this is tyr's fifth studio album, released surprisingly early-- only a year since their fourth album, "Land". My major complaint with "Land" is that it is too slow wherever you look. Well, with "By the light of the northern star', they've corrected their lethargy, but at what cost?
1.hold the heathen hammer high
a great opener with a highly addictive chorus. the song is a little simple, a little repetitive, but it's so catchy you can't complain. The lyrics, like many of their songs, are about pagan pride with a few jabs at christianity. Kari's drumming is less progressive than i'm used to.
2.tróndur í gøtu
another catchy chorus, this time sung in faroese, is the highlight of this song (along with the pre-chorus). it's as fast as the opener, a good sign. other than two nice solos, there's nothing else to say about this song.
3.into the storm
an epic harmonized guitar lead begins the song. the lyrics tell the story of christianization in the faroe islands in 999 a.d. heri sings well, and so far these are the best vocals/lyrics on the album. midway through the song, we hear the longest, and best, solo on the album yet. the song finishes up with another verse and chorus and ends with the guitar leads we hear in the beginning. again, simple, but nice.
4.the northern gate
heri begins the song with a vocal melody that runs throughout the song. in fact, this chant runs too much throughout the song. it's like instead of having words to their chorus they just stuck to the melody. the main riff is, well, there's not much to say about it. the solo is mostly a rehashing of the main riff with a little bit of tapping towards the end of it. errr, there's that damn vocal melody again. okay, this is really getting annoying. sing words, heri! in summation, this song is annoying. i hate to say it, but it's depressingly simple for tyr.
5.turið torkilsdóttir
so the main melody is from a faroese traditional folk song, like most of tyr's songs. the song goes like this. heri opens up with the vocal melody (this time with actual words, sung in faroese) then add guitar leads laying over that. then, add in rising snare and bass drums. then, the song is in full motion with a guitar solo that ends in the main melody. after this, it reverts backwards into the rising snare and bass dum pattern. it then goes in reverse again, to a vocal and guitar lead harmonization like in the beginning. it then ends with heri alone singing the melody, just as in the beginning. okay, while this song is super epic, why is it so simple!!! come on, tyr, you're progressive viking metal, what are you doing!
6.by the sword in my hand
ahh, okay, this song gives me hope. an off tempo riff begins the song that will be used in the pre-chorus. the chorus is one of my favorites from this album, full of awesome words like "decimate" and "decapitate" (oh, the rhyming skills of heri joensen). kari also finally has some interesting drumming.
7.ride
possibly the best song of the album. the main riff that opens the song is catchy and fast, and kari matches it wonderfully with double bass and china symbol. the lyrics are debatably stupid but oh so very fun ("they die, well at least those that didn't run to hide"). the chorus is insanely addictive. the solo is rythmic and the kari impresses again with his drumming.
8.hear the heathen call
hmmm. there's nothing terrible about this song, but nothing makes it great, either. honestly, there's nothing to say about this song, it's just...tyr. it's like most songs on this album, just with a different main riff, and different lyrics, but it follows the same formula.
9.by the light of the northern star
the longest song at almost six minutes and the flagship of the album. the lyrics are about, you can probably guess it, the past glory of vikings with again some jabs at christianity. the song follows a traditional faroese & norwegian folk song, so there isn't much room for creativity.
i think i can explain what happened with tyr. "Land" didn't do so well for nuclear blast, their record label. so, they picked out what didn't make "land" so good, and pretty much forced tyr to write fast and simple viking metal. they were crunched on time, so the lyrics are all one sidedly about vikings, instead of their usual inventiveness. i mean, even their lyrics bashing christianity are dumbed down. remember how 'eric the red' made a semi-logical argument against the christianization of the faroese? i believe nuclear blast isn't taking tyr seriously, they're just using them to make pagan metal for teenage boys full of angst who want to run around pretending to be vikings. while "land" was definitely too slow, it still had integrity in it's song structures and writing (the sixteen minute titletrack is, in my opinion, their best song). this album has not pushed the progression of tyr's unique sound that made "ragnarok" and "eric the red" so great. this album is catchy, but it's too damn simple.
