Trace your back a 1000 years to a time when Scandanavians ruled the seas, struck fear into the hearts of anyone unlucky enough to cross their path. A Time of painted faces, broadswords, faithful warriors, battle cries, heroism and myth. Now move on to the present and Turisas are recreating the feel of that time, although this time they come armed with a fist full of metal, and yeah OK, the odd broadsword or two. Having just released their epic new album “The Varangian Way” Turisas are touring these shores as their ancestors before, bringing mayhem and destruction to a concert venue near you.HRH managed to catch up with front man Warlord Nygård to talk about all things Turisas, before their sell out gig in Manchester. 

Warlord Nygård

How’s it going?

Warlord Nygård (Vocals): Quite alright. 

You started your UK tour last night in Nottingham, how was that?

Warlord: It was good, we played Rock City, the main hall actually, which is quite bigger than what we are playing today. It was a Saturday night, a lot of people so it was a good start. 

Are you looking forward to anywhere in particular?

Warlord: No not really. Manchester, Nottingham and Birmingham have been good in the past, so I think the best shows will be in these places.

You recently released your new album “The Varangian Way”, which is a concept album set in the 11^th Century.

Warlord: Yeah, it’s a concept story on a journey from Northern Europe down into what is today, the Eastern European part of the world.  

Do you think people have liked the album? Has it been well received by the fans?

Warlord: Yeah I think so; on one hand it would have been quite easy to write a bunch of songs that are really catchy from the first listen, I think this album is more of a grower; you have to actually sit down and listen to it a few times. You might feel a bit disappointed the first time you listen to it as you can’t really make out everything but time will heal that, you just have to have the patience.

It has a stronger, more refined sound compared to the first album, “Battle Metal”, is that because the band has evolved?

Warlord: Yeah, I mean there was three years in between the albums so it’s quite obvious. If we wanted to do the same thing quickly as the first album, we could have easily done it in a year but we always want to step forward and evolve and keep moving. There are enough bands that do the same over and over again. We took the time to have material that sounds different than we’ve done in the past and anybody else for that matter. 

You’re releasing your cover of “Rasputin” at the end of the month, where did the idea come from to cover Boney M?

Warlord: It was quite a long time ago, in 2000 or 2001. There’s a ferry line going between Finland and Sweden, which is a weird institution of itself, it’s like a love boat in a way, it’s like a floating disco and people just go there to party and get drunk. It’s like going out to a bar where you can’t really get off the bar for twenty four hours and you have a room there and there are bands playing there and so on. There was this band there covering seventies disco songs like Boney M and Abba and so forth, and when I sat there and listened to Rasputin, I kind of realized that it would work amazingly well as an updated version, but it took time. I usually get these ideas and projects which we might look into or just drop at some time or put it in a standstill state and come back to it sometime when the time feels better.

You’ve done it in your own style as well, so as soon as the song comes on you know its Turisas.

Warlord: Yeah, it doesn’t make sense to do a cover song which is to close and would just sound similar, you have to find your own angle, otherwise it’s just not interesting, and it’s just copying what’s already been done.

Do you have any plans to release the early demos from the band’s early days?

Warlord: Well we haven’t really planned it but I think sooner or later it will come out in some form or another like bonus tracks or b-sides, stuff like that. It’s really shabby material, but obviously there’s the interest of fans and collectors who would love to get there hands on that. I’m sure we will do it at some point but we don’t want to throw it all out there yet, we want to have something to keep for ourselves and use in the future.

Do you think the tour you did last year with Lordi gave you a lot more exposure in this country?

Warlord: Yeah definitely. With Lordi, the thing was, there’s probably never gonna be another offer like that, would you like to tour with the Eurovision Song Contest winners, its just so absurd, there was a lot of music fans and also a lot of kids and old people who are not into heavy music or rock or anything like that at all, they are just there to see the Eurovision winners. Of course it was a really good opportunity for us to play to a different audience than what we’d normally get anyway. 

Has the success of bands like Lordi, HIM, Apocalyptica, Children of Bodom and yourselves, kick started Finnish Metal?

Warlord: There are a lot of Finnish bands who have been around longer than we have and at least gained success (laughs). But yeah I think the Finnish music scene is doing well and has kind of exploded in the last ten years before that I remember there was always the discussion, there are good bands but nobody really has the experience to manage them and put them forward and make it happen. Then just a few bands managed to do it, and then it opened in a way when HIM and The Rasmus managed to get a foothold outside of Finland, then it opened doors for other bands. Up ‘til then everybody was just going on about Hanoi Rocks for being the only Finnish band only going anywhere, now there’s dozens of them. 

You’re playing Hard Rock hell festival at the end of the year, with twisted Sister and Cradle of Filth to name but a few. Are you looking forward to that?

Warlord: Yeah I am. I’ve heard it’s like some holiday camp from the fifties or sixties or whatever. It’s probably going to be a really interesting package. I’d love to see some of the really old school hard rock bands; if we have time we will definitely go and see their shows. 

What can we expect from you for the rest of this year and into next year?

Warlord: This year we have this UK tour, then we’ll go home for a while then next up is Europe. Pretty much touring all of Europe then concentrating a bit on Finland in between. For next year nothing is really set yet but I’m sure there will be a lot of stuff coming up next year as well. 

Finally, on the adverts for the new album it says “Someday they will make the film”, is that a possibility somewhere in the future?

Warlord: Well I guess there is the possibility but I’m not a film maker, I came up with a story and a concept for writing the soundtrack, in a sense. Even before releasing the album I was at some point tempted to write it down because now it’s what I had in my head, then I wrote music for the story and then made lyrics to it which is actually a small compromise to the lyrical part. It would be cool to see what comes out of it trying to write a script but it’s not really my strong feeling but I know it might turn into shit. We’ll see, I’m not shooting it down but it might happen someday.

Turisas release their new single, Rasputin, through Century Media on September 24th and you can find out more about the band by visiting their website @ www.turisas.com You can also read the HRH review of Rasputin via this link

John Consterdine