Týr had been sorely missed in the Copenhagen metal community for a great many years, but 2014 would be the time of their great return.
No less than four shows were played in our fair city – we caught up with them first at the Copenhell festival, and then again at Vega, where they were supporting Sabaton on a cold and windy November evening.

“We are Týr for those of you who didn’t know this.”
- Heri Joensen (vocals/guitar)

On the stage, the band was introduced by a large banner standing in the middle, declaring the band-name over a bloody battlefield, and on the back wall another backdrop was hung with a painting depicting the same Valkyrja that gave name to the band’s latest record.
A classical music (or so I heard it) intro later, including a short greeting from Joensen, and we were off into a land forgotten, a time of yore. Blood Of Heroes was the song that opened the door for us, and in its wake followed some 40 minutes of music, entertainment, and good old fun!
Like Blood Of Heroes, most of the songs played this night found their roots in the above mentioned Valkyrja album, intermingled with some songs from By The Light Of The Northern Star and a single stop at The Lay Of Thrym – for some reason Týr didn’t feel like touching any of their four first albums, which of course meant that we missed out on some great classics, especially Ramund Hin Unge which it should be criminal to skip, but on the other hand there were some new songs that took great benefit from the heightened exposure. Her I am first and foremost thinking about Lady Of The Slain, the hard-hitting and superfast neckbreaking thrasher from Valkyrja – the song hadn’t really hit me when I heard it on the album, but here in the live setting it made sense to me, and my respect for it deepened considerably.

All of the band members seemed to be in a great mood this night. Well, truth be told I can’t say anything about Amon Djuurhus, as his position with the drums was completely obscured to me by a speaker, but the rest of them were – Gunnar Thomsen was his lively self and he could hardly contain his excitement (not that we’d want him to), Joensen was uncharacteristically fond of speaking to the audience between songs and even made a few jokes along the way, and finally Terji Skibenæs did not shy away from moving around the stage, throwing poses along the way as he went.
Týr managed to deliver the message far beyond the edge of the stage as well, something that was clearly visible on the huge audience that had already entered Vega this night. Not a single song passed without being cheered on by loud shouts of “hey”, sometimes instigated by the band and sometimes springing out of the audience without extra incentive. The only time Týr managed to be booed at was when Joensen announced the last song, after which he asked us to relaxe as he quickly remedied the situation by saying “…the last song from our latest album!”
There were other examples of the communication going both ways as well, where one that has stuck with me was the broad smile of Thomsen after he noticed a tall guy in the front row, waving a plastic sword and hammer of war!

Joensen made a few excuses on behalf of the technical stuff which apparently wasn’t completely up to par, but in my ears Týr sounded impressively tight, far above expectations that weren’t altogether low to begin with.
Taking my own feelings into account, as well as the many sweaty and noisy people around me, I’d have to say that hadn’t it been for the shorter playtime, Týr might as well have been the headliner of the night! This was delivered exactly the way it was supposed to be, and with the exception of a few missed tracks along the way, Týr managed to turn this cold November night into a warm and sweaty party zone!

Setlist:

Blood Of Heroes
Hold The Heathen Hammer High
Grindavísan
Tróndur I Gøtu
Mare Of My Night
By The Sword In My Hand
Lady Of The Slain
Shadow Of The Swastika