Týr - "Ragnars Kvæði" (video)

Δισκογραφική επιστροφή μετά από έξι χρόνια για τους Týr. Ο διάδοχος του "Valkyrja" (2013) και όγδοος συνολικά δίσκος των pagan metallers τιτλοφορείται "Hel" κι αναμένεται να κυκλοφορήσει σε λίγες ημέρες. "Ποδαρικό" έκανε το lyric video του τραγουδιού "Fire and Flame". Σειρά για παρουσίαση πήρε το βίντεο του μουσικού κομματιού "Sunset Shore". Σήμερα σας παρουσιάζουμε το video clip του "Ragnars kvæði"...

Heri Joensen: «In early January, immediately after spending our holidays in the Faroes, Gunnar and I traveled to Hungary to our bandmates, Tadeusz and Attila, in Budapest. Finally it was time to shoot another video, our first since 2014, and we’re very happy to present this one to you!

The Hungarian film production crew, Mihaszna Film, arranged the trips, starting from Budapest and going first to the Julian alps in Slovenia. In the fields and rivers of the snowy mountains we had some amazing scenery for “overworld" part of the video.

A few days later we traveled on to the caves of Szent-István in northern Hungary, and deep underground we found some dark and gloomy caves to be the perfect backdrop for the underworld part of this video. Terji wrote Sunset Shore, for our upcoming album, Hel - to be relased on March 8th, and he plays the solo on the album version, but not in this video.

We decided it was the perfect opportunity to introduce you all to the amazing talent of Attila Vörös, who recorded his own version of the solo a few days before the video shooting. The lyrics, written by me, Heri, are about how the mind can sometimes be a windswept and weatherworn landscape, and how the only thing to do, in spite of hopelessness and despair, is to aim for a better place and to work towards better times. We hope you enjoy the result!»

Δελτίο τύπου: «On March 8th, the Faroe Islands' Tyr will release their eighth full-length, Hel, via Metal Blade Records. Hel is a collection of ruthlessly melodic and irresistibly compelling progressive folk metal that will immediately resonate with any who have followed the band at any point over the two decades of their storied career. Hel can be pre-ordered in the following formats:

➤ digipak-CD
➤ box set (digipak CD, drinking horn, leather belt clip, poster, autographed photo card - limited to 1000 copies)
➤ steel-blue / gray marbled vinyl (US retail exclusive - limited to 500 copies)
➤ clear mushroom brown marbled vinyl (US webstore exclusive - limited to 200 copies)
➤ blue / white / black / red splatter vinyl (US webstore exclusive - limited to 100 copies)
➤ 180g black vinyl (EU exclusive)
➤ turquoise blue marbled vinyl (EU exclusive - limited to 500 copies)
➤ clear / blue marbled vinyl (EU exclusive - limited to 300 copies)
➤ bordeaux red /black marbled vinyl (EMP exclusive - limited to 200 copies)
➤ olive marbled vinyl (Nuclear Blast exclusive - limited to 200 copies)
➤ white / blue marbled vinyl (Tutl exclusive - limited to 100 copies)

Known for their prolific nature - dropping their first five full-lengths in the space of just seven years - the six-year gap between Valkyrja (2013) and Hel is by far the longest between any two of their records. During that period the band toured hard, taking the album around the world, including a support run with Children Of Bodom in North America and an appearance on the 70,000 Tons Of Metal cruise. However, other factors played into this extended break between releases.

"We approached this one differently because I learned that if I continue doing albums in the way we had up to now, I would die from a heart attack before I'm 50!" says guitarist/vocalist Heri Joensen.

"That's one of the reasons we changed our method and took such a long time on this one." That this tactic - which also includes more songwriting contributions from bassist/vocalist Gunnar Thomsen and guitarist Terji Skibenæs than on previous releases - has been beneficial is borne out in the finished product, which is perhaps more immersive than those that came before.

"Musically it leans a bit towards our album, 'Ragnarok' (2005)," states Thomsen. "It's a bit more epic and also much better worked through than any of our previous albums." It also marks the recording debut of drummer Tadeusz Rieckmann, who has manned the drum throne for Tyr's live shows since 2016.»

Band: Týr
Country of origin: Faroe Islands
Location: Tórshavn
Formed in: 1998
Genre: Pagan/Folk Metal
Lyrical themes: Norse mythology, Paganism, Faroese/Nordic lore
Years active: 1998-present

Video: "Ragnars Kvæði"
Album: "Hel"
Type: Full length
Release date: March 8th, 2019
Label: Metal Blade Records
Format: CD, Vinyl, Digital

Track listing:
01. Gates of Hel
02. All Heroes Fall
03. Ragnars kvæði
04. Garmr
05. Sunset Shore
06. Downhill Drunk
07. Empire of the North
08. Far from the Worries of the World
09. King of Time
10. Fire and Flame
11. Against the Gods
12. Songs of War
13. Álvur kongur

Band members:
Heri Joensen - Vocals, Guitar
Attila Vörös - Guitar
Gunnar "Gunz" H. Thomsen - Bass
Tadeusz Rieckmann - Drums

Heri Joensen: «Ragnars Kvæði is a traditional Faroese ballad about Ragnar Loðbrók, the legendary king of Denmark during the seventh century. This melody was preserved on a very old recording in the Faroese from sometime around the middle of the 1900s, and the text in some Faroese manuscripts from the mid 1800s. The original ballad is very long, over 100 verses.

Here we have only three verses, taken from the part about where Ragnar meets Aslaug. This part is a migratory legend with parallels in many cultures around the world. I thought this ballad was really worth something, so my first thought was to make a Heavy Metal version of it for Týr.

Terji plays the solo on the album version, but Attila made a new solo for this version, since he would be playing in the video, and well done indeed! Thanks to all who participated in the hard work of making this video. We hope you enjoy it!»

Viktor (Mihaszna Film): «This video's story is based on an ancient ballad: two souls are looking for each other through time and space; they are summoning each other in their dreams, reading the signs to finally meet - no matter when and where they were before.

The story was shot in Transylvania and Hungary, and every place we visited gave us hard circumstances and surprising solutions at the same time, so it was a true adventure. Since the weather changes really fast in Transylvania, planning ahead was not an option sometimes; we had to improvise quite often.

Our half-naked actors showed true grit; the temperature was around -6 °C (around 22 °F) during the snowy scenes. The band parts were shot also in Slovenia (along with the video for "Sunset Shore") and that trip was also a huge challenge but the band members were absolutely tough, and we climbed together the highest hills with full equipment in our hands and on our backs. We all agreed that exceptional things are born this way, so putting 120% effort into it wasn't a problem for anybody.»