Faroe Islands-based acclaimed Viking metal collective TÝR returns with their ninth full-length studio album, Battle Ballads, set for release on April 12th via Metal Blade Records!
When TÝR teamed up with the Symphony Orchestra of the Faroe Islands on February 8th, 2020, to record the double-disc/DVD release A Night At The Nordic House, founding frontman Heri Joensen was thrilled to bring together two of the music forms he loves most – folk and classical – into his band’s unorthodox form of music. But at the time, he couldn’t have imagined what a profound impact the collaboration would have on his musical vision, and how much it would influence and inform the album he would write a few years later.
“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.”
The follow-up to the band’s 2019’s powerful progressive folk metal album Hel, the new Battle Ballads is aptly named – a crushing, soaring, batch of classical embellished songs that conjure images of galloping steeds, clashing swords, and hard-fought victories. And, as if it needs to be stated, the title Battle Ballads has nothing in common with the lighter-raising songs so prevalent in the 1980s.
“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.”
In advance of the release of Battle Ballads, today TÝR unveils the record’s first single, “Axes,” and its accompanying video. Watch it here.
