Turisas at the Gramercy Theater

Turisas is a folk metal band from Finland, founded in 1997 and named after an ancient Finnish god of war. At the Gramercy Theater tonight, in keeping with the band’s battle theme, the musicians’ outfits recalled post-apocalytic Mad Max warriors, and their faces and bodies were painted with black stripes and splattered in blood-red skin paint. Several fans in the audience similarly painted their faces. The hard rocking songs were led by clean singing, with epic, anthem-like, almost symphonic keyboard sounds and lead instrumental solos played on electric violin. The band is finishing its fourth album, Guards of Glory, and announced tonight that it would be back in New York later in the year to promote it.