Tyr – Valkyrja

Band: Týr
Album: Valkyrja
Record Label: Metal Blade Records
Release Date: September 16th 2013
Reviewed By: Rich Dodgin

Track Listing:
1.  Blood of Heroes
2.  Mare of My Night
3.  Hel Hath No Fury
4.  The Lay of Our Love
5.  Nation
6.  Another Fallen Brother
7.  Grindavísan
8.  Into the Sky
9.  Fánar Burtur Brandaljóð
10. Lady of the Slain
11. Valkyrja
12. Where Eagles Dare
13. Cemetery Gates

Standout Tracks:  Blood of Heroes, Lady of the Slain, The Lay of Our Love

For Fans of:  Folk Metal / Power Metal

Týr is a folk metal band from the Faroe Islands whose subject matter revolves around Viking lore, mythology, and history (Týr is the Norse god of law and justice), and Valkyrja is their seventh full-length release.

I’m not a huge fan of folk metal, and I have to admit I don’t know a great deal about the scene or the band within it.  So reviewing this album was a very pleasant surprise for me as I honestly had no idea what to expect.

This is an album of uplifting folk / battle metal, with soaring anthems and lyrics about warriors, battles, and love.  Valkyrja is a concept album with a story line based loosely around an anonymous Viking age warrior who leaves his woman and goes off to impress the Valkyrie on the battlefield so that she may bring him to Valhalla, or to Fólkvangr, the home of Freyja—the goddess associated with love, sexuality, beauty, fertility, gold, sorcery, war, and death.

The musicanship and production on this album is first class.  The vocals of Heri Joensen suit the music perfectly and do a fantastic job conjuring up images of heroic quests and epic battles of old, and the guitar work and drumming is excellent, with more than enough to keep the listener interested and ensuring that something new is discovered with each and every play.  The songs are catchy as hell and I found myself playing them in my head again and again.

My favourite tracks were ‘Blood of Heroes’, ‘Lady of the Slain’, and ‘The Lay of Our Love’ (which features Leaves Eyes vocalist Liv Kristine for a duet), but every track on the album is beautifully done and there is no filler here at all.  I’m not sure that the inclusion of a cover of Iron Maiden track ‘Where Eagles Dare’ really fits with the rest of the album, but Týr have managed to give it their own sound so it doesn’t jar too much.

If you are a fan of folk or power metal I would definitely recommend Valkyrja, and if like me you haven’t listened to much of this genre but are musically open-minded I would definitely give this a listen because with Valkyrja Týr have created an album of the highest quality.

Score:  8.5 out of 10