By opening their second album, Ragnarok, with a five-minute instrumental creatively called "The Beginning," Viking headbangers Tyr engage in a rousing 60-minute round of Scandinavian mythology — complete with Viking warriors, heroic battles and songs called "The Hammer of Thor" and "The Rage of the Skullgaffer." Named after the one-armed god of war and hailing from the windy isles of Faroe (located between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean), the four members of Tyr make music that's in their blood, proudly bursting with gang singing and chanting, militaristic marches, English and native-tongue lyrics, and folksy headbanging. Oddly enough, if you can distance yourself from the Nordic call-to-battle mood this music conjures, a few songs (including "The Hunt") actually sound like some sort of heavy-yet-melodic screamo-emo-punk hybrid you'd hear on any commercial radio station in America. Too bad you never will.
Track Listing:
1) The Beginning
2) The Hammer of Thor
3) Envy
4) Brothers Bane
5) The Burning
6) The Ride to Hel
7) Torsteins Kvaedi
8) Grimur A Midalnesi
9) Wings of Time
10) The Rage of the Skullgaffer
11) The Hunt
12) Victory
13) Lord of Lies
14) Gjallarhornid
15) Ragnarok
16) The End