Eric the Red-Tyr

 Today I am sleepy, so I decided to review some cool viking metal. Today's reviews is of the band Tyr and there awesome album Eric the Red. It combines a lot of folk elements and combines them with a general power metal feel to create a really nice album. The guitar is filled with roaring riffs in addition to more folksy fills. In addition the guitar has some pretty sick solos. The bass is powerful however it does not accomplish much, its rarely ever heard. The drums are an extremely eclectic covering all of the folk bits on this album just as well as it covers the heavy metal parts. The vocals are solid and have a powerful feel, finally the lyrics are typically pretty traditional and overall very good. This is a really nice album and proves that viking metal is a pretty awesome genre.

The guitar is very powerful and has a lot of powerful riffs. What's remarkable about the guitar is that it is not the sheer distortion that makes it powerful but moreover the passion behind it that makes it really cool. The guitar is fueled by passion, the passion helps to make the solos and riffs sound collosal even though they are not that complex. The bass is okay, when I can actually hear it. The bass definitely takes a back seat in these songs. The drums are wonderful, they are usually original they have tons of great fills and they fit any of the many genres that the band can end up playing. Overall the instrumentalism on this album is pretty awesome.

The singing on this album is pretty awesome, there is a lot of power behind the words. Once more passion comes through on this album to make it awesome. On the more heavy metal tracks the vocals come through with a Dio like fire and create an epic feel around the music. On the more folksy songs like The Wild Rover there is a more Irish feel and the vocals imitate that and reflect a passion for the land. The vocals are in general very flexible and can do quite a few interesting things. My sole complaint is that most of the singing is in the exact same key. What is interesting about the singing is that sometimes things are sung in Dutch or Faraoese. The lyrics are quite good and are often very folksy in nature.

All in all this a pretty good album. There are powerful guitars and solid bass lines, and eclectic drums. The singing is powerful and in 3 different languages. Finally the lyrics are often very folk oriented and generally excellent. The defining aspect of this album is passion, passion for both the music of the land and the music of heavy metal. This is a very well done and extremely beautiful album mostly because you can hear the sheer love of music that the musicians feel. Everything about this album is fairly simple, including the straight up love for music that the band has. Overall this is a great listen.

OVERALL 8.5/10