Review Summary: A decent Viking metal album that unfortunately misses the whole point of the genre - to make you feel like a Viking.
I really don’t know what to say about this album. Being new to folk metal, it’s hard for me to make any kind of reasonable judgement on any album of this genre. What I do know however is that what I ultimately want from a Viking metal album is to feel like a Viking. To actually conjure images in my head of epic battles between bearded blokes with bloody battleaxes (woah that’s a lot of b’s), and not only this, but actually make me want to be there, charging with axe in hand, ready to chop off the nearest enemy’s head. And it’s here that Turisas and their second full-length album,
The Varangian Way, ultimately fails. I listen to it, and I don’t conjure images of epic battles or blood splattered axes, and by the end of the album I had failed to picture even one longboat.
Now, this doesn’t mean the album is necessarily bad, it’s just not what I was expecting. Certainly the folk elements, and the classical string and horn sections add an epic nature to the songs, but this is the only part of their music that feels Viking-like. Despite it’s best efforts, this album doesn’t make me want to go out to murder and pillage, or grow a beard and go to war (a good OR bad thing, depending on how you look at it).
It’s a shame really, because the tracks themselves are actually pretty solid. Opener
To Holmgard and Beyond mixes up standard metal and folk music pretty well, and manages to find a good balance so one doesn’t overpower the other. This continues throughout the album, and the two elements trade off one another pretty well in certain songs, like
Cursed Be Iron, creating a folky ambience in the verses while thrashing away during the chorus, complete with some actually pretty decent screams. The best song by a long shot though is the 8 min epic,
Miklagard Overture, which essentially takes all the best elements of the album, blends them together, and adds massive classical orchestrations and epic vocals to create the most dramtic track on the album. The only song I really dislike is
In the Court of Jarisleif, because while it is certainly original, it just sounds like an outtake from the Lord of the Rings stage show, so much so you can almost picture the hobbits dancing on the tavern table, pints of ale in hand, and hairy feet in the stew.
The classical sections of their songs, and the overly dramatic vocals however, end up making this sound like the perfect soundtrack to a Viking stage musical. And when you look at a picture of the band, you can almost imagine them on stage singing to the wonderfully quaint audience. And it’s here where another problem lies, Vikings are meant to be tough, bearded, battle-hardened warriors, and this is exactly what Turisas aren’t. Sure the war paint is all well and good, but seriously, what kind of Viking would watch, let alone perform in, stage musicals? Their image is cheesy and clichéd, and it makes the album near impossible to listen to without giggling like a schoolgirl every time you picture the band in their war paint and “battle clothes”.
It’s obvious I have mixed feelings about this album, sure the epicness and catchy nature of the songs is fantastic, but the heart and soul of the Viking theme is non-existent. The overly dramatic vocals and classical orchestrations make this sound like the soundtrack to a stage musical, not the soundtrack to a bloody battle. Ultimately this is a marmite album: if you love folk metal, and it’s never-ending list of themes then you’ll most certainly enjoy
The Varangian Way. If however, you prefer your Viking metal to be brutal and fast-paced like the battles they portray, then I’d suggest steering your longboat to elsewhere.
Overall - 3/5
Recommended Tracks
To Holmgard and Beyond
Cursed Be Iron
Fields of Gold
Miklagard Overture
