Blackened Horde: How did the band get started?
Valkus: I started 17 years ago as a one man band, I just was tired to be in some band with musicians who had ideas that were totally distant from mine. At the beginning Valkiria was my solo project, but over the years I needed other musicians. Nowadays Valkiria is a trio.
Blackened Horde: Introduce the band members and what they do in the band.
Valkus: myself at the guitar and vocals; Mike: guitar and Norsum bass. Since 2011 we use a session at the drums.
Blackened Horde: What kind of music do you play?
Valkus: we started playing melodic Black metal in 90’s, but throughout the years I slowed down the rhythm of the songs and moved towards what I can nowadays define Dark and Atmospheric Metal.
Blackened Horde: How many albums/CD’s have you released?
Valkus: We realized two demos and 5 albums so far, our last album is called “Here the day comes” and came out on April 2012.
Blackened Horde: Tell me about some the songs on “Here the day comes”?
Valkus: it’s a seven songs album. Any song represents the different phases of a day, from dawn to night, which is a metaphor of the human life, from the beginning to the end.
Blackened Horde: How has the fan response been?
Valkus: we did our best and we are very satisfied with the final result. This was without any doubt our best album so far under any aspects, about production Giuseppe Orlando (mixing) and Jens Bogren (mastering) did an amazing work. Also as for the composition, I think we have achieved the right compromise between the groove of 90’s and the power/clearness sound of nowadays. The fan response has been very positive, it has gone beyond all expectations, just think that our fans on FB went from about 500 to over 40.000!
Blackened Horde: Where did the band name come from?
Valkus: I chose that name at a very young age, at that time I even didn’t play guitars yet. I took it from a commodore 64 game called “Archon”, a sort of chess game with warriors fighting on a chessboard, Valkiria’s were some of strongest warriors of the game. I didn’t know at that time what they were, as well as I ignored all the Norse mythology, I just liked that name and some years later when I had to chose the name of the project that name came out into my mind.
Blackened Horde: Who writes the music? Lyrics?
Valkus: I am the main composer of the band, it’s not my choice simply I am more prolific than any other in the band making good riffs.
Blackened Horde: And where do the lyric ideas come from?
Valkus: Every album I wrote was influenced by different elements, the topics of my lyrics are distant from the everyday life, my intention is to bring the listeners far from the sad reality, I like to use a lot of metaphors. I like to write lyrics in a cryptic way, opened to different interpretations.
Blackened Horde: What is your view in Satanism and Occultism?
Valkus: I am not interested in any religion, the same applies to Satanism which I consider a religion to all effects. Occultism is in many ways even worse than religion, shady characters, devoid of any scruples and mostly ignorant populate this world. They often have as their sole purpose to brainwash those mentally weak individuals, in order steal as much money as possible. There are of course, many serious occultists, who only want to expand their knowledge and get in touch with other dimensions but unfortunately, most of the people who approach these issues are mostly unprepared and end up getting into trouble. It would be a long speech to do, I always summarize by saying that certain doors must remain locked, cause we are not yet able to handle certain situations. The paranormal has always exercised a strong fascination, however, the danger of esoteric-spiritualist practices can take us beyond the limits that we can cross only in the future when we will be more evolved.
Blackened Horde: Do you have any side projects?
Valkus: I was involved in the past in another project called 41Chains, I recorded three demo tapes never promoted, so only few persons have listened to them. I quit it cause a lot of that ideas flowed in Valkiria.
Mike: I play also guitar in Stigmhate.
Blackened Horde: Who are some of your musical influences?
Valkus: I’d say principally the 90’s gothic/doom scene and for sure a lot of other elements that I even can’t recognize in my mind, they just come out as I start to compose some riffs.
Blackened Horde: Which current bands?
Valkus: Early Katatonia, My Dying Bride just to name a few.
Blackened Horde: What is the band like when you play live?
Valkus: We decided to be a project band so we never played live.
Blackened Horde: What do you think of the US Black Metal/Death Metal scene?
Mike: I was born with U.S death metal, musically speaking.
I know plenty of death metal bands from there, so the list is huge really. I also think that many new death metal bands are coming out, which is actually a very good thing.
Blackened Horde: What do you think of the Overseas scenes?
Mike: well I think that there are a lot of promoters and venues over there, which make much easier to perform in a big tour or in festivals. Here in Europe it’s a bit more difficult with money and other things, bands have to work harder in order to get visibility and opportunities. But somehow i think it’s more or less the same here as in the U.S.
Blackened Horde: What are some of new favorite black metal/death metal bands?
Mike: well I really don’t know, there are plenty of new black and death metal bands out there. If I have to choose, I would say I was influenced by the bands from the Nineties. There was a real scene which was so full of new bands with a proper style. Among them, I particularly appreciate Otargos, Negator, inquisition and many others.
Blackened Horde: When do you guys plan on writing any new material?
Valkus: We have ended to write our 6th full length, We are working on the latest arrangements, in the next months we will be able to announce the release date.
Blackened Horde: What does the future hold for the band?
Valkus: I don’t know that, music is our life, so the only thing we really hope is continuing to make it.
Contact them at:
https://www.facebook.com/valkiriaepika
https://myspace.com/valkiriaepika
http://www.reverbnation.com/valkiria
