Turisas
Turisas |
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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, with some influences taken from symphonic metal. Turisas is known to play all 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 folk metal (used mainly by Metal Hammer magazine and its readers) but it is not a canonical metal subgenre.
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.
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. [5] 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.[6] The band played at Wacken Open Air in early August 2009 and also played at Bloodstock Open Air in Mid August 2009.[7] Also there are plans for them to take a year out at the end of 2009 to make a new album and then return as fully-fledged band no longer supporting others. As of March 2010, they 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.[8]
Discography
Albums
- Battle Metal (2004)
- The Varangian Way (2007)
Singles
- "To Holmgard and Beyond" (2007)
- "Rasputin" (2007)
DVDs
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 |
Band members
Current members
- Mathias "Warlord" Nygård – vocals, percussion (since 1997)
- Jussi Wickström – guitar (since 1997)
- Hannes "Hanu" Horma – bass guitar (since 2007)
- Tuomas "Tude" Lehtonen – drums, percussion (since 1997)
- Olli Vänskä – violin (since 2007)
- Netta Skog – accordion (since 2008)
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)
Former live session musicians
- Riku Ylitalo – accordion, keyboards
- Wincef Boncamper – accordion
- Antti Laurila – accordion
References
- ^ Born, R. "Turisas biography". MusicMight. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
- ^ a b Deming, Mike. "Turisas biography". Allmusic. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
- ^ Bowar, Chad. "The Varangian Way review". About.com. Retrieved 2009-03-13.
- ^ "TURISAS Announces London Headlining Show". Blabbermouth.net. 2007-01-19. Retrieved 2009-03-13.
- ^ Komodo Rock | Turisas Release Making Of Rasputin Video
- ^ "Cradle of Filth, Moonspell, Turisas to team up for "Filthfest Tour"". Blabbermouth.net. February 26, 2009. Retrieved February 26, 2009.
- ^ http://www.bloodstock.uk.com/bands-line-up.php, Bloodstock Open Air Festival 2009 lineup.
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/user/turisasofficial, Official YouTube channel of Turisas
External links
