YES! There still is justice in Metal! After the Faroese heroes of TÝR had already raised quite a stir in the underground with their two albums “How Far To Asgaard?“ and “Erik The Red“ they now finally have scored the much deserved record deal and not with a no-name label, no, with Styrian Napalm Records, who undoubtedly are increasing their musical spectrum, but let’s be honest, with TÝR’s quality no label can forego an offer like this, now can it?

“Erik The Red“ (via Napalm) is the second album of the quartet around Heri Joensen, re-released, with two bonus tracks off the debut and a new cover and since Hawk, Ralf and Frodi have had the honour to review the first two CDs, I know also can let my words of praise flow. Basically TÝR play very traditional, epic Heavy Metal, but at the same time they sound fresh and different than all the others, because they also are deeply rooted in Faroese folklore, both lyrically and musically.

There are several trademarks that put their stamp on the TÝR sound. Besides at times pretty unusual (yet still very smooth) melodies and song structure, Heri’s voice, which sounds unusual, yet good and powerful, the brilliant choirs and the fact that the guys have transported several Faroese Folk songs into Metal, which to these ears is a big plus!

“The Edge“ sets out with it’s a bit unusual, slow rhythm, above which Heri’s voice is heralding the story, before everything is crowned by an absolutely brilliant choir, which takes you captive from the first listen on. And then comes the first traditional track with “Regin Smiđur“, with a super-epic beginning, which realises this epic story in an even more epic and varied way, with another one of these irresistible choirs, great, great, great! And they continue pound after pound, “Stýrisvřlurin“, the faster “Ólavur Riddararós“, the heavy stomping title track, one highlight follows the next! One surprise was the cover version of the old Irish tune “The Wild Rover“, which indeed sounds pretty merry (as Frodi had already mentioned), but of course it is very well done, too!

Framed by a powerful production TÝR are one of those bands, which will hold the flag of Metal high in the future as well and I recommend this album to absolutely all fans of melodic Metal and am eagerly awaiting the third epos (and for that one I will keep half a point in the rating)! (Online March 16, 2006)