Land

Týr's fourth studio record Land might be the band's most complex, epic and progressive album ever. It includes ten songs that clock in at almost seven minutes on average with a total running time of sixty-eight minutes. If possible, try to purchase the limited edition with an exclusive live DVD featuring seven songs with a total running time of forty-five minutes recorded at renowned Wacken Open Air.

This record here includes quite a few interesting ideas such as cinematic opener ''Gandkvæði Tróndar'' with its long spoken-word passages before the instrumental work kicks in towards the end and foreshadows the progressive doom metal title track. This song uses cello, double bass, viola and violin to make it clear that this is an ambitious conceptual record. This track will grab your interest right from the start because it walks off the beaten path and showcases the band's conceptual ambitions.

The album's first epic track entitled ''Ocean'' clocks in at above ten minutes and might need a few spins to grow. The rhythm guitar riffs are cold, low and sinister but the lead guitar sounds provide a melodic, longing and thoughtful tone. The anthemic, melancholic and passionate vocals blend in perfectly and provide some catchy passages in overall rather dystopian soundscapes. A highlight is the fierce guitar solo in the middle section that lightens up the overall lethargic, repetitive and stoic riff structures.

If you thought that the first epic tune was challenging, brace for title track ''Land'' that clocks in at sixteen minutes. The track needed a few spins to grow on me but once it did it became one of my very favourite songs of the band. What we have here is a progressive doom and heavy metal anthem of cinematic proportions with sound samples of a wild ocean and some fierce Faroese yelling. The guitar riffs are gloomy and sinister as usual, the bass guitar is dominant and thunderous and the drums sound heavy and tight. The variable vocals meander between grit and melancholy and entertain throughout. The song gets more and more intense and the final instrumental section will make you bang your head and raise your fist for sure. The only comparable tune in terms of genre, intensity and length that comes to mind is Judas Priest's underrated epic ''Lochness''.

Thankfully, this ambitious record also offers a few shorter tunes that are a little bit easier to digest. One shining example is ''Brennivín'' that starts on a gloomy tone but becomes sincerely heartwarming as it turns out to be a catchy drinking anthem that mixes English and Faroese lyrics. This song deserves to be in the playlist for any metal party and should also work splendidly in concert. Horns up!

Usually, I'm not a fan of remakes and rerecordings but this record's version of band hymn ''Hail to the Hammer'' is simply the best performance of the song. It starts with sinister riffs and a guttural grunt before the track becomes more anthemic and epic and leads to a heroic and melodic chorus you won't forget anytime soon. This tune makes you want to hit the repeat button over and over again and it's no surprise that this track might be the band's most prolific song ever.

As you can read, Tyr's fourth studio album Land needs a few spins to grow but turns out to be a highly rewarding progressive doom metal masterpiece of cinematic proportions and conceptual grandeur. The record's most epic tunes in particular shine as highlights in the band's prolific career while a few of the shorter tunes offer a band hymn and a drinking athem among other elements that provide some welcome breaks. This abum grows with every spin and has stood the test of time brilliantly. Only a few average tunes in the middle section prevent this output from being the band's greatest hour as it ultimately turns out to be a career highlight but not quite shining milestones like the two immediate predecessors.

So after the massive disappointment Ragnarok was for me, I decided to try out Land anyway, since I loved Eric the Red, and they could have have gotten better. And Land is indeed an improvement, though it's lacking a bit, tending to get too uninteresting with some midtempo songs where there are not really anything that will get your attention, but there are also really good songs here.

The album starts with "Gandkvæði Tróndar" which really is just an epic introduction for an album. It has a nice cello melodi and then Heri Joensens spoken voice with people singing something in the background, it sounds like you are on a ship going to somewhere to conquer. The atmosphere is dark and so is Heris voice. The albumcover describes the intro here pretty good! The music then stops, and Heri ends his speaking and then the guitar kicks in, and we're ready to conquer! The rest of the song has no vocals but nice guitar melodies and drumming before you reach the second song "Sinklars Vísa" which starts with nice choirs and the mood is suddenly much more "happy", the ending of "Gandkvæði Tróndar" already going that way. The vocals on this record are strong again, compared to Ragnarok, where they were really vocals. There are the melodic strong parts, more aggressive parts and more soft and calm parts, all of these can be heard in "Sinklars Vísa".

The first songs on the album are driven by much guitar melodies and a decent tempo, while the songs gets slower after "Brennivín". "Ocean" is Týrs first song over 10 minutes, it's not anything special, really. It feels more like it's just an attempt on having a song over 10 minutes. It has some nice melodies, but I think it's easy to be drawn away. The rest of the songs are not really anything special, unfortunately. Only "Land", the ending song, which I will come back to in a moment.
The songs on the album should have been old nordic traditional songs, just made into metal, which perhaps can be an explanation for lack of interest or anything, some are just done well, while others are not I guess. I wasn't really caught though. And to mention, there's a rerecording of "Hail to the Hammer". I'm not a fan of rerecordings AT ALL. I think it ruins the songs usually, and Heris vocals does not fit that much to the song, and the choir is not done that well. But it's also a matter of taste. I just heard the original first, and I still love it.

Now back to the last song, "Land", which is also over 10 minutes, 16 minutes to be exact, this song is different to "Ocean". It actually starts off with the riff being heard in the very first song, after the spoken words part, with then the same melody. The song is full of different melodies, some heard before also, I had some deja vu listening to this song, there's even a mentioning of the very first album in the very last line of the song, I quote: "As we sail I sometimes wonder how far to Asgaard." Hmm.. But let it be, the song is different and long, and it's fun to hear the band try something new.

The production on the album is good, better than Ragnarok, the sound is more folded out, rather than put down, and the instruments can be heard well, except the bass, I don't think I heard it during the album. The guitar sound is a bit darker, but I think the album in general has a darker atmosphere than previous albums. The drumming is actually pretty good, Kári knows what he is doing, and the drumming is varied, not getting very boring at times. "Gátu Ríma" is an example of the good drumming.

All in all, the album is pretty decent, an improvement from Ragnarok though. There are some really good songs and melodies and some not very interesting songs also. Try out the album if you are a Týr fan, there is not much difference to their sound since Eric the Red, so if you are new to Týr try out that album, since it's really just a gem in the genre. But it seems like the band has gone forward since Ragnarok. (And it did, I loved By the Light of the Northern Star, released 2009)

Tyr are a band who deserve your respect whether their music appeals to you or not. I say this because, whilst undoubtedly they must have overcome a few hurdles to get anywhere as a band through hailing from the isolated Faroe Islands, its that more importantly these Viking warriors have clearly tried to create a very unique sound and that always deserves some respect. That sound is hard to describe as they take the best epic qualities of Viking Metal bands like Enslaved and Falkenbach and mix it with a considerable amount of Doom and prog-like sensibilities. In this respect they are harder to compare to other bands as their riff structure is rather stop-start, comparators may include Confessor, combined with inventive lead guitar work in the form of solos and riffwork that at times resembles a slower version of one of my faves, folk/Viking experts Windir (RIP). Further distinguishing marks come in the heartfelt vocals of Heri Joensen, whose recognisability I’m sure matches the likes of Warrel Dane (Nevermore) and Matt Barlow (Iced Earth).

The majority of the songs on "Land" are sung in the native Faroese of the band, giving extra authenticity to the subject matters of Faroese independence, Viking age stories and Norwegian lore. The highlight of all Tyr records, including this one, is undoubtedly the vocal lines, both when sung individually and as a group, which is unsurprising given that songwriter Joensen starts with a vocal line before adding the music later. For some ("Gátu Ríma", "Brennivin", "Land"), these vocal lines are both epic and catchy and relied upon heavily in the manner that Blind Guardian do, though thankfully not about some Tolkien-esk night party that the Germans favour. For me personally the vocals lines of "Gátu Ríma" are the stand-out ones in the stand-out song of the album - the classic sounding Tyr stop-start riffs are interspersed among rousing and fist-pumping choral sections and with a great solo to top it all off, it has a strong case for being Tyr's best song over "Regin Smiður" off 2003's "Eric the Red". Given the space Tyr have created for themselves in the not-yet-saturated Epic-Viking-Prog-Doom Metal camp (!), there is plenty of room for variations in such structures and while one couldn't accuse Tyr of re-writing the same song over and over, the similarity in tempo throughout can lead one to wishing for further expansion here in the form of faster tracks to compliment the slow-medium pace of the album - see Italy's Doomsword for a fine representation of how good Epic Doom can be when the tempo is varied throughout!

Perhaps not before time, Tyr try their hand at the lengthy epic that was missing from previous albums, and "Land" has two songs over the 10 minute barrier, with the title-track being my favoured (and longer) of the two. The slow start leads into a multitude of riffs and yes, you guessed it, vocal lines to accompany the passage of the song with a commendably solid performance from the other 3 members of the band who push the song through its 16 minutes much quicker than you'd ever think. However, just like the Vikings, all goods things must come to an end, and "Land" does so with a re-working of one of their older tracks, topping off Tyr's finest effort to date, outdoing "Eric the Red" in the process mainly through a more refined idea of how to focus and control the songs. "Land" can only be described as a very good album from an instantly recognisable band, yet one which leaves the band plenty of room still to grow. Watch this Faroese Viking-infested space!

Originally written for Rockfreaks.net

In my biased opinion, Tyr, the big band from some little islands, is the pinnacle of heavy music evolution. It is evident with the genre breaking ‘Ragnarok’ which stormed onto the world stage in 2006. That being said, when ‘Land’ was announced two years after said opus, the metal community and obscure music fans across the globe, may or may not have held some unreasonably high expectations for the group. Luckily for everyone, Tyr’s ’Land’ shows that these progressive Vikings are still at the top of their game, and even willing to take some risks. Right, this is where my biased opinion goes to hell and is replaced by an atomic scale microscope. ’Land’ prepped for analysis? Lets roll out.

The first thing a listener will notice about ‘Land’ is a definite change in the song writing. Gone are the clean melodic interludes that played such a huge part on past albums, with only a couple to break things up on ‘Land‘. To make up for this, the songs are absolutely dominated by heavy riffing. ‘Sinklars Visa’, ‘Gatu Rima’, ‘Brennivin’ and ‘Fipan Fagra’ are examples of this style change, which if you haven’t realized is just fucking awesome. The vast variety of riffs and style make this these songs true gems. ‘Land’ is indisputably the most metal sounding album the band has released ( I have not listened to “By the Light…” as of writing this), and the songs named above are some crushing tunes. A listener should notice the increase in speed, and the thrash factor. There is nothing safe from Tyr anymore, riffs vary in style from Amon Amarth to Pink Floyd, to Sadus , to Husker Du and back. All with a healthy dose of traditional music from their Faroe homeland. Move over Enslaved, and step down Amarth, the Germanic gods of war have arrived.

On the vocal subject, Heri Joensen has really done a stand up job. I can’t even describe with frail words the sound of his voice, but perhaps the best would be a chorus of berserkers lifted on wings of Valkyries singing their praises as they arrive at the golden hall. The chorus often compels the listener to sing along, though you may not know the words. We all know that is an understatement. Heri is a true musical genious, the merging of vocal melody with heavy music on this scale has rarely been achieved post 2000. As English is my native language, I have a great respect for the Faeroese, Norwegian, and English lyrics that are intricately woven into the banner of ‘Land’.

What then of the rest of this album? Well like any strong willed northern seafarers, Tyr takes a step into uncharted territory. No less than two epics, ten minute ‘Ocean’, and the sixteen minute title track, are included. With regret I must say these tracks are the low points of an otherwise awesome offering. Its just too much of too little. Midpaced and lacking the intensity or emotion of other songs, these epic tracks are just a shipwreak on the shore.

Bias, engaged. I hope you thought this review was worth your time, I know, I am the balls. So give “Land” a chance, you will see why the Faroe warriors have made such a global impact, and, looking past their minimal shortcomings on this album, realize the binding chains of genre have been smashed asunder. Tyr, the best band post 2000, get their albums, tell your friends.

This album has seen some less-than-favourable reviews due to accusations of it being a repetitive collection of the same-old-stuff. I can see what some people are saying about it presenting nothing new, and though it is not quite as strong as the previous releases (which were very, very hard to beat), I strongly believe that anyone who appreciates Tyr’s music, will appreciate ‘Land’.

I’ll admit, I’m a pretty big Tyr fan, I love the themes and the tone executed through skilled musicianship, not to mention Heri’s vocals. If you’re someone interested in old folk songs from Northern Europe, then I recommend Tyr’s heavy metal renditions with every drop of my blood. They often blend Traditional folk tunes with original compositions resulting in frequent masterpieces.

Hail to the Hammer, an old favourite from their debut album, has been re-recorded and is included on ‘Land’ as a bonus track. If you’ve never heard this song, then you should be thankful that it has been made more readily available, if you have heard it, then you know how good it is, and the version on ‘Land’ is even better.

Although ‘Land’ is an enjoyable album, it does not introduce any obvious masterpieces like ‘Hail to the Hammer’. That being said, ‘Sinklars Visa’ is an outstanding track as is ‘Lokka Tattur,’ and ‘Gatu Rima’…and ‘Valkyrjan’…

Odin’s Eyeball! This album isn’t so bad after all, eh? I think the people who were expecting something else are perhaps a little too proverbial with the straightforward radio-hit-shit bands that ruin popular music. Sorry, this is real music.

The music on ‘Land’, similar to the rest of Tyr’s music, is art and the realization of this should bring greater appreciation. Tyr should be congratulated for remaining faithful to their foundation, but perhaps to avoid evoking unneeded criticism in the future, it wouldn’t hurt to focus more on something alike those original masterpieces that won them nothing but pure praise in the past.

I recommend ‘Land’ to those who appreciate Tyr’s music and to those who have yet to hear it. I don’t recommend it to people who don’t know what they’re talking about. Damn right.

Honestly, I didn't even know where Faroe Island was till I discovered this band. I'd enjoyed the first two albums and really looked forward to the third one. Ragnarok came out in 2006 and it completely exceeded my expectations and was easily the band's best till then. The band at that point had everything going right for them. Songs and arrangements were at its peak, storytelling made sure the album-experience was great, and to top it all, their talent and mastery of each of the band member's respective craft was undeniable. Ragnarok was (and still is) an essential listen for anyone into progressive-ish metal.

2008's Land comes when you'd expect these chaps to up the ante even more. They sing in Faroese and English like before but there's even some Norwegian this time around. But the extra viking ingredient hasn't really helped. I'm not very glad to report this, but this has turned out to be one of this year's biggest letdowns.

Some of the factors that made them a class act are still present. Let's talk about their chops first and foremost. More guitar wankers should learn from this band and its amazing ability to have technical, yet tastefully phrased melodic solos. Then you have the trademark two-guitar contrapuntal and harmonic passages throughout the album. The vocalist is still in top form, the big viking choruses are still grandiose and makes you want to sing-along to it with your beer mugs even though you have no clue what the fuck they're saying.

Where do they manage to fuck things up, you ask? Well, I don't know if they've run out of melodies, but a lot of this just crosses the boundary of where I'd ideally say, “Oh not bad, it's more of the same”. It just gets way too repetitive and the rehash level attained on some of the tunes are just preposterous. It's like they're doing versions of songs from the previous albums. And then there's this epic title track which sees the same shit happen again, and at sixteen minutes, you wouldn't want to be here again after being done with it the first time, simply because they aren't bringing anything new to the table.

Then there's the issue of the track order. You have a good four minutes squandered right at the start with what I think is a most purposeless intro. Short intros are A-OK but this took it too far. You've got to kick 'em where it hurts and own 'em right at the start. Then of course, the songs keep going back to what I was complaining about earlier. The whole album fails to sound together unlike the three previous slabs of folk metal goldmine.

There are some great moments here but this has been disappointing for an existing fan. That said, you shouldn't have too many of these worries if this is the first album that you're hearing.

There seems to be a lot of debate concerning Týr's newest epic, "Land", and I really don't know why. On this site and on others, people seem to think that Týr are either copying themselves, have run out of ideas already, or were never that good in the first place. This is all bullshit. 'Ragnarok' was a landmark album, not just for the band but for the genre of viking metal as a whole. Týr have a defined sound, a unique sound, and they have wisely decided not to mess with it. People who give this band crap seem to be the type of people who need harsh vocals or bad production in order to enjoy viking metal, so why are they listening to Týr in the first place?

Gandksvaedi Tróndar and Sinklars Visa form one hell of a one-two punch to begin the album. I can see the band starting all of their future shows this way, walking out to the "magical chanting" of the former before ripping into the melodic chorus of the latter. Sinklars Visa is written in Norwegian, but that hardly matters, listeners of all nationalities will be singing along to that one. Ocean is the first of the bands ten plus minute epics, and the superior of the two. It features Týr's accustomed plodding pace, and some excellent lyrics written by main man Heri Joensen. Half of the words deal with the bands fascination of viking exploration and the other half, unless I misunderstand, are good old religion bashing. Valkyrjan is a cool tune, but sounds an awful lot like Ensiferum's Victory Song!

Another point of contention seems to concern the re-recording of their anthem, their signature song Hail To The Hammer. I have no problem whatsoever with its inclusion. First of all, the places its appeared in the past had never received the distribution that "Land" will. Their demo was the first place it appeared, and it was not widely released at all. Then their debut "How Far To Asgaard", which is on the tiny Tutl Records label. Finally, it showed itself on "Eric The Red" but only as a bonus track! My point is there are probably a lot of Týr fans who only know the song because they've heard it live, or don't know it at all. Secondly, the original featured Týr's original singer, and clearly the band wished to update the track to feature Joensen's voice. Plus, the new version is thicker and heavier!

Týr have this time taken inspiration not only from their own rich Faroese culture, but also from traditional Scandinavian and Icelandic stories as well. Considering there are lyrics in English as well, it seems that the band are trying to compete with Orphaned Land's "Mabool" for most languages used in a single album. Perhaps "Land" is harder to get into than "Ragnarok", but dig deep and you'll be rewarded.

Not everything is perfect, however. Fipan Fagra seems to plod to the point of boredom at times and the sixteen minute title track is a bit of a chore to sit through. "Land" is still a must purchase for any Týr fan, however, especially if you can get the version with the bonus DVD on it.

Heri Joensen stated in a recent interview that he had "never received a review that said 'Týr sucks, but at least they come from an interesting place' and frankly I don't expect it anytime soon." Nor should he!

Who'd have thought the Faroe Islands could produce such an amazing band? Tyr never fails to impress with their amalgamation of traditional Faroese tunes and some seriously epic metal.

With a band this consistent, it's probably better to tackle the elements that have changed rather than the album as a whole. So, let's start with the guitars here. The guitarwork on this album is definitely much more focused on melody this time around, leaving some to accuse the album of sounding sonically empty. Indeed, the tones here are not heavy or driving at all, but I personally like their choice of sound a lot. I find that a lot of the catchiest guitar passages are very folk heavy, as opposed to relying on metal to carry them. Overall, I would describe the guitarwork here as more melodic, more folk-influenced, and less bass-heavy than past albums by Tyr (or albums by some of their modern contemporaries).

The drumming hardly deserves it's own paragraph, but I'll give it one anyway. Nothing on this album would lead one to believe that Tyr's drummer is among metal's elite, but the tom-heavy style fits quite well with the overall folk atmosphere of the music.

I found the vocals to be much more focused on this album when compared to their earlier efforts. Lots of layers help to contribute to the bouncy folk sound here, and I think it works amazingly well. Might I add that the vocal melodies are catchy as all hell too? All you need to hear is the opening vocal passage on "Brennivin" to know that Tyr really knows what they're doing here.

Overall, I was disappointed in the lack of any real metal, but the overall catchiness of the album really makes up for it. Borrowing from a variety of traditional music styles really makes the album an interesting listen for any fan of folk music. Overall, I'd recommend this album to any folk or metal fans that have nothing against major keys.

Týr has developed into a much-discussed band in the folk metal genre over the last couple of years, and as such everyone seems to have their own opinion on this little band from the Faroe Islands. Most critics seem to agree that they are at the very least an interesting band that produces some quality music, though some equally strong voices have protested that Týr are boring and not exciting enough to really draw attention. Although they have been working on building a decent catalogue of music for quite some time, it has mainly been their previous album Ragnarok that made them more widely popular among the fans. Indeed, in my opinion Ragnarok is the best album that Týr has released to date and it seemed quite a challenge to top such a majestic and exhilarating album. That being said, Týr’s new album Land does not come anywhere near their previous effort for various reasons.

What made Ragnarok a good release was that it was a concept album, based on the portrayal of a single set of events as they unfolded. Because of the concept, it seems the band was put into a story-telling mode and this seems to have been one of the reasons that Ragnarok was such a focused album. On top of that, it turns out that Týr are pretty good at telling stories in their music and it would have been great if they had stuck to that skill. Sadly though, like How Far to Asgaard and Eric the Red, the new album is a collection of random songs. None of the songs have any sort of common ground and this results in a lack of consistency that really hurts this album. There are some pretty good songs on Land, but there are some songs that really do not reach the level that could be expected from a Týr song and that is why Land fails to top the previous album.

The album opens with the song ‘Gandkvæði Tróndar’, which is a pretty pointless song and it would not really be missed if they had not included it here. Basically, it is a 4-minute intro song that has no musical validity of its own and that achieves nothing in setting the tone for the rest of the album, since it is only a mixed bag of tracks. Land is a rather lengthy album to begin with, so it would not have been too bad if they had kept off this song and made it a bit shorter. The same goes for the last song; ‘Hail to the Hammer’ is a remake of the song with the same title that was already featured on the How Far to Asgaard album and why they figured they would put the song on Land escapes me completely. Furthermore, it is not that the song was improved either, because frankly it is exactly the same except for the ending that was extended a bit.

Most of the other songs on this album are your standard Týr fare with adequate playing, lots of viking choir choruses, and lyrics sung mostly in Scandinavian languages. This time around, the boys did not limit themselves to Faroese and English, but decided to add a song in Norwegian. ‘Sinklars Visa’ is a traditional Norwegian song, while other songs such as ‘Brennivín’ and ‘Land’ combine Faroese and English. As far as I am concerned, Týr is definitely one of those bands that should just stick with their native language and not bother with English. It is not that they sound bad or write bad lyrics in English, unlike some other bands (read: Korpiklaani); it is just that the songs that are sung in their native language have a more authentic feel to them than the ones in English and that makes them a lot more enjoyable.

Of course the technical ability is still there. The guys in Týr know how to play their instruments and they are rather capable of writing some nice tunes. One of their main flaws is still ever apparent on Land, however, and that is that the songs tend to be over long and do not contain enough variation or dynamic changes to really keep one's attention. Take the songs ‘Ocean’ and ‘Land’, for instance, which are both over 10 minutes long. Both songs start out quite good, and all is well until about the halfway point where repetitiveness kicks in and the songs still keep dragging on for another 4 minutes or so. Long songs are nice if you can pull them off; but seriously, when a song is finished, it is finished! Why would you keep it going on and on for no apparent reason with random noodlings? And since the songs tend to become overlong, so does the album itself become overlong. I do not mind albums that extend beyond an hour in play time as long as they are filled with interesting music. This album would have been perfect for, say, 40-50 minutes.

It might seem like there are only negative points to be mentioned about the new Týr album, but that is not the case. Land is nowhere near as good as Ragnarok was and it might not even be up to par with Eric the Red, but it is still a pretty decent album that is well worth a couple of spins if you like the genre and/or like the band. It is just that so many of the flaws that Týr have shown before are so much more glaring on this release. Anyway, disappointing Týr albums are still a lot more interesting to listen to than the majority of the new albums that are being released in the folk metal genre.

(Originally written for http://www.gothtronic.com/)

Society is an odd thing to behold; from city to city, country to country, there are certain taboos and standards that reign supreme. They may not be legally enforced but their presence is felt heavily because society likes to assume that everyone is on the same wavelength, or at least in the same range of electromagnetic radiation and because of this it does no appreciate deviations. No one sits in the middle of the road during peak hour traffic and decides to empty their bowels while masturbating furiously, admittedly that does come under the whole 'indecent exposure' thing but regardless; even if it wasn't illegal you still wouldn't do it because it's a social faux pas.

Metalheads aren't a whole lot different really, except their rules are somewhat more lenient but perhaps the most paramount of guidelines is the treatise regarding the protection and sustaining of 'sacred cows'. You know, those bands that you have to like as though it's the law and saying otherwise will result in an unruly mob of cops trying to jam a nightstick up your ass. Týr is one of those bands, and like a lot of sacred cows their title was bestowed upon them with reasons I just can't fathom because they're pretty shit.

Before the torrent of hatred is unleashed and proceeds towards me like raging river of lava ready to engulf me for my transgressions against said sacred cow, I'd like to at least compliment the band for trying to do something different. It's quite obvious that the band has a modicum of intellect and imagination when it comes to song writing, I really cannot flaw them in that respect. Also from a technical point they are all well-versed musicians and their vocalist performs brilliant clean vocals that are melodious without being neither whiny nor weak sounding. Now that I've at least praised some aspects of the band, those of you whom wish to live your happy little bubble where only nice things are said about bands you like I suggest you go sit in a cave on Mars with your eyes closed and your fingers in your eyes. For the rest of you; hazmat suit up, 'cos from here on in there's nothing but wave after wave of vitriolic bile.

So let's bash the genre assigning of this band; progressive viking metal. I hardly see what progressive elements are present in this band; there are two songs that are over ten minutes long and they use some unusual but extremely repetitive melodies but otherwise I'm at loss. They don't change things around that much, nor do they seem to embrace anything that reminds me of progressive metal. In fact the melodies alone don't really belong as a progressive facet and are far more reminiscent of everyone's favourite new, superfluous (read; shit) genre; folk metal. There's nothing exceptionally viking metal about this release either, it reminds of neither Bathory nor Enslaved at all so we toss that out the window. I wasn't aware that simply penning lyrics about viking made one a part of a genre, maybe more power metal bands should write about obtuse medical conditions and surgery. Then they could categorise themselves as goregrind? GENRES DO NOT WORK THAT WAY. This is folk metal through and through, nothing more but nothing less, mainly because there is nothing less than folk metal. In terms of folk metal, Týr is a decent band and probably the lesser of a million of so evils (seriously, how many more bands do we really need?) only usurped by Ensiferum because they have the balls to occasionally write complete metal songs and separate out the shitty folk parts.

Musically speaking 'Land' is probably the worst out of all the Týr releases but to be fair that has more to do with chronological order than it does with their actual music. Awhile ago I finally caved in and listened to a previous Týr album, 'Ragnarok' and came to the conclusion that they are a fun little band but their fans are nothing more than insipid sycophants, wanking each other off while their endless, demented chanting of "This is so deep and progressive" rings out across the land under darkened skies and lightning strikes. 'Land' doesn't sound a whole lot different from ‘Ragnarok’; each song from each album has the same melody to it complimented by obscenely similar song structures and flow. It's really disconcerting that when I listen to 'Land' all I can think of is back to a year ago when I listened to 'Ragnarok'; the similarities are scarily uncanny and no doubt this is never noticed nor considered a flaw by said fans. I'm sure that the standard defence of those fans is to call me ignorant and cite every single moment, time signature and riff in every song as a means to prove that they are different but there's a fatal flaw in approaching music like that. That's not to say that listening to an album over and over won't yield a greater understanding and result in appreciating it more and more, but if I have to listen to any album at least twenty times or more just so I can differentiate between songs or heaven forbid, between albums then something has clearly gone wrong with the writing. It smells fishier than fishery situated next to a brothel with bad ventilation.

Ideally an album should strive for a delicate balance that strikes between being musically adept and/or complex but still achieving a decent degree of memorability or catchiness. The set pieces of Týr's répertoire repeat unabashedly, even after listening to this album for a few times I'd be at a loss as to name a song or even if given enough time, a fucking album that said song came from. Týr are quite devious in that regards, they dress themselves up in some complex melodies, throw out a few good riffs and solos with decent vocals in two languages but underneath it all there's a sense that they know perfectly well that they can recycle this formula ad infinitum and milk the proverbial money cow until it's udder fossilises.

That is where they fail; I would enjoy listening to Týr if they had a pair of bollocks and were willing to stretch themselves creatively but as it stands they seem far too content with releasing the same album over and over in what I like to call 'DT Mitosis'. That condition wherein said band keeps shitting out the same fucking album repeatedly whilst their fanbase rolls around in the filth like decrepit pigs, revelling in the repetitious nature of the band.

Every time I listen to this album I come to the crossroads; to the left is the path of the dark side, hating everything about this band and decrying their name in every corner of the land because it's funny to watch people get angry over shit like this. The other leads down the road to actually enjoying this band, I suppose that would be a different shade of dark side because Týr fans scare me in the same way Opeth fans do; the endless parades and banner waving of "They're deep and progressive!!” Thankfully I remember two things and make the right choice; 1) I have a set of balls. 2) The title track. "Land" is exceedingly convoluted; a haphazard composite construct. Its entirety is an apt summation of the band's sound and every other song they have written is a derivative thereof; it would be of no surprise to learn that this was in fact the first song written for the album. There are some great moments; the initial riffs are quite strong, the vocals are still good and the solos are highly polished and well performed. The rest is drivel; excessive use of melodic sections, the same flow/melody running through the song, plenty of boring riffs. The song is long for the sake of being long, created exclusively for the bragging rights that ensue from having crafted a long song that has different bits in it; the 'Opeth Syndrome'.

You could do a whole lot worse than 'Land', on it's own and in the context of the current music scene it's a mediocre gem in a field containing innumerable mounds composed of faeces, whose heights challenge that of Olympus Mons. If you're a Týr fan you will enjoy this release thoroughly because it's more of the same, but for the rest of us there's not a whole lot to extract from this release that can be deemed as worthwhile. Týr can be summarised as a highly frustrating band that probably have their hearts in the right places but fail at the task of producing varied and interesting metal that has a decent set of balls. Proceed with caution.