Music: Classic/Power Metal
Website: http://www.sonicagerecords.com
Country: Italy
Cool songs: The Last One, Sign of the Hammer, Son of Thunder, Hatched Blade
VALKIJA was formed in 1999 and it is described best as a Classic Metal band, influenced by teutonic German power metal and AOR (also known as Melodic Rock, a modern continuation of pop-rock and glam metal). Their music can be described as a mixture of all heavy metal classics, like IRON MAIDEN, JUDAS PRIEST, PRIMAL FEAR and many, many others. Looks cool? Well, it sounds also pretty good.
This band presents power metal in its cleanest form. This is the first impression after listening to VALKIJA. This album shows, that those few Italians are the best people in the house to rock it. Why? The whole album is kept in original and classic heavy metal style, the riffs are classic heavy ones, they bring back memories of old IRON MAIDEN! And Zoraijas high-pitched voice is absolutely fabulous, it sounds exactly like David Waynes from METAL CHURCH. It just makes me want to cry in front of my hi-fi. This is really a good tribute to old power metal school. With its power, character, melody and that outstanding lyrical theme everything is just gorgeous. A real pearl for such classic metal fans. On the other hand, playing such music is risky, because all of the ideas were already used and the time will come, when someone will tell: Sorry, but weve all heard it before in . And thats the way the cookie crumbles, and this goes for VALKIJA. Hold On sounds like early HAMMERFALL, but still has more guts and power than those Swedish ladies. The first part of the album is heavier, slower and sometimes even dull, the music cruises lazily from the left hemisphere of your brain to the right one. Return of the King has a cool beginning, recorded backwards and this has a tribute aspect to BLACK SABBATH, as the rest of the song is played in their style (Iron Man). The real and raw power reaches the ears from Sign of the Hammer, it is sheer force, very similar to JUDAS PRIESTs Painkiller. Last but not least, Zoraijas magnificent voice is one of the most powerful and original feminine metal vocals since Kimberly Gosss from SINERGY. Who said, that women cannot sing better than men?
To sum up, I can say that this album is a great surprise. Power metal needed such reinforcement, which could blow the caps from everyones heads. The album is a mixture of styles of many high format stars, but VALKIJA managed to find something own in this jungle. This will help them to gain more fans quite fast.
note: 9/10
Tracklist
1. The Last One
2. Hold On
3. Eyes of the Shadow
4. Return of the King
5. Sign of the Hammer
6. The Unknown Kadath
7. Son of Thunder
8. Steel Avenger
9. Hatchet Blade
Total playing time 48:51
Line-up
Zoraija (Anna Amato) – vocals
John Turturro (Luca Rossi) – guitar
Nikoll Hamm (Vito Grillo) – bass
Sebastian Hamm – drums
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