Album review : Turisas2013 by Turisas

Finnish metallers Turisas released their 4th album and I’m having a bad time reviewing it.

My first thoughts of it (I mean after listening to it, not these after having seen the cover that made me thinking it was a FIFA game) were that someone plays a mediocre power metal with symphonic elements and a singer singing in a way so comprehensive that I could actually understand him very well (even when doing harsh vocals) - which is not always a positive thing since either I don’t get the lyrics right or they represent simple ideas described by way too much words in my taste. Honestly, I didn’t really like the idea of listening to it again for the review purposes, but I gave it a few more listens and things started to kind of settle down for me.

Everything depends of how seriously are you going to take it - if you expect this to take you to an intellectual heaven, you will be disappointed. However if you don’t, chances are that it will grow on you (though not much), because you’ll actually find some nice stuff.

Lyric-wise, the songs could be divided into 3 categories:

1) Songs that say something - probably “Piece by Piece” and maybe “For Your Own Good”

2) The turn-off-your-brain-and-have-fun category - “Run Bhang-Eater, Run!” and “No Good Story Ever Starts With Drinking Tea” (stands out for being a pure alcohol song)

3) Songs that say nothing - the rest

Concerning music, the songs are probably made to be played live, I can imagine that the concerts can be a great fun and for sure there is a lot of occasions for interaction with the audience, eg repeating the chorus ("Into the Free") etc. In fact, it's not that bad, there is certainly some catchy and melodic stuff (some dared to stuck in my head despite my protesting mental voice, like the motive from "The Days Passed", or "Piece by Piece", which is not a bad song) and the songs have kind of special atmosphere, but I don't find that it gave me too much.

To conclude, it sounds like a Disneyland in a metal disguise and I can’t give it more than 6 out of 10.

JT