Norwegians Thurs are a relatively new band, forming 5 years ago and releasing only a demo until now, as we're graced with their debut full length album.
These guys have a sound which is very much reminiscent of country-mates Kampfar, albeit with a few more Viking inspired touches of blackened bands such as Thyrfing and Manegarm. In fact, even early Enslaved comes to mind here and there in some of their angrier passages. Unfortunately, Thurs don't always own the sound as many of the aforementioned bands do, but they still dish up a fairly inviting serving of blackened Viking themed pagan metal with 'Myths and Battles from the Paths Beyond'.
Thurs try their best to put you inside the mind of a mythical lost Viking a thousand years ago, wandering through a deep, dark Norwegian forest entirely enshrouded in bone chilling mist, his heart pounding at every groan and rustle from the trees, fearing an ambush by hungry trolls. At times, they succeed – managing to whisk you fully away into that fantasy world. At other times, they merely have you dressed in a faux animal pelt with a rubber axe slung over your shoulder at a staged battle re-enactment, wandering to the 'Ye Olde Pub' tent to sup some 'authentic' mead from a plastic drinking horn. Thus, it often goes either way, being extremely hit or miss in nature though, to be fair, I'd still say these guys fall on the 'good' side of the fence – being a million times better than some of the horrific horseshite that passes for 'folk', 'pagan' or 'viking' metal in this day and age (cough **TURISAS** cough).
I most definitely get more out of the angrier, 'blacker' side of the band's sound (tracks such as 'The Hunt' are far superior to my ears than that of, say, 'Slaget', which just seems to meander on for 6 minutes without ever doing anything). Fans of the genre will undoubtedly love this, but for me – whilst still being pretty damn good for the most part, it just needs a little more focus and direction on the overall song writing and a little less attention on finding good battle samples to play an acoustic riff over.
http://www.myspace.com/thursband
