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Named for a warrior god in Finnish mythology, Turisas are a heavy metal band whose music is an ambitious blend of symphonic metal, power metal, progressive rock, and Finnish folk music. Turisas were formed in Hämeenlinna, a rural community in southern Finland, by vocalist Warlord Nygård and guitarist/bassist Jussi Wickström in 1997. Eager to perform their songs that blended pagan folklore with bloody tales of warfare, Nygård and Wickström recruited three likeminded musicians, percussionist Tude Lehtonen, keyboardist Antti Ventola, and guitarist Georg Laakso, but the epic-scale sound they sought proved difficult to capture on tape, and Turisas' first attempt at recording an album, 1998's Taiston Tie (aka "The Battle Path"), never saw release due to the group's dissatisfaction with the results. In 2000, a demo CD, The Heart of Turisas, was distributed to fans, the press, and industry professionals, and coupled with the group's storming live show, word spread about the unusual band and Ce...