Týr: Battle Ballads (2024, Metal Blade Records)

Despite the controversies that have surrounded an established band like Týr, many of them related to whaling by one of its members, there are many followers who have continued to support the folk and progressive metal band formed in Denmark in 1998 who to date had eight studio albums since his studio debut with How Far To Asgaard (2002, Tutl Records). Týr has maintained itself over the years releasing albums regularly between 2002 and 2013, perhaps during this last decade when the releases of new albums such as Hel (2019, Metal Blade Records) have stretched the longest, which took about six years to be published since their previous studio effort Valkyrja (2013, Metal Blade Records) saw the light.

Five years had to pass for Týr to release their ninth album, Battle Ballads, with only one change in their lineup since the release of Hel in 2019: Tadeusz Rieckmann on drums, Gunnar Thomsen on bass and Heri Joensen on guitar and vocals, being this the first album in which guitarist Hans Hammer (Asyllex) participates since he joined the band in 2021. The artist and designer Gyula Havancsák repeats as cover artist, who has also been collaborating with the band since the release of By The Light Of The Northern Star (2009, Napalm Records).

Battle Ballads, broadly speaking, is a purely Týr album. The band has been able to find its sound over the years and moves like a fish in water within its folk proposal with progressive overtones, using melody as its great ally. The powerful Hammered, a song that anyone could relate to Týr, is responsible for opening the album with the band’s own energy that, thanks to its catchy vocal lines, invites listeners to sing along to their songs with the unmistakable seal of the band. band. The same goes for songs like Hangman or Dragons Never Die, whose melodic component by guitarists Heri Joensen and Hans Hammer presents a tandem of memorable riffs where the choruses are also the main protagonists of the whole.

On the other hand, we can find less energetic songs with a much more accentuated folk component like Torkils Døtur or Vælkomnir Føroyingar that also manage to convey that feeling of festivity that works so well live. If, on the other hand, we are looking for something more epic and energetic, we can opt for songs like Axes or the catchy Unwandered Ways, or we can simply let ourselves be carried away by the medium tempo with which Row manages to elevate a more than remarkable album. Battle Ballads itself takes us back to the mythical sound of Týr, being responsible for giving its name to the album itself, a very accurate choice that once again gives us an epic song that honors the band. I also found it interesting to highlight the certain similarity that Causa Latronum Normannorum has with my favorite of the band to date, Hold The Heathen Hammer High, a song that has certain reminiscences of albums like By The Light Of The Northern Star (2009) and The Lay Of Thrym (2011), these last two being the ones I have heard the most from the band to date.

In short, Battle Ballads is not the best album that Týr has released but it manages to maintain interest during its forty minutes. Heri Joensen‘s voice continues to surprise with each new album and Battle Ballads is no exception, highlighting at the same time the new guitar that Hans Hammer has brought to Týr with this new album. The work of Gunnar Thomsen and Tadeusz Rieckmann as usual is impeccable, together they form a formidable team in the rhythm section that, like in their previous albums, manages to capture you from the first moment.

As Joensen himself commented about the release of the album, Battle Ballads is a very varied album that includes some of the most direct songs that the band has composed to date, thus trying to win over a broader audience than with their previous works: “We consciously decided to make 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. With Battle Ballads, there are progressive elements here and there, but 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“.

Tracklist:

1. Hammered
2. Unwandered Ways
3. Dragons Never Die
4. Row
5. Torkils Døtur
6. Vælkomnir Føroyingar
7. Hangman
8. Axes
9. Battle Ballad
10. Causa Latronum Normannorum

Týr American tour dates in 2024:

Týr will embark on a tour with Trollfest, Æther Realm and The Dread Crew Of Oddwood to perform Battle Ballads throughout the United States during March and April 2024. Tour dates below: