This was another record I picked up on our recent trip to the Faroe Islands. While Týr haven’t released on the TUTL Records label since 2003, the retail shop still proudly carries albums by their metal countrymen. And there are a lot of Týr albums – Battle Ballads is their ninth full-length, plus they’ve got a live record with The Symphony Orchestra of the Faroe Islands and a pair of compilations. They’re definitely prolific.
While it’s easy to put Týr into the “viking metal” category based on their themes and imagery, that single genre is a bit too limiting when it comes to describing their sound. Is Battle Ballads metal? Of course it is! Do the guitars shred? Most definitely. Blast beats? You better believe it. But the vocal approach is a bit less intense. There are melodies here, and the singing is less growled war-cries and more soaring. There is a folk, story-telling quality to the songs, providing more than just an intense cadence designed to pound your ears into submission.
To my ears, “Dragon Never Dies” is the best song on Battle Ballads, mixing elements of Irish folk, metal, and epic vocals to create a cohesive epic. Another favorite is the quiet, sombre “Torkils Døtur”, a more orchestral piece, it’s non-English vocals giving it an “older” feel, like an ancient tale or old saga, something from place lost to the mists of time.
There are, as near as I can tell, at least six different vinyl versions of Battle Ballads in a variety of colors, at least a few of which indicate editions of 200 or 300. I suspect you can’t go wrong with any of them, and it doesn’t appear that any of the versions come with “extras”. You can pick it up via the Metal Blade webstore, or direct from Týr via Bandcamp HERE (shipped from the US).