Týr

Live at The House of Blues

Hollywood, California

October 2nd, 2014

Review and Photos by Travis Baumann

Týr have become one of my favorite bands. They hail from the Faroe Islands which lie between Norway and Iceland, nearly due north of the tip of Scotland.

In this remote land Týr have devised an awesome melodic heavy metal band that incorporates Viking lore, mythology, and history into a cohesive and very moving whole.

I have seen Týr perform many times now, as they are extremely active in touring. On this tour they were direct support for the Swiss Pagan Folk Metal band, Eluveitie.

The most recent album of theirs is the fantastic, "Valkyrja" and they have been touring in support of this endeavor but I am a big fan of all their material so as much as I want to hear the new stuff, there are a lot of favorites of mine that I hope they have time to play as well.

Týr sing in a mixture of their native tongue, English, and some more ancient dialects as well, where they have adapted folk songs of old.

They are focused around band founder and vocalist/lead guitarist Heri Joensen but the other guitarist, Terji Skibenaes and bassist, Gunnar H. Thomsen join in the choir for many songs, which lends a resonating power to these pieces. The three musicians have been together for over a dozen years and recently their drummer, Amon Djurhuus joined them.

They started the set with one of my new favorite songs of theirs, "Blood of Heros". Heri has an amazing voice, they do not growl or have harsh vocals like many of the bands in Pagan/Folk sub genre of metal, which really sets them apart and is one of the things that drew me to them.

Their set list was varied with songs switching between their native tongue and English. They did "Tróndur Í Gøtu", "Mare of My Night", and "Ramund Hin Unge" in a row before Heri announced that they would be doing one of their infamous "Hammer" songs. One of my all time favorites of theirs, and the song I tell new listeners to check out, is "Hold the Heathen Hammer High" and it was awesome to see it live. It was one of the highlights of the night for me.

They continued the set with "Grindavisan", the mighty "By the Sword in My Hand", and "Sinklars Visa" before coming to "Flames of the Free", another one of my wish list songs.

They did "Lady of the Slain" off the new album and then lead into "Shadow of the Swastika", which is one of the few songs that does not deal with mythology or ancient history but speaks of the shadow over Europe left by the scourge of the Nazis and asking how long will it last, this shadow of the past.

They finished up the night with the song, "Anthem" and left us all very satisfied, yet wanting more. It is always great to see Týr and I was happy they gave us a good cross section of new material and a number of old favorites.

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