I wonder what it would be like if I have never heard of Ensiferum until "Victory Songs". As a typical metal fan, I’m sure I wouldn’t benefit it, having in mind the album title. That kind of word grouping can repel fans that are fed up with heavy and power epic deliriums in the past few years... And what a pity it would be to miss such a high-class release! It is necessary for a first meeting with Ensiferum to tell you some basic stuff about them - yes, they are from Finland, and yes, they play folk/Viking metal, and yes, they have great potential which they succeeded to improve. It’s hard for me to remember how few are the bands that passed successfully through such a change as removing their frontman, main composer and author of lyrics, and still sound as great as ever. At first listening “Victory Songs” seems a bit unvaried, but on the second attempt some great contrasting songs pop up, completing the whole structure. The beginning of the album is almost fabulous, as “Ad Victoriam” has the honor to open it. This instrumental draws a peaceful atmosphere of the cold Northern lands, where the children of snow and ice live happily together. Afterwards we get a snowball hit with “Blood Is the Price of Glory”. It is really surprising how great the new frontman Petri Lindroos (also in another Finnish band - Norther) manages to deal with his job. “Deathbringer from the Sky”, “Ahti” and “One More Magic Potion” form the core of “Victory Songs”, and if you lose your strength headbanging to them, you can simply sit back and enjoy the four remaining masterpieces. A special place among them holds the ten-minute self-titled opus “Victory Songs”, which logically culminates in the end of the record. I highly recommend to the skeptics (like I myself was) who think that Ensiferum can’t deal well without its founder and ideologist, Jari Maenpaa, to listen to this album. There won’t be any disappointment. As for the rest, the only thing I can say is: Welcome to the icy metal fairytale!