Representative Albums: "The Varangian Way," "Immortal Glory (The Complete Century Media Years)," "Battle Metal/Varangian Way"
Biography
Named for a warrior god in Finnish mythology, Turisas are a heavy metal band whose music is an ambitious blend of symphonic metal, power metal, progressive rock, and Finnish folk music. Turisas were formed in Hämeenlinna, a rural community in southern Finland, by vocalist Warlord Nygård and guitarist/bassist Jussi Wickström in 1997. Eager to perform their songs that blended pagan folklore with bloody tales of warfare, Nygård and Wickström recruited three likeminded musicians, percussionist Tude Lehtonen, keyboardist Antti Ventola, and guitarist Georg Laakso, but the epic-scale sound they sought proved difficult to capture on tape, and Turisas' first attempt at recording an album, 1998's Taiston Tie (aka "The Battle Path"), never saw release due to the group's dissatisfaction with the results. In 2000, a demo CD, The Heart of Turisas, was distributed to fans, the press, and industry professionals, and coupled with the group's storming live show, word spread about the unusual band and Century Media signed the group to a recording contract in 2003. Turisas' first proper album, Battle Metal, recorded at studios in France and Finland, was released in mid-2004, with the band supporting the album with appearances at a number of major European metal festivals. In the fall of 2005, Laakso was involved in a severe auto accident that caused major injuries to his spinal cord, forcing him to leave the band. Wickström took over all guitar duties for the recording of Turisas' next album, 2007's The Varangian Way, while Hannes Horma (bass), Olli Vänskä (violin), Janne Mäkinen (accordion), and Antti Laurila (accordion), four musicians who had helped fill out the group's sound during live concerts, appeared on the disc as full-fledged bandmembers for the first time. A few months before The Varangian Way was to be released in the spring of 2007, Antti Ventola announced he had left Turisas in a post on the group's online forum. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide
Turisas is a folk metal band, incorporating elements of power metal, with some influences taken from symphonic metal. Turisas is known to play all of their solos on electric violin, as opposed to traditional guitar solos. The album title Battle Metal has given rise to the term "battle metal" being used as a description of folk metal (used mainly by Metal Hammer magazine and its readers) but it is not a canonical metal subgenre.
On October 28, 2005, guitarist Georg Laakso was badly injured in a car accident and due to the extent of his spinal cord injuries, on July 12, 2006 issued a statement of his permanent resignation from the band on the official website. Nevertheless, the band continued to work on their second album, titled The Varangian Way, which was released in early 2007. Jussi Wickström recorded all guitars on the album.
Mathias Nygård revealed in the January 2007 edition of Terrorizer magazine that the touring musicians Hannes Horma, Olli Vänskä, Janne Mäkinen and Antti Laurila had been added to the band as full-time members, taking them up to an 8-piece act. It later turned out that of the two accordion players, only Mäkinen had become an official member. Laurila is no longer a touring musician for the band. On February 19, 2007, keyboardist Antti Ventola posted a message on the Turisas discussion forum announcing that he and the band had parted ways. This was later confirmed by the rest of the band. Mathias Nygård performed the keyboards on The Varangian Way and Turisas are presently using backing tracks to replicate them on stage.
In January 2008, accordion player Janne "Lisko" Mäkinen disappeared mysteriously in Amsterdam. For the upcoming tour dates in spring 2008 Turisas announced Netta Skog as a step-in accordionist. She had already helped the band on the European tour in October-November 2007. [1] Netta was soon after added to the band on a full-time base.
Turisas were part of the US Paganfest tour in 2008, which was headlined by Ensiferum and also included Týr and Eluveitie.
After a string of festivals in the Summer of 2008, in September the band started a long tour through the United States and Europe in support of DragonForce. This tour ended in March 2009, and the band then took part in a new European tour with Cradle of Filth and Moonspell, dubbed the "Filthfest Tour 2009", in April and May 2009.[2] The band played at Wacken Open Air in early August 2009 and also played at Bloodstock Open Air in Mid August 2009.[3] Also there are plans for them to take a year out at the end of 2009 to make a new album and then return as fully-fledged band no longer supporting others.
