Written: 4th April 2024
In February 2020, Týr recorded the live album A Night at the Nordic House with the Symphony Orchestra of the Faroe Islands. As far as frontman Heri Joensen was concerned, this stirring amalgamation of classical and folk brought together his two favourite forms of music. Such was the impact on Joensen that Týr embrace more classical elements on their new album, Battle Ballads. “There’s a reason classical music is called classical,” Joensen says. “It's the classical way of doing it. And it creates these epic sounds that fit in perfectly with the kind of metal we do in Týr. So, there’s full orchestration on all of the new songs.”
Before diving into the new album, it is important to note that the word ballad is used in its original form. “There are definitely two versions of a ballad,” clarifies Joensen. “A lot of people think of hair metal, when they think of ballads. We are looking at ballads here in the Medieval sense. Apart from a couple of softer parts on the album, this is very much straight heavy metal with some folk and classical influences. I’m not sure what exactly one would call it – power metal, Viking metal, folk metal. It still fits in very much with what we do, only it feels bigger and more like these big soundscapes.”
A blacksmith at work hammering metal begins the album and the listener is immediately transported into the medieval world that Týr are aiming to evoke, a feeling that is further embellished by the opening lyrics. He strikes hard / Down in the forge yard / Out of the mountain mineshaft / Hammered handcraft / A broad blade / To cast a dark shade / Whether a mindful maker / Or a bloody breaker. Any thought of gentle ballads are dismissed on the opening track - Hammered - as the quartet rampage through three and a half minutes of irresistible power metal complete with classical flourishes. From the outset, the listener is assured that the combination of genres can merge successfully. A furious but melodically captivating solo sets the pulse racing and double kick drumming from Tadeusz Rieckmann adds to the drama. On Unwandered Ways, folk flourishes are more evident as exultant, uplifting harmonies join with nimble, urgent guitar riffs, a lithe but scintillatingly scorching guitar solo from Hans Hammer and a chorus that will unite any crowd at a concert. Unwandered ways / Wait outside the gate / Lost and late / Undying days / Vast, present to past / Fade so fast / Unwandered ways.
To allow the classical elements of the album to shine through, Týr have made a conscious decision to limit the progressive aspects of their music for which they have become known. “This a more direct album with songs that are easier for listeners to get right away than some of the stuff on our last album, or maybe even on our 2006 album Ragnarok, which was very progressive,” says Joensen. “We tried to keep the songs based on one or two musical ideas each, and work on everything from there. So, in a way, it’s more concise than our last album, but it’s more epic because of the symphonic elements.”
Tracks such as Dragons Never Die and the neo-classical Hangman illustrate what Joensen is saying, with the former being one of the clearest examples of how the classical additions allow the band to fully explore a new direction. Týr would have enjoyed the experience of writing, rehearsing and recording with a symphony orchestra but this proved impossible due to scheduling conflicts. Instead, after the band had written the ten songs that make up Battle Ballads, they were sent to Lars Wither, who lives in England. Wither added the orchestral samples, paying close attention to the tone and tempo of the songs so the violins, violas, cellos, woodwinds, and horns complimented the traditional rock instruments. The album was then mixed by Jacob Hansen in Denmark.
Row, the clearest example of Viking metal on the album, opens with ghostly vocalisations and rhythmic pounding percussion. It is a rousing call to arms to a small crew tackling a violent storm out on the ocean. Through rain, wind and waves / Myself and the knaves / Foresee a cursed night / Shoreless is our woe / The waves beat our prow / But I will not bow / And lose this worst fight / Till the first light. Joensen’s vocals tell the tale with powerful conviction as Gunnar Thomsen’s bass charges and booms like the waves crashing into the stricken vessel. In complete contrast, two songs on the album adopt a totally different approach. Torkils Døtur, a heartbreaking track of loss based on a traditional Faroese folk song, begins with gentle acoustic guitar and Joensen at his most vocally and lyrically exposed – it is a wonderful performance from the frontman. The track builds steadily and midway through the song, symphonic opulence adds devastatingly potent melancholy. Vælkomnir Føroyingar, which was originally written for Hel but was not completely ready in time, continues the use of traditional lyrics, this time by Jóannes Patursson (1866-1946), a Faroese nationalist leader and poet who served as a member of the Parliament of Denmark and the Parliament of the Faroe Islands.
Axes sees Týr return the listener to the battlefield, beginning with a lone horn calling those around to fight. Thus, the battle horn rang out into the dawn / Forge ahead towards a wall of weapons drawn / Soon your screams of pain will sound across the sky / Rage embraces me. Rousing, meteoric and bulldozing guitars and drums accompany the motivating lyrics. Equally melodic and forceful, Axes bursts with proud and unflinching devotion to a cause. Battle Ballad is similar in temperament, fuelled by pounding strikes and impassioned cries. It is a track that Joensen is particularly pleased with. “I'm very satisfied with the way I put it together. It's not the way I usually work. I had one very basic idea, and I made the whole song out of that. It's like one continuous melody and I put some breaks into it so there are like eight musical phrases. I used the first of each four phrases for the chorus, and the second half for the lines and the verses. I was fiddling with that for quite some time and I'm very happy with the result. And not many bands, if any, work like this.
In many ways, album closer Causa Latronum Normannorum is the most epic sounding song on the album. A multi-part track which brings together everything that Týr have thrown at the listener during the previous nine songs. “I was trying to imitate a Gregorian style with that to give it a certain feel,” Joensen says. “I made the melody very repetitive. The same note repeats many times in the chorus and that's unusual for us, but it really works for the song. There’s not a lot of written melody in there so the folk parts and the solo just moving along with the chords and just build and build, which I really like.” With an enduring aggressive stride and a belligerent double-bass enriched riff, it is the perfect end to the album.
With Battle Ballads, Týr decided on a direction and put everything they had into the album; furthermore, do not expect that experimentation to stop any time soon. “I always like to present myself with new challenges in our metal music,” Joensen says. “I find metal to be really inspiring in a personal way. It inspires me emotionally and makes me happy that I’m alive. And to know we may have the kind of effect on people that bands like Savatage and Blind Guardian have had on me, then I feel like we have been successful, and I remain inspired to keep going and try even more things with our music. But I just don’t want to have to take another six years until our next album comes out.”
Battle Ballads' classical elements allow the music to be enthrallingly grandiose but they never threaten to overwhelm the metallic aspects of the band’s sound. Despite the fact that the progressive metal aspects of the band are more limited here, there should be more than enough for older fans to relish. Battle Ballads allows Týr to fully explore a fascinating melding of classical, power, folk and Viking metal. Simultaneously alacritous, breath-taking and invigorating, Battle Ballads is an extremely successful experiment indeed.
Battle Ballads is released on 12th April on Metal Blade Records