In the Norse Mythology, a valkyrie (Old Norse: valkyrja "chooser of the slain") is one of a host of women who decides who dies in battle. The valkyries bring their chosen to the afterlife hall of the slain, Valhalla, ruled by the god Odin, where deceased warriors become einherjar. There, when the einherjar are not preparing for Ragnarök, the valkyries serve Mead (alcoholic beverage). If you want to know even more, just look it up on wikipedia.
After this years re-release of their debut album 'The invocation of Demise', their second Metal Blade release 'Contamination' will see the light (or should we say; dark) of day in early 2010. I can only be impressed by Black Metal combo's when the production is o.k. I have to be able to hear the instruments separately to like this genre. Fortunately this album has a good production and not a: "look what I recorded in my cellar" kind of production.
On the new album they continue the path they have chosen with their debut. Sharp cutting riffs, demonic vocals, high paced drums, all packed in obscure sounding songs. The length of the individual songs is rather long, but this is no problem, they stay interesting until the end. After the strong debut, Valkyrja has succeeded in making an even stronger second album and with their record company Metal Blade behind them I think we will hear a lot more from them in 2010.
Pure black-metal for fans of Marduk, Naglfar, Watain, Immortal, early Dissection and Enslaved. The year 2010 starts interesting for black metal fans, seize the opportunity!
