Turisas

Finnish metal band

For the Finnish god, see Iku-Turso (creature).

Turisas

Turisas performing at Metal Frenzy 2018

Background information
Origin| Hämeenlinna, Finland
Genres| Folk metal, symphonic metal, Viking metal, power metal
Years active| 1997–present
Labels| Century Media
Members| Mathias Nygård
Jussi Wickström
Olli Vänskä
Jaakko Jakku
Jesper Anastasiadis
Past members| See former member section
Website| turisas.com

Turisas is a Finnish metal band from Hämeenlinna. They were founded in 1997 by Mathias Nygård and Jussi Wickström, and named after an ancient Finnish god of war.

Turisas plays folk metal, incorporating elements of power metal and symphonic metal along with frequent harsh vocals. They are known to play most of their solos on electric violin, as opposed to traditional guitar solos.

## History

[edit]

### Battle Metal (2004–2007)

[edit]

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 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, 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 The Varangian Way and Turisas are presently using backing tracks to replicate them on stage.

### The Varangian Way (2007–2010)

[edit]

In January 2008, accordion player Janne "Lisko" Mäkinen disappeared mysteriously in Amsterdam. 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.[1] Netta was soon after added to the band on a full-time basis.

After a string of festivals 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 and Moonspell, dubbed the "Filthfest Tour 2009", in April and May 2009.[2] The band played at Wacken Open Air in early August 2009 and also played at Bloodstock Open Air in mid August 2009.[3] 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, two gigs in China, a gig in Shanghai World Expo 2010 and a gig in Japan.

### Stand Up and Fight (2011–2012)

[edit]

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.[4] The title for the latest album, Stand Up and Fight, was revealed on 11 November 2010: the album was released through Century Media on 28 February in Europe and 8 March in North America.[5] A new song off that album: "The March of the Varangian Guard" was performed at the band's Finnish gigs in October 2010[6] 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 and North America with Cradle of Filth, the other supporting bands being Nachtmystium and Daniel Lioneye beginning in January 2011[7] and in Europe with Die Apokalyptischen Reiter from March through April 2011.[8] 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, Arkona and Huntress in tow.

### Turisas2013 (2013–present)

[edit]

In November 2012, the band announced they had started work on their fourth album titled Turisas2013.[9] 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.[10][11][12]

## Band members

[edit]

### Current

[edit]

* Turisas live at Metal Frenzy 2018 in Germany
* Singer Mathias Nygård

* Guitarist Jussi Wickström

* Bassist Jesper Anastasiadis

* Violinist Olli Vänskä

* Drummer Jaakko Jakku

* Mathias "Warlord" Nygård – vocals, keyboards, percussion (1997–present)
* Jussi Wickström – guitars, backing vocals (1997–present)
* Olli Vänskä – violin, backing vocals (2005–present)
* Jesper Anastasiadis – bass, backing vocals (2012–present)
* Jaakko Jakku – drums (2012–present)

### Former

[edit]

* Janne Mäkinen – accordion, backing vocals (2005–2008)
* Antti Ventola – keyboards (1997–2007)
* Georg Laakso – guitars (ex-Cadacross) (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) (2011–2012)
* Tuomas "Tude" Lehtonen – drums (1997–2012)
* Robert Engstrand – keyboards (2011–2014)

### Live and session

[edit]

* Riku Ylitalo – accordion, keyboards
* Wincef Boncamper – accordion
* Antti Laurila – accordion
* Robert Engstrand – keyboards (2019–present)[13]
* Caitlin De Ville – violin (2019–present)[13]

### Timeline

[edit]

## Discography

[edit]

### Albums

[edit]

Year  | Title  | Chart positions

|
|

FIN
[14] | GER
[15] | SWI
[16]
2004  | Battle Metal | 20
[17] | —  | —
2007  | The Varangian Way | 17
(Director's Cut release) | —  | —
2011  | Stand Up and Fight | 5  | 56  | 83
2013  | Turisas2013 | 9  | 87  | —

### Singles

[edit]

Year  | Title  | Chart positions

|
|

FIN
[18]
2007  | "To Holmgard and Beyond"  | 12
2007  | "Rasputin"  | 15
2010  | "Supernaut"  | —
2010  | "Stand Up and Fight"  | —
2013  | "For Your Own Good"  | —

### DVDs

[edit]

* A Finnish Summer with Turisas (2008)

### Demos

[edit]

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

### Videography

[edit]

Video  | Album  | Length  | Year  | Copyright

|
|
|
|

"Battle Metal"  | Battle Metal | 4:23  | 2008  | Century Media
"Rasputin | The Varangian Way | 3:56  | 2007  | Century Media
"Stand Up and Fight"  | Stand Up and Fight | 5:28  | 2011  | Century Media
"Ten More Miles"  | Turisas 2013 | 4:17  | 2013  | Century Media

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Turisas Release Making of Rasputin Video". Archived from the original on 5 December 2008. Retrieved 16 April 2008.
2. ^ "Cradle of Filth, Moonspell, Turisas to team up for "Filthfest Tour"". Blabbermouth.net. 26 February 2009. Archived from the original on 1 March 2009. Retrieved 26 February 2009.
3. ^ "Bloodstock Heavy metal festival band line and metal band Biographies". Archived from the original on 21 March 2009. Retrieved 20 March 2009.
4. ^ Finlayson, Stuart. "turisasofficial". Retrieved 23 February 2016 - via YouTube.
5. ^ "Turisas – Stand Up And Fight". Archived from the original on 31 January 2011. Retrieved 31 January 2011.
6. ^ "TURISAS: Performance Footage of Brand New Song Available". Roadrunner Records. 1 November 2010. Archived from the original on 8 September 2012. Retrieved 13 November 2010.
7. ^ "CRADLE OF FILTH Announces North American Headlining Tour". Blabbermouth.net. 25 October 2010. Archived from the original on 29 October 2010. Retrieved 13 November 2010.
8. ^ "Turisas: "Stand Up And Fight" out 2011, tour w/ Die Apokalyptischen Reiter confirmed". Century Media Records. 11 November 2010. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 13 November 2010.
9. ^ "Turisas in studio recording a new album, announces line-up change". Turisas.com. 19 November 2012. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
10. ^ "TURISAS Stream 'For Your Own Good' Track From Upcoming Turisas2013 Album, Tracklisting Revealed". Bravewords.com. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
11. ^ "centurymedia.com – Turisas: Check out a brand new song, "For Your Own Good", from "Turisas 2013"". Centurymedia.com. Archived from the original on 20 April 2018. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
12. ^ "centurymedia.com – Turisas: Check out the cover for their upcoming album "Turisas2013", new tour dates announced". Centurymedia.com. Archived from the original on 20 April 2018. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
13. ^ a b "Changes in the touring lineup". Turisas.com. 11 February 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
14. ^ "Search for: Turisas". Finnishcharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 June 2014.
15. ^ "Turisas – Longplay-Chartverfolgung". Musicline.de (in German). Phononet GmbH. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 14 June 2014.
16. ^ "Suche nach: Turisas". Hitparade.ch (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 June 2014.
17. ^ "Albumit 12/2022" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
18. ^ "Search for: Turisas". Finnishcharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 June 2014.

## Literature

[edit]

* 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: Antje Bosselmann-Ruickbie - Academia.edu)
* Antje Bosselmann-Ruickbie: Queen of all Cities: Echoes of Constantinople in Heavy Metal Music. In: Mittelalter und Populärkultur. Rezeption – Aneignung – Beachtungserfolge, ed. by Hans Velten, Theresa Specht. Populäres Mittelalter, Bielefeld 2024, 161-192.
* Milan K. Schaller: “We Are the Varangian Guard”. Musical Rhetoric and Literary Reference in Turisas' Varangian Way Albums. In: The Routledge Handbook of Progressive Rock, Metal, and the Literary Imagination, ed. by Chris Anderton, Lori Burns. Routledge music handbooks, London/New York 2024, 191-203.
* Ashley Walsh: “A great heathen fist from the North”. Vikings, Norse Mythology, and Medievalism in Nordic Extreme Metal Music. Master’s Thesis for Nordic Viking and Medieval Culture- ILN, UNIVERSITETET I OSLO 2013, 71-76. (PDF: DUO - digitale publikasjoner ved Universitetet i Oslo)

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Turisas.

* Official website
* Turisas at AllMusic
* Official YouTube channel
* Century Media Records
* Interview with Turisas at ME Metalhour
* Olli's Interview – HallOfMetal

* v
* t
* e

Turisas

* Mathias Nygård
* Jussi Wickström
* Jaakko Jakku
* Olli Vänskä
* Jesper Anastasiadis
* Robert Engstrand
Janne Mäkinen
* Antti Ventola
* Georg Laakso
* Ari Kärkkäinen
* Sami Aarnio
* Tino Ahola
* Mikko Törmikoski
* Netta Skog
* Hannes Horma
* Tuomas Lehtonen
* Jukka-Pekka Miettinen

Studio albums|

* Battle Metal
* The Varangian Way
* Stand Up and Fight
* Turisas2013

Videos|

* A Finnish Summer with Turisas

Singles|

* "To Holmgard and Beyond"
* "Rasputin"

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF

National|

* Germany
* United States
* France
* BnF data

Artists|

* MusicBrainz

Other|

* IdRef

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