01	To Holmgard And Beyond						05:17
	02	A Portage To The Unknown						04:50
	03	Cursed Be Iron						05:03
	04	Fields Of Gold						04:34
	05	In The Court Of Jarisleif						03:17
	06	Five Hundred And One						06:18
	07	The Dnieper Rapids						05:20
	08	Miklagard Overture						08:18

Turisas - The Varangian Way
Century Media

file under Black metal

Turisas - The Varangian Way

Nima: After the release of the debut album 'Battle Metal' in 2004, everything skyrocketed for Finland's Turisas. The band quickly established their name in and outside Finland and received promising reviews from the press. And due to the beautiful combination of black, folk and pagan metal that was totally deserved. Also the heroic emission of the songs was a reason to keep an eye on this band.

And now three years after the successful debut they come with a follower and I'm sure that a lot of people (including myself) were quite curious about this album. This time they have chose to make a concept album, but for the story and the ideas I would like to point you to the special website that is made for The Varangian Way, so that we can concentrate on the music. The album makes a powerful start with 'To Holmgrad And Beyond' (which is also the first single) and my interest is awakened immediately. However, that interest and enthusiasm gets a lot less with the following songs! The band has decided to set the tempo a bit lower, to increase the use of clean vocals and both the black and folk-level are decreased. The rough and raw vocals that gave the debut a grim atmosphere are now used incidentally and that's a damned pity. It looks like as if the band is stepping towards the symphonic power metal and although I can surely appreciate that genre, it was not something I was waiting for with a band like Turisas!

It's clearly audible that the band has tried to create a "larger-than-life" feeling and that they have put much thought and energy in the album. The production is simply fantastic, which is also one of the reasons why the album sounds more bombastic than the debut! The orchestral keyboards and arrangements still radiate heroism, but the description "Battle Metal" does not fit to this band anymore. Sound technically the album reminds me of the atmosphere of Dimmu Borgir's 'Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia' and yes, even the name Rhapsody comes up to me during the bombastic parts. But also due to the movie soundtrack feeling of this album the comparison with the Italian masters is unavoidable. Although I'm not saying that Turisas has now become a Rhapsody-clone.

Altogether 'The Varangian Way' has become a strong album, but it's not the album I had expected (and hoped for) as a successor of 'Battle Metal'. Maybe that's why I'm somewhat disappointed, but still I think that it doesn't match up to the debut. I'd say listen and judge for yourself.

Rating: 75/100 (details)

http://www.turisas.com