[Cover photo credit to Gaui H]
Faroe Islands-based Viking Metal band TÝR have revealed their latest single and accompanying video for “Hammered.” The track will be part of their ninth full-length studio album, Battle Ballads, set for release on April 12, 2024 via Metal Blade Records. The track “Hammered” makes a great example of some of their sonic developments for the album.
When TÝR teamed up with the Symphony Orchestra of the Faroe Islands on February 8th, 2020, to record the double-disc/DVD release A Night At The Nordic House, founding frontman Heri Joensen was very pleased to bring together two of the music forms he loves most, Folk and Classical, into Metal. That, in turn, impacted his musical vision for the future album they would create later.
Joensen says:
There’s a reason classical music is called classical. It’s the classical way of doing it. And it creates these epic sounds that fit in perfectly with the kind of metal we do in TÝR. So, there’s full orchestration on all of the new songs.
With Battle Ballads, TÝR has experimented with new writing styles and musical techniques and created songs that are “structurally simpler, yet musically more variegated.” For Joensen, it’s how he plans to continue exploring different approaches in the future.
On “Hammered”, Joensen comments:
The song begins with the hammering of metal against metal, forging, then melodic riffing over a simple but classical chord progression that evolves throughout the song. Driving drums, heavy metal over a symphonic soundscape. An adventurous backdrop to the forging of weapons of war, blades of battle. This used to be in the past but now it’s here with a fast-paced singalong chorus. Thoughts on the apparent inevitability of war and our reaction to it. Balancing our enthusiasm against our defeatism.
TÝR w/ Trollfest, Æther Realm, The Dread Crew Of Oddwood:
3/28/2024 Baltimore Soundstage – Baltimore, MD
3/29/2024 Gramercy Theater – New York, NY
3/30/2024 Middle East Downstairs – Boston, MA
3/31/2024 La Source De La Martinière – Quebec City, QC
4/01/2024 Studio TD – Montreal, QC
4/02/2024 Brass Monkey – Ottawa, ON
4/03/2024 Horseshoe Tavern – Toronto, ON
4/04/2024 The Sanctuary – Detroit, MI
4/05/2024 Reggies – Chicago, IL
4/06/2024 Skyway Theater – Minneapolis, MN
4/07/2024 Park Theater – Winnipeg. MB
4/08/2024 The Exchange – Regina, SK
4/09/2024 Starlite Room – Edmonton, AB
4/10/2024 Dickens – Calgary, AB
4/12/2024 The Rickshaw – Vancouver, BC
4/13/2024 El Corazon – Seattle, WA
4/14/2024 Bossanova Ballroom – Portland, OR
4/15/2024 Cornerstone – Berkeley, CA
4/16/2024 1720 – Los Angeles, CA
4/17/2024 Brick By Brick – San Diego, CA
4/18/2024 Nile Theater – Mesa, AZ
4/19/2024 Rockhouse Bar & Grill – El Paso, TX
4/20/2024 Come And Take It Live – Austin, TX
4/21/2024 The Granada – Dallas, TX
4/22/2024 White Oak Music Hall – Houston, TX
4/24/2024 Conduit – Orlando, FL
4/25/2024 The Masquerade (Hell) – Atlanta, GA
4/26/2024 Hangar 1819 – Greensboro, NC
