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Equilibrium > Turis Fratyr > 2005, CD, Black Attakk Records (Digipak) > Reviews
Equilibrium - Turis Fratyr

Hazy Production Clouding Potential Greatness - 79%

Ergonal, August 9th, 2018

Turis Fratyr may be touted as being Equilibrium’s greatest achievement, an undiluted injection of folk metal mastery, but if observed outside of the context of nostalgia, the supposed mastery of this album comes with its fair share of flaws. What determines the quality of this album is a hodge-podge of various attributes, and while some of them are on point, other fall flat on their face. The songwriting and the atmosphere are two of Turis Fratyr’s unmatched aspects, but the execution and instrumentation leave very much to be desired. That is not to say that it is irredeemable, however; otherwise the rating would not have been as high as it is.

In terms of the actual songwriting, I don’t think it’s controversial to say that some of Equilibrium’s greatest ideas were showcased with this release. I used to think that the album was but a lazy attempt to extend the fantastic ideas from their 2003 demo into a full length album, but in retrospect some of the album’s best moments were from entirely new songs, like “Wingthor’s Hammer” and “Widars Hallen”, and even some of “Tote Heldensagen” provided new and interesting sounds. It’s an appropriate balance between their earliest material and a few masterworks developed in the few years in between. The melodies are extremely catchy and they would stick in the listener’s head longer than they do if it weren’t for the fact that almost every song is memorable in its own right. One might be still humming “Wingthor’s Hammer” to themselves when suddenly the unforgettable tune of “Under Der Eiche” hits like a ton of bricks as soon as the main riff opens up. In fact, “Under Der Eiche” and “Nordheim” have melodies so intensely memorable that one could swear that they’ve heard it elsewhere before. It’s totally original and totally timeless, and so are the main themes and tropes of most of the songs on this album. There is especial grit and ferociousness to “Widars Hallen”, though, if only for the in-your-face sound it conveys, forcing not only the listener’s attention but their astonishment. The themes that counter the main themes, too, have a near and dear place in one’s ear, which act as a kind of response to the ferocity of the main themes with a healthy dose of sanity, grounding the album in some classic melodic death metal riffs. I think of this primarily in “Die Prophezeiung” and “Nordheim”.

There is an icy chill to the feel of Turis Fratyr, which bridges the gap between the songwriting itself and the instrumentation. The use of the woodwind instruments, one would think, would bring almost a sort of musical “humidity” to the album. However, with the use of the pan flute in “Nordheim” and the higher-pitched flutes in some of the original additions to the album, paired with the synthesizer influence all throughout, the mood presented is colder and far less accommodating. Turis Fratyr in that sense bears an acquired taste, but it is the elements of this acquired taste where the positives of the instrumentation come to an end.

The guitar tone is bland. Nowhere is this more evident than on “Der Sturm”, easily the worst song on the album, but without the atmospheric flavoring scattered throughout the rest of this release, it would not be nearly as delicious of an album. Furthermore, even when the atmosphere is quite good, the instrumentation which made the songs so enjoyable initially is forgone as each song progresses, and I can never understand why. The main melodies of the choruses and the synthetic partners to the bland riffs seem to have been left by the wayside in the last few minutes of “Wingthor’s Hammer”, “Widars Hallen”, “Nordheim”, and “Tote Heldensagen”. Sure, there is a time for subtlety, but that time is not whenever you’re trying to end your song with a big shebang. Like I mentioned before, it just causes it to fall flat. Take for example, the ¾ time theme halfway through “Tote Heldensagen”: it appears in brevity in the background, and as the song builds to what is expected to be a massive release of this trope, it holds itself in, almost as if it doesn’t realize how good of songwriting it actually is. That is how the shortcomings of Turis Fratyr can be summarized: it is too timid to just let loose and let the high-quality songwriting govern its instrumentation.

The instrumental songs are cute, but also kind of useless, seemingly only in place to create the guise of the album’s longevity. There are twelve songs on the album, but in actuality there are only eight if the instrumentals are excluded. Those eights songs are quite solid, overall, but I see no need to dilute the whole album with four tracks that don’t really add a whole lot of meatiness to the album itself. Keep “Im Fackelschein”, and if absolutely necessary “Wald Der Freiheit”, but “Heimdalls Ruf” and “Turis Fratyr” just need to go.

Turis Fratyr is not a bad album. In fact, it’s a quite good album. The biggest problem is that it doesn’t realize that it could be phenomenal. In fact, the inadequate execution and poor mixing seems much like a shameful cover-up of feigned quality, blocking the way to the best part: the songwriting itself.

More than just epic - 96%

PorcupineOfDoom, December 27th, 2014

Their demo was brilliant, so I had very high expectations of Equilibrium's first full-length album Turis Fratyr. And right the way across this album, those expectations were met. Every song showcases exactly how good the mix of genres this band uses work together and there isn't a dull point on this album.

There are five of the tracks from the demo on this record, but I'd be lying if I said that I was shocked and felt that they shouldn't have done that. In all honesty I would be more worried if they'd passed up the opportunity to re-use them. They're all excellent songs anyway, and it doesn't affect the quality of the album in any way.

Once again, the lyrics of the songs are in German, just as the titles are. I can tell you that much, but not really anything else beyond that. The most likely answer as to what the vocalist is snarling about is the typical myths and legends about vikings and the like. Lyrics don't mean much to me, so nothing's lost by the use of a foreign language. That's not really what epic metal is about anyway.

The keyboard is an unusual entity because it doesn't sound like the keyboard in most bands. It's higher and has a very distinct tone to it. I described it as sounding like a flute at times in my review for the band's demo, and that same sound is present again here. Yet despite being such an unusual sound it fits in so well with everything else. That's even weirder given that it contrasts to much with the other instruments, but it feels like it belongs there.

The guitars and drums are for the most part fairly plain and deliver the power that you'd expect from viking metal, but they do more than what's required of them and I find them very nice to listen to. They could just play the same thing on repeat for the entirety of the album, but they choose not to and add something extra to the band. Perhaps it's to accommodate the keyboard, but the guitars create melodic sections of their own as well.

A lot of the stuff across this album has a similar sort of feel to it, and although that is in no way a bad thing when Equilibrium do it so well, the slightly different Tote Heldensagen wins my vote because it is a breath of fresh air. It's longer than the other songs and has a more epic feel to it as a result, and even though it has its similarities too it has a personality of its own. It's kind of hard to place your finger on exactly what it is, but there's just something different about it.

There aren't really many words to describe how good this album is, but while you're listening to it you're hardly even on planet Earth anymore. It's just a pleasure to listen to music like this even if it isn't a genre that I'm very familiar with, and I can't see anyone disliking this album at all.

A monument to past glory - 95%

MaDTransilvanian, May 8th, 2010

Originality can have strange and unexpected effects on a band’s evolution. In Equilibrium’s case, their breakthrough album, Sagas, is in some ways a much more original and unique effort than the debut, placing the band in the spotlight of attention. However, its quality and consistency suffered quite a bit because of the evident effort to make the music stick out from its (at this point numerous) peers, and as a result it’s considerably inferior to this, their outstanding debut album. However, now that many bands try to go for the exact same formula of inserting plenty of stuff into their music, the attempted uniqueness of such efforts tends to become a sort of conformity in itself, rendering the original take on the genre more fresh and interesting.

Turis Fratyr may not have the overblown bombast or the uniqueness of its successor, but it simply crushes it in terms of quality. Here Equilibrium played a mixture of folk/viking metal the way it was meant to be: epic, straightforward, aggressive but with the necessary clean sections all the while avoiding the various collection of elements some bands (including them later on) would constantly insert into the music. Simplicity and straightforwardness are the key words here, and there’s little major variation throughout. That’s actually very good since it makes for an extremely coherent album. The album is still interesting though, with the presence of many tempo changes (intensity of tracks such as Wingthors Hammer and indeed the entire first half of the album, versus the slower second half) and alternations between the simple and effective growls (and some rasps more reminiscent of black metal in places) and the rare but well-placed, slow clean singing.

One of the most important things for epic folk/viking metal bands is their ability to infuse the large amounts of atmosphere necessary for their albums to sound convincing as hails to the pagan past of their forefathers. This is the reason why bands who only focus on sounding happy and making drinking music fail so horribly as folk metal bands while bands who take on a more serious approach to their lyrical and musical themes tend to be much more successful. Equilibrium have it almost completely made on this album, since it’s aggressive enough to sound like they mean it without sounding goofy or retarded at all (well, almost… but we’ll get to that soon) while the all-German lyrics follow a similar path. The songwriting is concise and effective, not having random overlong meanders which go nowhere, and manages to keep the listener’s attention even through the longest tracks (which reach about 9 minutes).

Although aggressive, the music here is also quite melodic in many places, due to the generous use of keyboards. Fortunately, however, the keyboards are used to complement the high quality guitar work and not to bury it deep in the mix as some inferior bands like to do. Furthermore, the melodies never sound overly cheesy and work very well with every other element of the music, all of which are integrated to near-perfection and individually enjoyable as well. The drumming is precise and technical without being excessively present in the mix, while the guitar riffs are enjoyable if not the most outstanding stuff in the world (this isn’t a Gothenburg “solos abound” album).

So the production, the instrumentals, the vocals, the songwriting, the lyrics, the atmosphere, all those things are pulled off with talent and competence. A perfect album, you ask? Not quite: after the soft, enjoyable clean section at the end of Widars Hallen come the two-and-a-half minutes of utter retardation that is Met. This song sticks out like a sore thumb from the otherwise brilliant album for two simple reasons: from the very beginning, the instrumentals are reminiscent of moron-bands like Finntroll in their wannabe party/moshing rhythm, while the vocals are actively irritating during the awful chorus, when Helge keeps yelling/growling/rambling “Met! Met! Met!” over and over in a truly annoying voice that was fortunately only used here. This song truly sounds like Finntroll and/or some of their fans were set loose in the studio for a few minutes, and the album suffers as a result.

Beyond that little irritation which can simply be skipped, the album is a masterpiece of folk/viking metal. It’s most impressive for a relatively unknown band’s debut and is their best album by a considerable margin (and by the looks of things, that isn’t about to change…). Turis Fratyr is worth a listen as a highly successful attempt at the genre, independently of what one may think of the band’s newer material. This is the real Equilibrium, may they be remembered for what they were once able to do.

Delusions of historic grandeur and battle - 75%

autothrall, January 18th, 2010

The 21st century has brought us a great many artists who walk the margins of multiple styles, without ever committing fully to one or the other. Equilibrium is one such artist, and their hybrid of death metal, symphonic and Viking elements has placed them well upon the map, with an appeal to fans of peers like Ensiferium, Thyfing, Finntroll, and Turisas. Like these other bands, I can't help but feel Bal-Sagoth was an influence with their unusual, goofy keyboard epics. Upon Turis Fratyr, the keyboard is the central element. The guitars churn and chug as needed, and sound quite thick and powerful, but the orchestration of the music is what places the writing just far enough into the memory. This was a pretty big debut album, and while it's successor Sagas is mildly superior, there are a number of tracks here I enjoyed, and a few that lay forgotten.

The band likes to perform a lot of glorious, charging rhythms, and while these can be fun and create the desired effect, often the synth lines and subcurrent riffing feels just too generic for its own good. Helge Stang can grunt or snarl, fusing a medium between the two genres which have birthed this band's sound (three if you count power metal, for which an argument could be made). The guitars and synthesizers frolic through a lot of bouncy, happy rhythms that would do any Finntroll or Korpiklaani proud, though the lyrical theme is pretty much pure Norse myth-history.

The title track is a brief, ambient intro that leads into "Wingthor's Hammer", which is a little sampling of what lies in store for the next hour of listening. It's flighty and silly sounding, but also kind of cool if you just don't bite too deeply into it. The verse guitars chug along below a slew of atmosphere, as Stang alters his vocals in an almost conversational pattern. "Unter Der Eiche" starts with some nice synths, and then another pretty glorious, if unmemorable charging gallop, before biting off the melody from the Biblical hymn "We Three Kings". "Der Sturm" builds a good momentum, though its core riff is once again fueled by a very generic pattern of notes that is easily eclipsed by anything else the band swerves into at any point in the song. "Widars Hallen" has a nice flute melody which almost feels like a sea shanty, and up to this point it may have been the most memorable track on the album, perfect for taking your girlfriend to the Renaissance Faire after watching the Peter Jackson Tolkien trilogy. "Met" is one of the most identifiable tracks on the album, sounding very much like Finntroll...almost too much. Like if you told me this was a missing track from Jakten's Tid, I might believe you, aside from a slight hint in the German lyrics.

"Heimdall's Ruf" is a bombastic, atmospheric intro the further frolicking synths of "Die Prophezeiung", which is a solid track with some nice melodic death guitar lines packed in. "Nordheim" becomes fairly fun, the synthwork is again delightful and playful like kids playing Hobbits vs. Mordor or a re-enactment of Die Nibelung at the park. I do like the way the chords function below the synth at the 2:00 point. "Im Fackelschein" features about two minutes of lush, acoustic calm, before the might of "Toten Heldensagen", which is the longest track on the album, and one of the best. I wasn't sure I'd be able to stomach 9+ minutes of Equilibrium's musings, but this has a more energetic, serious tone than most of the other songs and makes for a firm showcase of the band's potential (and it's up to the level of most of the tracks on Sagas). "Wald der Freiheit" ends the original album with another lush landscape of synth, but the bonus track "Shingo Murata" is another soaring epic which recalls Bal-Sagoth and Finntroll.

It was rather inevitable that this brand of shallower, orchestrated epic metal was going to procreate as the medium has once again grown in popularity around the world, but at least we've got some bands giving it their best. Equilibrium are no geniuses, but if you can shut off your mind for an hour then you'll find enough meat here to marinate with your delusions of historic grandeur and battle. Again, Sagas is a better representation of the band, but Turis Fratyr has a share of quality moments amidst the rather middling cavalry breaks.

Highlights: Widars Hallen, Met, Toten Heldensagen

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Great and Consistent Album - 100%

Dragonscar, October 16th, 2009

Turis Fratyr is a great demonstration of some of the high-quality folk metal available today. It boasts some of the most ferociously epic songs that you can find and there are few songs on the album that don't live up to that.

The first track I heard from this album was Wingthor's Hammer after scouting around on Youtube. I immediately fell in love with this track and blindly bought the album without hearing any others. I can tell you that it was far from a mistake.

Turis Fratyr starts with an instrumental introduction of the same name and leads on to the first proper track. Wingthor's Hammer is an incredibly well written song, reflecting the album as a whole well. I feel there is an element of softness to the way the instruments sound. The rhythm guitar isn't as predominant as it is in other folk metal bands and the mild keyboard sounds complement the guitar well. Like thunder behind an audioscape of birds at dawn, the harsh vocals add a sweet pinch of contrast to the album.

The use of instrumentals in the album is masterful demonstration of the writer's talents and when in the mood, listening to these can be an extremely touching experience. Although, the slow and downbeat atmospheres of the instrumentals can be an unsightly change from some of the more upbeat tracks, especially when you want something faster and more lively.

Tracks like Nordheim and Die Prophezeiung display just how much music can take you on a journey. Whilst listening to these tracks, I feel like I'm within another world. The album takes you on a journey running over wide, green meadows to standing upon mountains holding an intense feeling of power within you.

Overall, I believe this is a great and faultless album. If you like folk metal then I suggest you grab yourself a copy; it'll be well worth your time and money. This a great sounding album that will captivate you for months on end.

The word epic doesn't do this justice - 99%

The_Boss, November 16th, 2007

When I'm listening to Equilibrium's debut album, Turis Fratyr, I don't always find myself being on earth. I seem to drift off into another world, I'm on a journey travelling on sprawling landscapes with a group of my closest metal warriors. The surroundings are typical science fiction settings but that of maybe a Lord of the Rings type where I'm encompassed by all things related; I'm walking alongside dwarves, fighting with elves, and riding into battle. This is more than an album, it's a breathtaking experience that I have not gone through in a long time. As the title suggests, the word epic does not do Turis Fratyr justice, epic in nature created by melodic folky tunes mixed with a deep growled frontman all overlapped with brilliant orchestrations that give the atmosphere the grandiose feeling. The orchestrations and symphonic arrangements are simply awesome, folky yet also bombastic in the style of other bands of this ilk allowing the listener to jump into the actual music he/she's listening to an experiencing it firsthand.

Hailing from Germany, Equilibrium plays a style of metal mixing Viking themed elements with a folky atmosphere reminscent of Finntroll all combined with a main fueling of fast paced and majestic death metal highly melodic in nature similar to Wintersun or Turisas. Another genre defying band the members are all highly competent and equally skilled. The vocalist Helge Stang bursts out of nowhere with some earshattering and throatripping shrieks and yells that simply yell VIKING! The guitarists are well rounded, adapting to slower tempo songs with ease yet transitioning into hyper speed with blazing folky melodic riffs that easily match guitarists of the genre. There are even a few guitar solos that pop in at great times aiding to the cause of breaking your neck at high speeds. The keyboards used in this album are not of the style you'll find in Rhapsody or Freedom Call, they are used here as a main instrument, but not in the way that it's overbearing but highly atmospheric and adding to the epic sense. I cannot stress how fucking epic this is mostly based to that and the brilliant orchestrations.

I find myself in absolute awe how well executed the production and arrangements were for this debut album. As noticed in the first 4 songs excluding obligatory opening the album starts off with a bang and could not have opened up better. Songs like Wingthor's Hammer and Unter der Eiche start us off with a half midtempo half speedy onslaught of wonderful folky melodies interlaced with the symphonic elements and the gruff Stang ripping his vocal chords with those killer growls.

Der Sturm ups the bar on the album epic-wise pleasuring our ears with a nice placed guitar solo and to me along with Widars Hallen are the best songs on the album maybe the best songs in this whole 'subgenre' of music. Fucking epic, I cannot stop emphasizing this! The feeling I gain when I hear the back up chorus and symphony is unbelievable, Der Sturm is a speedy number that when I hear this song I really can find myself walking along the giant halls and corridors in the Mines of Moria next to the Fellowship of the Ring looking up at the vast caverns and feeling overwhelmed by this majestic attack of melody. There's one point where Stang rips out a very lengthy yell that I can't grasp how hard it must be, excellent vocals. Widars Hallen is most likely the highlight of the album spanning in at over 8 minutes, it takes us on a winding path of folk inspired riffage and once again making the listener feel like they are riding on the backs of the Ents in Middle Earth.

Equilibrium have placed the necessary folky interludes but there is a great diversity. Ranging from epic non vocal melodic pieces to short songs that display a certain range of gruffer intensity that mixes in formally and well put. Songs like Met are similar to what you might find on a Finntroll album, humppa inspired and gruff almost grunted vocals, while Heimdal's Ruf is very tranquil and allowing the audience to relax while being lulled by warlike drum chants and the symphonic airing of a majestic keyboard or flute that takes you into the heart of a field riding your horse off to strange lands.

Turis Fratyr is only a debut but it is a very mature release with excellent production and majestic makings. Equilibrium have a bright future and if they continue to release quality material like this I expect them to be at the forefront of the metal community. Each member of Equilibrium are essential for making this work, which I think the cohesion in this is perfect allowing for a great mature release. I can list many adjectives or synonyms of epic that will help me in describing Turis Fratyr, but I simply wouldn't do it justice. It has such an aura or atmosphere around it where you are in a different place and time but yet at the same time still listening and headbanging to a metal album. A good fucking metal album at that. HIghly recommended.

Intense and Epic Viking Metal. - 90%

Karhunkynsi, August 20th, 2007

Here in the United States, Germany’s Equilibrium is relatively unknown. I consider myself one of the lucky few to have stumbled across them. When I first heard them, I was amazed—few bands have ever grabbed my attention from the start and absolutely refused to let go. “Turis Fratyr” is Equilibrium’s first full-length release, but this isn’t evident at all; it’s quite a refined piece of work.

The band refers to itself as “Epic Viking Metal,” and fans have consistently described the music as “bombastic.” I agree with both of these statements, though the genre is not so easy to pinpoint—there are many, many elements here. Equilibrium is not exactly an original band. However, they’ve managed to take things that have been done already and add their own twist.

The music utilizes keys to produce a folk-inspired atmosphere, while the driving, melodic guitars and drums churn at blazing speeds. The vocals are very blackish, yet singer Helge Stang is capable of growling deep, death metal vocals that rival those of Johan Hegg of Amon Amarth. It’s almost unbelievable how catchy the music is. The band definitely knows how to write a memorable song.

After a short intro track, the crushing chords of “Wingthors Hammer” draw the listener in. This song is a taste of what’s to come. “Unter der Eiche” is very melodious and a prime example of the catchiness Equilibrium weaves into their music, while “Tote Heldensagen” can only be described as epic. The mighty “Widars Hallen” deserves the highest praise. This song is simply fantastic, and effectively sums up everything that Equilibrium is trying to do with this album.

Throughout various listens of this album, the music painted a vivid mental image of cold, snowy mountains, deities, vast forests and victorious battle. The sole exclusion is “Met,” a drinking song, and their most popular—it’s just damn fun.

The biggest problem with “Turis Fratyr” is its latter half. While the first six or so tracks pummel the listener and keep them interested, the album drops pace and begins to drag along until “Tote Heldensagen.” There is not a bad song here, but better track placement may have prevented this tedium in the listening experience.

Equilibrium has certainly set the bar very, very high. Their next album, “Sagas,” is due out late 2007—can they top their debut? Only time will tell, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Not too original, yet very good.. - 92%

Sandr, September 23rd, 2005

The cover of the cd draw my attention, although I never really heard about this band before. But from the first moment I heard this band, I was totally convinced of the qualtiy of Equilibrium. They are quite a young band, but they managed to deliver a very professional, diverse album which only makes me more curious about what this band can achieve in the future.

But this is already a very good record. While listening it, you can hear influences from Finntroll, Ensiferum, Moonsorrow, but also from some symphonic black metalbands. But these guys (and one girl) are not copying, it just sounds too good and they have come with some really catchy songs. This band really knows how to write a good song which is the most important aspect of almost every musician. They also add small details (female voice, guitar solo) as the finishing touch to some songs.

As already mentioned, this band plays pagan/viking metal. The lyrics deal about ancient times and mythology and add to the atmosphere of the music (if you understand the German language). The quality is quite constant and Widars Hallen (a really brilliant song!) and Tote Heldensagen are the best tracks.