:	Jussila, Mika

	TRACKLIST:
	01. Intro 02. Hero in a Dream 03. Guardian of Fate 04. Tale of Revenge 05. Dragonheads 06. Windrider 07. Warrior's Guest 08. Lai Lai Hei 09. Old Man (Väinämöinen) 10. Slayer of Light 11. Finnish Medley Karjalain Kannailla Myrskyluodon Maija Metsämiehen Laulu 12. Tears 13. Token of Time 14. White Storm 15. Into Hiding 16. Into Battle 17. Kalevala Melody (intro) 18. Iron 19. Treacherous Gods 20. Näitä Polkuja Tallaan 21. Battle Song 22. Congratulation Song for Ensiferum (Bonus Track performed by Finntroll) Length: 105:10