 
Turisas happen to be one of the only so called
“battle metal” bands that I genuinely
enjoy and follow, mostly because they are a genuine
laugh to listen to and their live shows are a
lot of fun! At least they were whilst supporting
Dragonforce back in 2008, which was an absolutely
phenomenal show.
Anyway they are back now with their third studio
album “Stand Up and Fight” which could
go down 1 of 2 roads; either it will be extremely
heavy like their debut “Battle Metal”
or it will go down a more theme infused road like
2007’s “The Varangian Way” which
took a more melodic approach and took a bigger
step into the themes and alternative instruments
within their genre with much less screaming.
Time to find out then; the first track “The
March of the Varangian Guard” is quite melodic
and catchy but still has that metal edge that
keeps the heads banging along to it. That style
is carried forward in to the second track “Take
the Day!” (Which to start with does sound
like something you’d hear on a film or game
when there’s a montage or march happening),
parts of this song are quite heavy and bouncy,
and I imagine it would be good for a live show.
Much of the album is much progressed from the
other 2 releases and not stale like a fair few
bands 3rd releases. “Hunting Pirates”
is just brilliant! It’s a great sing along
and fun to listen to and it’s not the only
track that’s great fun to listen to, there’s
also “The Great Escape” which has
a pretty damn cool riff in it with a very bouncy
edge to the song.
“Venetoi! – Prasinoi!” oh my
good God is this a heavy track after the first
half, the drumming and vocals in here are just
purely metal and there’s even a breakdown!
“Fear The Fear” is also on par with
that for one of the heaviest songs on the album
purely for the end of the track, the last minute
is purely damn heavy fast metal screaming and
all sorts of goodness. “Stand Up and Fight”
has potential to be their new anthem, mighty fine
chorus it will make for a very good sing along
at future shows.
So when you look at how it links into previous
albums it’s like they’ve took a very
good look at both of them, extracted all the amazing
points within and integrated them all into one
album with a few more new elements. The outcome
is one of their best albums to date I see them
gaining huge recognition for this album and leaving
a big imprint in their legacy.
5/5
Review by James Webb
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