Turisas is a Finnish metal band from

Hämeenlinna Hämeenlinna (; sv, Tavastehus; krl, Hämienlinna; la, Tavastum or ''Croneburgum'') is a city and municipality of about inhabitants in the heart of the historical province of Tavastia and the modern province of Kanta-Häme in the south of F ...

. They were founded in 1997 by Mathias Nygård and Jussi Wickström, and named after an ancient Finnish god of war. Turisas are a

folk metal Folk metal is a fusion genre of heavy metal music and traditional folk music that developed in Europe during the 1990s. It is characterised by the widespread use of folk instruments and, to a lesser extent, traditional singing styles (for exampl ...

band, incorporating elements of

power metal Power metal is a subgenre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional heavy metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a faster, lighter, and more uplifting sound, in contra ...

and

symphonic metal Symphonic metal is a cross-generic style designation for the symphonic subsets of heavy metal music subgenres. It is used to denote any metal band that makes use of symphonic or orchestral elements. The style features the heavy drums and guitar ...

along with frequent harsh vocals. Turisas is known to play most of their solos on electric violin, as opposed to traditional guitar solos.

''Battle Metal'' (2004–2007)

Since 2003, Turisas have been signed to Century Media records, which released their debut album '' Battle Metal'' in 2004. Then the band went on a European tour with various guest musicians on instruments such as violins and accordions. On 28 October 2005, guitarist Georg Laakso was badly injured in a car accident and due to the extent of his

spinal cord The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular structure made up of nervous tissue, which extends from the medulla oblongata in the brainstem to the lumbar region of the vertebral column (backbone). The backbone encloses the central canal of the spi ...

injuries, on 12 July 2006 issued a statement of his permanent resignation from the band on the official website. Nevertheless, the band continued to work on their second album, titled ''

The Varangian Way ''The Varangian Way'' is the second full-length album by the Finnish folk metal band Turisas, released on May 27, 2007 through Century Media. It is a concept album that tells the story of a group of Scandinavians traveling the river routes of me ...

'', which was released in early 2007. Jussi Wickström recorded all guitars on the album. Mathias Nygård revealed in the January 2007 edition of Terrorizer magazine that the touring musicians Hannes Horma, Olli Vänskä, Janne Mäkinen and Antti Laurila had been added to the band as full-time members, taking them up to an 8-piece act. It later turned out that of the two accordion players, only Mäkinen had become an official member. Laurila is no longer a touring musician for the band. On 19 February 2007, keyboardist Antti Ventola posted a message on the Turisas discussion forum announcing that he and the band had parted ways. This was later confirmed by the rest of the band. Mathias Nygård performed the keyboards on ''

'' and Turisas are presently using backing tracks to replicate them on stage.

''The Varangian Way'' (2007–2010)

In January 2008, accordion player Janne "Lisko" Mäkinen disappeared mysteriously in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. For the upcoming tour dates in spring 2008 Turisas announced Netta Skog as a step-in accordionist. She had already helped the band on the European tour in October–November 2007. Netta was soon after added to the band on a full-time basis. After a string of

festivals A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival co ...

in the Summer of 2008, in September the band started a long tour through the United States and Europe in support of DragonForce. This tour ended in March 2009, and the band then took part in a new European tour with

Cradle of Filth Cradle of Filth are an English extreme metal band formed in Suffolk in 1991. The band's musical style evolved originally from black metal to a cleaner and more "produced" amalgam of gothic metal, symphonic metal and other metal genres. Their ly ...

and Moonspell, dubbed the "Filthfest Tour 2009", in April and May 2009. The band played at

Wacken Open Air Wacken Open Air (, abbreviated as W:O:A) is a rock music, rock music festival, held annually since 1990 on the first weekend of August in the village of Wacken, Schleswig-Holstein, Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Almost all styles and su ...

in early August 2009 and also played at Bloodstock Open Air in mid August 2009. The band took time off at the end of 2009 to make a new album and then planned to return as fully-fledged band no longer supporting others. In 2010 the band concentrated on finishing the recordings of the upcoming third album. Still, the band did a short tour in Asia and Australia in May 2010, including headline concerts in Sydney and

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, two gigs in China, a gig in

Shanghai World Expo 2010 Expo 2010, officially the Expo 2010 Shanghai China, was held on both banks of the Huangpu River in Shanghai, China, from 1 May to 31 October 2010. It was a major World's fair, World Expo registered by the Bureau International des Expositions (B ...

and a gig in Japan.

''Stand Up And Fight'' (2011–2012)

As of March 2010, Turisas announced they were in the studio working on a new album; at that time, the band documented the recording process in a series of studio diary videos on YouTube. The title for the latest album, '' Stand Up and Fight'', was revealed on 11 November 2010: the album was released through

Century Media A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A centennial or ...

on 28 February in Europe and 8 March in North America. A new song off that album: "The March of the Varangian Guard" was performed at the band's Finnish gigs in October 2010 On 17 December 2010, the title track "Stand Up And Fight" was released as a free download on the band's website. The band took part in tours in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and North America with

, the other supporting bands being Nachtmystium and Daniel Lioneye beginning in January 2011 and in Europe with

Die Apokalyptischen Reiter Die Apokalyptischen Reiter (German for " The Apocalyptic Riders") is a Weimar, Germany based heavy metal band signed to Nuclear Blast in Europe and The End Records in North America. Musical style The band's original style, featured on th ...

from March through April 2011. Their England tour came with Crimfall as the supporting band, as well as other local supporting bands. 2012 saw them headline the North American "Paganfest: America Part III" tour with

Alestorm Alestorm are a Scottish heavy metal band formed in Perth, Scotland. Their music is characterised by a pirate theme, and as a result, they have been dubbed a "pirate metal" band by many critics and their fanbase. The group currently consists o ...

, Arkona and Huntress in tow.

''Turisas2013'' (2013)

In November 2012, the band announced they had started work on their fourth album titled ''

Turisas2013 ''Turisas2013'' is the fourth studio album by folk metal band Turisas. It was published on August 21 in Finland, and August 26 in Europe, while the UK followed on September 2 and North America on September 3. The album was produced by vocalist Ma ...

''. The album was published on 21 August 2013 in Finland, and 26 August in Europe, while the UK followed on 2 September and North America on 3 September.

Discography

Albums

Singles

DVDs

* '' A Finnish Summer with Turisas'' (2008)

Demos

* ''Taiston Tie – The Battle Path'' (1998) * ''Terra Tavestorum'' (1999) * ''The Heart of Turisas'' (2001)

Videography

Band members

Current members

Turisas Metal Frenzy 2018 23.jpg, Singer Mathias Nygård Turisas Metal Frenzy 2018 09.jpg, Guitarist Jussi Wickström Turisas Metal Frenzy 2018 16.jpg, Bassist Jesper Anastasiadis Turisas Metal Frenzy 2018 34.jpg, Violinist Olli Vänskä Turisas Metal Frenzy 2018 35.jpg, Drummer Jaakko Jakku *Mathias "Warlord" Nygård – vocals, keyboard, percussion (since 1997) *Jussi Wickström – guitars, backing vocals (since 1997) *Olli Vänskä – violin, backing vocals (since 2005) *Jesper Anastasiadis – bass, backing vocals (since 2012) *Jaakko Jakku – drums (since 2012)

Former members

*Janne Mäkinen – accordion, backing vocals (2005–2008) *Antti Ventola – keyboard (1997–2007) *Georg Laakso – guitars (ex-

Cadacross Cadacross was a Finnish melodic death metal band formed in 1997. They went through a major line-up change after their debut album ''So Pale Is the Light''. Georg Laakso, guitarist and vocalist, was the only remaining member from the previous line ...

) (2000–2006) *Ari Kärkkäinen – guitars (1997–1999) *Sami Aarnio – bass, backing vocals *Tino Ahola – bass, backing vocals *Mikko Törmikoski – bass, backing vocals (until 2004) *Hannes "Hanu" Horma – bass, backing vocals (2005–2011) *Netta Skog – accordion, backing vocals (2007–2011) *Jukka-Pekka Miettinen – bass, backing vocals (ex-

Ensiferum Ensiferum (Latin: , n adj., meaning "sword bearing") is a Finnish folk metal band from Helsinki. The members of the band label themselves as "melodic folk metal." History Formation, demos and ''Ensiferum'' (1995−2002) ''Ensiferum'' was founde ...

) (2011–2012) *Tuomas "Tude" Lehtonen – drums (1997–2012) *Robert Engstrand – keyboard (2011-2014)

Live session musicians

*Robert Engstrand – keyboard (since 2019) * Caitlin De Ville – violin (since 2019)

Former live session musicians

*Riku Ylitalo – accordion, keyboard *Wincef Boncamper – accordion *Antti Laurila – accordion

Timeline

ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = left:105 bottom:80 top:10 right:5 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1997 till:16/08/2020 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:2 start:1997 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:2 start:1998 Colors = id:vocals value:red legend:Vocals id:guitar value:green legend:Guitar id:drums value:orange legend:Drums id:violin value:drabgreen legend:Violin id:bass value:blue legend:Bass id:keyboards value:purple legend:Keyboards id:accordion value:lightpurple legend:Accordion id:lines1 value:black legend:Studio_Albums LineData = at:01/03/2004 color:lines1 layer:back at:01/06/2007 color:lines1 layer:back at:26/02/2011 color:lines1 layer:back at:21/08/2013 color:lines1 layer:back BarData = bar:Mathias text:Mathias Nygård bar:Jussi text:Jussi Wickström bar:Ari text:Ari Kärkkäinen bar:Georg text:Georg Laakso bar:Tude text:Tude Lehtonen bar:Jaakko text:Jaakko Jakku bar:Olli text:Olli Vänskä bar:Caitlin text:Caitlin De Ville bar:Sami text:Sami Aarnio bar:Tino text:Tino Ahola bar:Mikko text:Mikko Törmikoski bar:Hannes text:Hannes Horma bar:Jukkis text:J-P Miettinen bar:Jesper text: Jesper Anastasiadis bar:Antti text:Antti Ventola bar:Robert text:Robert Engstrand bar: Kasper text:Kasper Mårtenson bar:Riku text:Riku Ylitalo bar:Janne text:Janne Mäkinen bar:Netta text:Netta Skog PlotData= width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Mathias from:01/01/1997 till:end color:vocals bar:Jussi from:01/01/1997 till:end color:guitar bar:Ari from:01/01/1997 till:31/12/1999 color:guitar bar:Georg from:01/01/2000 till:12/07/2006 color:guitar bar:Tude from:01/01/1997 till:19/11/2012 color:drums bar:Jaakko from:19/11/2012 till:end color:drums bar:Sami from:01/01/1999 till:31/12/1999 color:bass bar:Tino from:01/01/2000 till:31/12/2002 color:bass bar:Mikko from:01/01/2003 till:01/12/2003 color:bass bar:Hannes from:01/06/2004 till:31/08/2011 color:bass bar:Jukkis from:01/09/2011 till:19/11/2012 color:bass bar:Jesper from:19/11/2012 till:end color:bass bar:Olli from:01/06/2004 till:end color:violin bar:Caitlin from:01/02/2019 till:end color:violin bar:Antti from:01/01/1997 till:31/12/2006 color:keyboards bar:Robert from:01/09/2011 till:31/12/2013 color:keyboards bar:Robert from:01/02/2019 till:end color:keyboards bar:Kasper from:01/01/2014 till:31/01/2019 color:keyboards bar:Riku from:01/01/2000 till:31/12/2002 color:accordion bar:Janne from:01/01/2005 till:31/01/2008 color:accordion bar:Netta from:01/10/2007 till:31/08/2011 color:accordion

References

Literature

Antje Bosselmann-Ruickbie: Heavy Metal Meets Byzantium! Contact Between Scandinavia and Byzantium in the Albums ‘The Varangian Way’ (2007) and ‘Stand Up and Fight’ (2011) by the Finnish Band Turisas. In: Menschen, Bilder, Sprache, Dinge. Wege der Kommunikation zwischen Byzanz und dem Westen. Studien zur Ausstellung "Byzanz & der Westen. 1000 vergessene Jahre", ed. by Falko Daim, Christian Gastgeber, Dominik Heher, Claudia Rapp. Byzanz zwischen Orient und Okzident 9.2, Mainz 2018, 391-419 (PDF: https://uni-mainz.academia.edu/AntjeBosselmannRuickbie)

External links

*
Century Media Records

Interview with Turisas at ME Metalhour

Olli´s Interview – HallOfMetal

Official YouTube channel
{{Authority control Finnish heavy metal musical groups Finnish folk metal musical groups Century Media Records artists Musical groups established in 1997