So TYR play viking metal. And they are Viking in all respects as you’ll mention when studying their album or visiting their site. They seem to be quite dedicated to, and convinced of the importance of, their cultural heritage. One could wonder however if, for all those who grew, well maybe just a little bit, tired of the hundreds of metal bands with the plundering and pillaging Norsemen as their emblem, there’s a reason to pick up this re-release of Eric The Red and give it a try. But I’d say you just might do that. TYR play a less common type of viking metal and even slip in some entirely original ideas. They sound somewhere between Black Sabbath/Iron Maiden and more traditional folk/viking inspired acts, like for example a slowed-down Manegarm. Their riffs are obviously classically inspired and the band, at times, really impress with instrumental parts, showing skillful musicianship. This surfaces especially in their soloing, which ranges from harmonic to the out-of-tune screeching so well known from Slayer.

The songs vary from up-tempo danceable tunes (‘The Wild Rover’), complicate riff-heavy pieces (‘Alive’), to more straightforward metal anthems (‘Dreams’). The whole atmosphere of the hymns is dominated by the vocals that range from the usual chanting to a quite high-pitched clean voice. And these sadly completely ruin the experience from time to time, as they follow relatively simple melody-lines and waver in quality. What adds to the nuisance are the lyrics, which are clearly audible, and do not really deliver high-aimed messages, wailing on about battles that must go on how things would be if you were to be free… Hard to reach a verdict, because I for myself can say I won’t put them on again very soon, mainly because of the one-dimensional singing. I can imagine this being a nice break with the usual black and death metal inspired battle hordes however, for someone that likes schooled guitar work and really likes Vikings.