Turisas

For the Finnish god, see Iku-Turso.

Turisas
Turisas performing at Jalometalli 2008
Background information
Origin	Hämeenlinna, Finland
Genres	Folk metal, Viking metal, symphonic power metal
Years active	1997-present
Labels	Century Media
Website	www.turisas.com
Members
Mathias Nygård Jussi Wickström Tude Lehtonen Jukka-Pekka Miettinen Olli Vänskä Robert Engstrand
Past members
See former member section

Turisas is a Finnish folk metal band from Hämeenlinna. It was founded in 1997 by Mathias Nygård and Jussi Wickström and named after an ancient Finnish God of war.

Turisas is a folk metal band, incorporating elements of power metal and symphonic metal along with frequent harsh vocals. Turisas is known to play most 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 Turisas' genre (used mainly by Metal Hammer magazine and its readers) but it is not yet recognised as a canonical metal subgenre.

2004-2007 Battle Metal

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.

2007-2010 The Varangian Way

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. Netta was soon after added to the band on a full-time base.

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. The band played at Wacken Open Air in early August 2009 and also played at Bloodstock Open Air in Mid August 2009. The band took time off at the end of 2009 to make a new album and then planned to return as fully-fledged band no longer supporting others. In 2010 the band concentrated on finishing the recordings of the upcoming third album. Still, the band did a short tour in Asia and Australia in May 2010, including headline concerts in Sydney and Melbourne, two gigs in China, a gig in Shanghai World Expo 2010 and a gig in Japan.

2011- Stand Up And Fight

As of March 2010, Turisas announced they are in the studio working on their new album; since then, the band has documented the recording process in a series of studio diary videos on YouTube. The title for the upcoming album, Stand Up and Fight, was revealed on November 11, 2010: the album was released through Century Media on February 28 in Europe and March 8 in North America. New song called The March of the Varangian Guard was performed at the band's Finnish gigs in October 2010 On 17 December 2010, the title track "Stand Up And Fight" was released as a free download on the band's website.

The band have been announced to take part in tours in Mexico/ North America/ Canada with Cradle of Filth, the other supporting bands being Nachtmystium and Daniel Lioneye beginning at the end of January 2011 and in Europe with Die Apokalyptischen Reiter on March–April 2011. They will also be touring England with Crimfall as the supporting band, the shows will also include local support bands at select dates.

Discography

Albums

• Battle Metal (2004)
• The Varangian Way (2007)
• Stand Up and Fight (2011)

Singles

• "To Holmgard and Beyond" (2007)
• "Rasputin" (2007)
• "Supernaut" (2010)
• "Stand Up and Fight" (2010)

DVDs

• A Finnish Summer With Turisas (2008)

Demos

• Taiston Tie - The Battle Path (1998)
• Unnamed Promo (1999)
• The Heart of Turisas (2001)

Videography

Video	Album	Length	Year	Copyright
Battle Metal	Battle Metal	4:23	2008	Century Media
Rasputin	The Varangian Way	3:56	2007	Century Media
Stand Up And Fight	Stand Up And Fight	5:28	2011	Century Media

Band members

Current members

• Mathias "Warlord" Nygård – vocals, percussion (since 1997)
• Jussi Wickström – guitar (since 1997)
• Jukka-Pekka Miettinen - bass guitar (ex-Ensiferum) (since 2011)
• Tuomas "Tude" Lehtonen – drums, percussion (since 1997)
• Olli Vänskä – violin (since 2007)
• Robert Engstrand - keyboard (since 2011)

Former members

• Janne Mäkinen – accordion (2007–2008)
• Antti Ventola – keyboard (1997–2007)
• Georg Laakso – guitar (ex-Cadacross) (1999–2006)
• Ari Kärkkäinen – guitar (1997–1999)
• Sami Aarnio – bass guitar
• Tino Ahola – bass guitar
• Mikko Törmikoski – bass guitar (until 2004)
• Hannes "Hanu" Horma – bass guitar (2007–2011)
• Netta Skog – accordion (2007–2011)

Former live session musicians

• Riku Ylitalo – accordion, keyboards
• Wincef Boncamper – accordion
• Antti Laurila – accordion

External links

• Official website
• Century Media Records
• Turisas on Myspace
• Interview with Turisas at ME Metalhour
• Olli´s Interview - HallOfMetal
• Official YouTube channel