Review by Rick Eaglestone for MPM
Faroe Islands-based acclaimed Viking metal collective TÝR returns with their ninth full-length studio album, Battle Ballads
There is a masterful blend of melody and savagery from the very first note Hammered is a plethora of blast beats and solos and is then followed up Unwandered Ways is the absolute antithesis of the album description and if I this had come on the radio, I would have guessed it was a powerwolf track.
Dragons Never Die is a fun sing along track with fast folk melodies and chugging basslines, Row contains a wonderful galloping pace and my favourite vocal performance of the album.
Battle Ballads then takes a clear directional shift on Torkils Dotur which is a gentle acoustic piece with some nice atmospherics which really helps deliver the yearning ode to loss the accompanying part Vaelkomnir Foroyingar is also in the bands native tongue but has a flair of Yngwie Malmsteem to it which I particularly enjoyed.
Immediately I envisage a future sea of horns and mead in an outdoor festival for Hangman which flows into the album’s first single Axes which also has a great cinematic style accompanying video.
Joensen comments, “‘Axes’ starts with a battle horn followed by a fast melodic and symphonic guitar riff introducing the progression and main theme of the song. Game Of Thrones-ish lyrics of gory and glorified hand-to-hand battle of Viking times, told from a first-person perspective.
The verse is slow and heavy with a gritty, yet theatrical and melodic voice. The chorus is fast with a singalong choir, alternating vocally between intricate and brutally simple phrasings. It’s a short face-melting metal song based on a single melodic idea.”
Title track Battle Ballad is nicely constructed with some nice stand out pieces and final track Causa Latronum Normannorum solidifies Tyr’s ambitious and multi-faceted approach to an album that certainly feels like a new chapter for them going forward and well, if that’s the case I think there may very well be a longsword purchase in my future.
A Conjuring of galloping steeds & clashing swords
“Battle Ballads” Track listing.
1. Hammered
2. Unwandered Ways
3. Dragons Never Die
4. Row
5. Torkils Døtur
6. Vælkomnir Føroyingar
7. Hangman
8. Axes
9. Battle Ballad
10. Causa Latronum Normannorum
Line-up:
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7/10
