“Dude, you gotta check out this band Turisas,” someone told me recently. “They make you wanna chug a beer from a stein and punch the bar maid in the face!”

Well, I’m all for punching bar maids in the face, so check out Turisas I did. And dude, lemme tell you: they are the tits. I don’t know how exactly you describe their music – I guess technically it’s “folk metal” or “pagan metal” – but it’s just really rousing, put your arm around your buddy and lift that beer stein high and sing along (and then punch the bar maid – nay, the bar wench – in the face) shit. And, oh yeah, fiddles, flutes, accordians, and other crap you wouldn’t normally hear utilized in a metal song abound.

Here’s a video of Turisas performing their song “Battle Metal” (which I think is the genre some people put this band in) at this past summer’s Download Festival (yes, the one Vince and I missed, like morons). I don’t think this band has toured the States yet, but they’re clearly getting mighty big across the pond; I can’t wait to see them live, hopefully someday real soon…

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-AR