"Cursed Be Iron," the third song on their album "The Varangian Way," is based on a section of the Finnish epic poem, the Kalevala. The chorus of the song "Curses on thee, cruel iron/Curses on the steel thou givest/Curses on thee, tongue of evil/Cursed be thy life forever!" is taken verbatim from the poem, as are several other lines.

The first recording ever done by Turisas (Taiston Tie) was done under the band name 'Köyliö'. It was recorded on an 8-track recorder live in their rehearsal room, was copied to cassette and only given to a few of the bands friends.

Prologue For R. R. R. comes from the opening lines of Zacharias Topelius's Surgeon's Stories: Times of Gustaf Adolf.

The name Turisas means a war god worshipped especially in the Häme -region in Finland before christianity. The name itself has several writing appearances depending on the source (Tursas, Turisas, Turilas and Turri) all meaning pretty much the same. The etymology of the word is somewhat complex: Tursas refers to mythological giants (as well as sea-creatures in modern Finnish language), Iku-Turso is a sea-monster from folk poetry, while Meri-Tursas appears in old spells as a breeder of disease. The name Turisas stands also pretty near to the Scandinavian, and better known, fellow-colleagues Týr and Thor. Also the þurs-giants in Edda poetry are remarkably close in pronounciation to Turisas.