Turisas was formed in 1997, in a small city in South/Mid Finland. After a few recordings, including one demo, they have arrived, accompanied by an arsenal of musical instruments, to let you listen to their “tunes of war”. In 2003 they got signed to Century Media Records and everything was in place for the recordings of their debut album. The name of this debut album by the Finnish Warriors is “Battle Metal”, which immediately explains the atmosphere of the album. With magnificent percussion and bombastic orchestral hits, this really is metal, before the dawn of battle.

Though this is the first full-length CD by Turisas, it feels like these guys have been around way longer and “Battle Metal” sounds better than most debut albums I've heard. The CD starts with a very orchestral intro, taking just over minute, which is then followed by the heavy “As torches rise”. This song really inspires you to grab you r sword and fight, just as it's described in the song itself (“hear us roar!”). The title song “Battle Metal” is in some way like the last song, but different in another. I does have the same atmosphere to it, though the tempo and musical influences are a little different. This is with most of the songs, they all ( have ) create the same feeling, but they are all unique. I don't think I've seen a folk / heathen metal debut album having so much variety in it, and still being so recognisable, in a few years. “The land of hope and glory” has an interesting intro, which you wouldn't expect on a metal album, though it really gives another dimension to the music of Turisas. With its archaic choirs and irresistible violins, as warlord Nygård (vocals, additional percussion) describes it himself, it's one of the most interesting tracks on the album. These great violins start the next song “The Messenger”, which is again unique, with its huge amount of energy in it. Another great intro can be found on “One More”, which is comparable to a sad song from a Medieval movie's soundtrack, until the guitars fill in. Still, this is probably the most relaxed song on the album, nothing has been forced, this is another one of the many capabilities of Turisas. The irresistible violins return once more to start the song “Midnight Sunrise” which is in my opinion the best song on the album. It has a lot of speed in it and a great variety of musical influences. And of course I also enjoy the female voices on this song. A great variety in speed can be found in songs like “Among Ancestors” and “Rex Regi Rebellis”, the last one having turned out to be the most epic song on the album, according to the warlord Nygård. Turisas can't only do beautiful epic metal compositions, they can also do great prologues, which we can hear in the prologue for R.R.R (Rex Regi Rebellis). As an acoustic song started the album, so will it end. The song “Katuman Kaiku” ends this perfect composed folk / heathen metal CD.

This really is a great album with a lot of variety in it. Recommendable to fans of any epic / folk / heathen metal band. There are no real recommendable songs, since the CD wouldn't be a good CD anymore if one of the songs was missing. Quoting warlord Nygård once more: “Grab you sword and join the ranks of Turisas marching for war!”

 

http://www.finnish-metal.net - © 2004-2010 by Silence & FM

best viewed by 1024 x 768 - optimized for Firefox