Released By : Century Media
Genre : Battle Metal, Folk Metal, Viking Metal
Links : http://www.turisas.com/main.html
Tracklist:
01. The March of The Varangian Guard
02. Take The Day!
03. Hunting Pirates
04. Venetoi! Prasinoi!
05. Stand Up And Fight
06. The Great Escape
07. Fear The Fear
08. End Of An Empire
09. The Bosphorus Freezes Over
10. Broadsword
11. Supernaut
No band in history has embrace the term “War Metal” as deeply and passionately as TURISAS, and even though they are a relatively new band in the whole scope of things, during their decade of existence they have created for themselves a very dedicated fanbase and have been looked upon very favorable by all different kinds of media and critics. Apart from the fact that they are great songwriters and excellent performers, the main reason for this is that they unwavering in their dedication to their chosen craft but still manage to make each album interesting from start to finish.
I’m just going to come out and say this…. STAND UP AND FIGHT is the band’s finest work so far and the quintessential battle metal album to own. There is some elements of power metal here too but not enough to call it an essential album for the genre, but basically battle metal gets its main cues from folk metal or Viking metal so I’d be happy to say it’s an essential album in that genre also and really one of the best of the last decade or so.
While it’s clear that each song is about epic battles of all different types, the fact that each tune stands on its own and the fact that the album constantly offers up surprise after surprise means that the subject matter never seems to get stale or repetitive. Where the album works so well compared to others in the battle metal style is that TURISAS are not afraid to try different things. For example there is a whole heap of real orchestration on this album, not midi computer created orchestration either, but a real group of various musicians adding so many colors and intricacies to the songs that if you close your eyes you could swear you were listening to the score of a major Hollywood fantasy movie, but with the added bonus of some ass-kicking guitars and pounding drums.
I would call the entire album a highlight really and it’s damn-near perfect, but the true stand-out tunes would have to be THE MARCH OF THE VARANGIAN GUARD, STAND UP AND FIGHT, END OF AN EMPIRE and HUNTING PIRATES, which is an awesome transition song to the works of one of my personal favorite bands ALESTORM who actually sing about being pirates. Imagine that…. TURIASAS versus ALESTORM in an epic musical battle on the high seas! Sorry… Got a little off-topic there for a minute, but hey we can all dream right?
Do yourself a favor and go out and get a copy of this album today, it’s not just a bunch of songs on a disc, it’s an experience. I was already a bit of a TURISAS fan before they released this gem, but now maybe I’ll go a bit further in the die-hard fan direction as I am really blown away by STAND UP AND FIGHT, and that’s something that doesn’t really happen very often these days.
Written By ZeeZee
Rating : 9/10