Turisas are a Finnish viking metal band founded in 1997 by Mathias Nygård and Jussi Wickström and named after an ancient Finnish god of war. Turisas combine mild elements of black metal with Finnish viking music. The album title Battle Metal has given rise to the term "battle metal" being used as a description of folk metal (used mainly by Metal Hammer magazine and its readers) but it is not a canonical metal subgenre. The label Viking metal is perhaps more fitting, as there are mild similarities to bands such as Amon Amarth and Finntroll. On October 28 2005, the guitarist Georg Laakso was badly injured in a car accident and due to the extent of his spinal cord injuries, on July 12 2006 issued a statement of his permanent resignation from the band on the official website. Nevertheless, the band continued to work on their second album, titled The Varangian Way, which was released in early 2007. Jussi Wickstr

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