Turisas

Turisas is a Finnish folk metal band from H?meenlinna. They were founded in 1997 by Mathias Nyg?rd and Jussi Wickstr?m and named after an ancient Finnish god of war. Turisas combine elements of folk metal and power metal, with strong influences from symphonic metal as well. The album title Battle Metal has given rise to the term "battle metal" being used as a description of folk metal (as stated by Metal Hammer magazine) but it may not be a canonical metal subgenre.

Turisas combine elements of folk metal and power metal, with strong influences from symphonic metal as well. The album title Battle Metal has given rise to the term "battle metal" being used as a description of folk metal (as stated by Metal Hammer magazine) but it may not be a canonical metal subgenre.

On October 28, 2005, the guitarist Georg Laakso was badly injured in a car accident and due to the extent of his spinal cord injuries, on July 12, 2006 issued a statement of his permanent resignation from the band on the official website. Nevertheless, the band continued to work on their second album, titled The Varangian Way, which was released in early 2007. Jussi Wickstr?m recorded all guitars on the album.

Mathias Nyg?rd revealed in the January 2007 edition of Terrorizer magazine that the touring musicians Hannes Horma, Olli V?nsk?, Janne M?kinen and Antti Laurila had been added to the band as full-time members, taking them up to an 8-piece act. It later turned out that of the two accordion players, only M?kinen had become an official member. Laurila is no longer a touring musician for the band. On February 19, 2007, keyboard player Antti Ventola posted a message on the Turisas discussion forum announcing that he and the band had parted ways. This was later confirmed by the rest of the band. Mathias Nyg?rd performed the keyboards on The Varangian Way and Turisas are presently using backing tracks to replicate them on stage.

In January 2008 accordion player Janne "Lisko" M?kinen disappeared mysteriously in Amsterdam. For the upcoming tour dates in spring 2008 Turisas announced Netta Skog as a step-in accordionist. She had already helped the band on the European tour in October-November 2007.

Turisas were part of the US Paganfest tour in 2008, which was headlined by Ensiferum and also included T?r and Eluveitie.

In fall 2008 and 2009, they toured in support of DragonForce.