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Hard for me to believe this is the 9th album for Týr, as it seems not that long ago that they were an extremely underground band blowing me away with their adventurous, splendid second album Eric the Red way back in 2003. Týr have become a very different band than what I expected when they began, with their heavy folk influences and their serious, intelligent lyrics. They had a strong prog bent in their early days, and while I am glad that didn't run away with them, their transformation into a much more conventional band is something I found disappointing.

Týr are still a band who lean heavily on Viking imagery in their lyrics and aesthetic, and that makes them stand out as more and more these kinds of bands tend to have a Black Metal base, while Týr remain a much more Trad Metal band with some folkish flavoring added. They sound a lot more like Falconer than Ensiferum, built on strong musicianship, polished songwriting, and Heri Joensen's clear, sharp vocals. That said, the songwriting here does not really grab me, with a few good songs like "Row" or "Hangman" mixed in with rather silly tracks like "Dragons Never Die" or "Axes." There's nothing here that sounds like the band really pushing or going for the deep, serious epic sound they started with and that I loved. Týr have a devoted fanbase, and I am glad to see them doing so well, but they aren't the band I wanted them to become.