Turisas - The Varangian Way review
| Band: | Turisas |
| Album: | The Varangian Way |
| Style: | Folk metal |
| Release date: | May 28, 2007 |
| A review by: | Dream Taster |
Disc I [CD]
01. To Holmgard And Beyond
02. A Portage To The Unknown
03. Cursed Be Iron
04. Fields Of Gold
05. In The Court Of Jarisleif
06. Five Hundred And One
07. The Dnieper Rapids
08. Miklagard Overture
09. Rasputin [Boney M cover][director's cut edition bonus]
10. To Holmgard And Beyond [radio edit version] [director's cut edition bonus]
11. To Holmgard And Beyond [single edit version] [enhanced edition bonus]
12. Rex Regi Rebellis [Finnish version] [enhanced edition bonus]
+ Battle Metal [video] [Live at Party San '06] [enhanced edition bonus]
Disc II [DVD]
01. Battle Metal [Live at Rock Hard Festival 2007]
02. To Holmgard And Beyond [Live at Download Festival 2007]
03. In The Court Of Jarisleif [Live at Download Festival 2007]
04. Rasputin [Boney M cover][Live at Download Festival 2007]
05. Battle Metal [Live at Download Festival 2007]
06. Battle Metal [Live at With Full Metal Festival 2007]
+ Rasputin [Boney M cover][video]
+ To Holmgard And Beyond [v karaoke]
+ Photogallery
With a "drakkar" on the cover art, you know this is Folk Metal from Scandinavia. I haven't been too immersed into this booming musical genre; as the few bands I tried to listen to all failed to really impress me. Korkiplaani bores me, Finntroll is not my cup of tea, Tyr sounded promising, but I quickly forgot about them. Folk or Pagan Metal has been rampaging the European scene recently, with countless bands displaying their Norsemen roots, with songs filled with epic battle lyrics and imagery full of medieval paraphernalia.
Then came Turisas latest album, The Varangian Way. For once, all of the corny elements of this musical style could not mask the quality of the music. As you can probably tell, I am not a big fan of that whole Pagan/Folk Metal. I find it overrated, as was Power Metal a few years back [bring in the hate mail]. However, this album cannot be denied its share of praise. Epic melodies are everywhere while the vocals are diverse and at times captivating. Turisas use all elements of the genre without overdoing any of them, and this is their force. Some elements of surprise are littered throughout the album such as the very gypsy-sounding 'In the Court of Jarisleif'.
The production is way better than on their debut album Battle Metal, creating another level of strength to all the fundamentals. The change is especially notable on keyboards and vocals. While the guitar work is not anything outstanding, the great song writing and the epic symphonies really fashion a crowd favourite.
To wrap it up, The Varangian Way is a very solid album, from A to Z. It sounds more mature than 2004's Battle Metal. The vocals are what impress me the most, but the quality of tracks such as 'To Holmgard and Beyond' and 'Miklagard Overture' makes this record special. This is a definite pick for any Folk/Pagan Metal fan out there.
Highlights: 'To Holmgard and Beyond' and 'Miklagard Overture'
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 8 |
| Songwriting: | 9 |
| Originality: | 8 |
| Production: | 9 |
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Written on 08.09.2007 by
Bringing you reviews of quality music and interesting questions such as: "A picture is worth a thousand words. How many words is a song worth?" I have only got so much patience and skills, you do the math. |
Rating:
9.4
9.4
|
Rating: 9.4 |
After a 3 year or so hiatus Turisas is back with an epic masterpiece that undoubtedly blows there previous effort completely out of the water. Before I get into the different aspects of this album I should quickly explain the storyline to this album for those who don't already know (it is a concept album). To sum the storyline up its simply a group of vikings on a journey for the sake of going on a journey, exploring and such, and every now and then focus' on the main character-Hakons reflections and inner thoughts about his life and trying to find his name. Read more ›› |
Comments
Comments: 20
Visited by: 178 users
| hard_tom Posts: 28  |
Very good job, Turisas. The last song "Miklagard Overture" with great mix of acoustic and heavy guitars and clean and brutal voice can´t I get from my head... I agree with DEMONIC TUTOR, very solid album. But maybe next record of Turisas will bring more songs in quality of "To Holmgard..." and "Miklagard..."
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| Baz Anderson Staff Posts: 13262  |
this is the better of the two Turisas albums by far in my opinion.. this is a good album indeed they are Finnish though, so not in the immediate Scandinavia - I will just point out. haha but yes indeed - definitely more mature, and much more of a solid album
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| ylside Staff Posts: 4751  |
Great album. I especially like "In The Court Of Jarisleif". Great tune.
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| RiouxMax Posts: 130 |
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| Doc G. Full Grown Hoser Staff Posts: 9723  |
I wouldve rated it higher. And I know theres going to be people telling me "But Dr.Rock, you infantile moron, not all albums can be 10". which I am aware, but this is one of the few albums I genuinly beleive deserves a 9.6 or something in that region....compared to some albums getting 9.5s that definitly arent deserving.
---- "I got a lot of really good ideas, problem is, most of them suck." - George Carlin
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| Valar IndianSteel Posts: 828  |
Killer album, great review.
---- "It's a dangerous business, going out of your door, You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to." - J.R.R. Tolkien, "Three Is Company," The Lord of the Rings
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| Judas The Amputator Posts: 2043  |
I found this album to be waaaaaay better than 'Battle Metal', because it's held my attention for almost twice the period that the earlier effort did. I'm not bored with this, because the songwriting is more varied, they're not just destined to be another gimmick band. Great album, I'd say a 9/10, and good review too.
---- "Once the game is over, the king and the pawn both go back into the same box."
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| Deadsoulman Elite Posts: 8004  |
Written by Judas on 09.09.2007 at 17:04 Same here, I wasn't too impressed with the first album. I find it very overrated and I can't understand what all the hype is about. But this one I find really interesting from the first to the last minute, it is much more varied and the vocals are really impressive, as said in the review. A great album. Would be a killer if all the songs were like "To Holmgard And Beyond" 
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| Judas The Amputator Posts: 2043 |
Written by Deadsoulman on 11.09.2007 at 15:22 The opening and closing tracks are AMAZING. 'To Holmgard and Beyond' and 'Miklagard Overture' are so bloody epic and awesome that I think a lot of bands wanting to play a similar style of music would have just put down their instruments after listening to those two because they will never achieve this level of brilliance.
---- "Once the game is over, the king and the pawn both go back into the same box."
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| schwanderen Posts: 32 |
Written by Judas on 11.09.2007 at 15:50 EXACTLY! Turisas has comes through on so many levels that many other bands have been trying to come through for years. Turisas stand shoulder high ambitionsvise from any other Viking band. But The Varagnian Way is a step forward for the band, i wouldnt claim either Battle Metal, or TVW to be better than the other. The force of The Varagnian Way, is the depth and the craftmanship of the album. The production is smooth no dents or bumps, the red thread of the album with the storyline entweining with both lyrics and music is incredibly original. Plus i think Nygaard has though this album through, with a musical setting, just listen to the end of "501"... Or any other track on the album for that sake... With so many other bands harvesting a 9 or 10, i believe Turisas could easily top that kind of score with this release. I would claim it to be a milepole for the entire genre... And metal for that sake...
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| Marcus Doit Like Bernie Posts: 642  |
Great album, much better to listen to the Battle Metal IMO, if only all bands could compile releases of this caliber.
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| Ellrohir Heaven Knight Posts: 8675  |
it begins really great and epic with To Holmgard And Beyond...i expected much...yes, Portage to Unknown is quite nice and then Fields of Gold too, but the rest of the album slowly fell into average in my ears...
---- My rest seems now calm and deep Finally I got my dead man sleep 
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| +{Jonas}+ I R Serious Cat Posts: 4955  |
This album kicks ass. Even more epic, if that's even possible, than Battle Metal "Time for a toast for our generous host, JARISLEIF! JARISLEIF!"
---- "Nobody wants to be the weird kid, you just end up being the weird kid. You don't know how you ended up getting there" - Rob Zombie http://jonas-bs.deviantart.com My dA, mainly photography, go check it out!
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| Metalbound7 Posts: 229  |
To Holmgard and Beyond is the most Epic song ever, i just discovered Turisas a few months ago and until then i cant stop listen the two perfect albums they have released so far. 
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| DanielViking Posts: 163  |
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| Harlequin Posts: 95  |
The ending of "Miklagard Overture" is so fucking epic it hurts.
---- 00:40 - Doomface Mikael Akerfeldt doesn't age like humans do.
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| Nicko's Nose Posts: 491  |
Man, the chorus in Portage To The Unknown sounds almost exactly like the chorus in Finntroll's Fiskarens Fiende! It's just not as fast and not as good.
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| wormdrink414 Elite Posts: 1295  |
One of the reasons I couldn't get into Battle Metal was because of the reliance on incessant synth work. The Varangian Way, on the other hand, eases off the synths and injects more folk instruments and a more refined folk atmosphere, making it the better album. It is more "epic" and much less anthemy (for lack of a better term) than Battle Metal. I gave it a 9.
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| Uirapuru Liver Failure Posts: 2955  |
Written by wormdrink414 on 20.08.2009 at 09:49 Very well written, I second that!
----  ---- member of the true crusade against old school heavy metal, early 80s thrash, NWOBHM, traditional doom, first and second wave black metal, old school death metal, US power metal, 70s prog rock and atmospheric doomsludgestoner. o/
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| Sword_Chant Posts: 717 |
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