VALHALL

Thrash Metal / Stoner Metal / Doom Metal / Death-Doom Metal • Norway

MetalMusicArchives.com — the ultimate metal music online community, with discographies, reviews and forums

Valhall is a Norwegian stoner/doom metal band.

In the summer of 1987, Kenneth and Ronny Sorkness met Gylve Fenriz Nagell for the very first time. Gylve had just moved into the neighborhood where the Sorkness brothers had their summerhouse. This young "lad" had the same taste in music as these two "metal-heads", and soon found out that they were tuned to the same frequency. Gylve had enough music equipment to start a band and he also had plans to start that band for a long time. Soon after, Valhall was born and Kenth Robin Olsen, a classmate of Kenneth, joined in. The following years were characterized by hard work, rehearsing and recording. In 1988 their first demo saw the light and was titled "Castle of Death". The music style was a kind of thrash metal with a black metal sound. Shortly after their first release, they recruited Lars Brede Jensen read more...

Thanks to Kingcrimsonprog, UMUR for the updates

Buy VALHALL music

AMAZON — Search « VALHALL » CDs & Vinyls

[ paid links ]

VALHALL Online Videos

No VALHALL online videos available. Search and add one now.

VALHALL Discography

VALHALL albums / top albums

3.00 | 1 ratings

Moonstoned
Doom Metal 1995

2.50 | 1 ratings

Heading for Mars
Stoner Metal 1997

3.00 | 1 ratings

Red Planet
Stoner Metal 2009

VALHALL EPs & splits

VALHALL live albums

VALHALL demos, promos, fans club and other releases (no bootlegs)

2.00 | 1 ratings

Castle of Death
Thrash Metal 1988

1.00 | 1 ratings

Amalgamation
Thrash Metal 1989

3.00 | 1 ratings

Trauma
Death-Doom Metal 1990

2.50 | 1 ratings

Live Demo 91
Doom Metal 1991

2.00 | 1 ratings

Pagan Token
Death-Doom Metal 1991

VALHALL re-issues & compilations

VALHALL singles (0)

VALHALL movies (DVD, Blu-Ray or VHS)

VALHALL Reviews

VALHALL Red Planet

Album · 2009 · Stoner Metal

UMUR

"Red Planet" is the third full-length studio album by Norwegian stoner doom metal act Valhall. The album was released through Housecore Records in June 2009. It´s the successor to "Heading for Mars" from 1997. I´m not sure the band were split-up in the years between the two albums but they at least had a longer hiatus. Valhall formed in 1987 and originally featured Gylve Nagell (aka Fenriz from Darkthrone) on drums on their first two demos (and on some tracks on their third demo). Nagell left in 1990 and didn´t perform on Valhall´s two 90s studio albums, but he has returned to the fold and plays drums and performs vocals on "Red Planet". Lead vocals are still handled by Ronny Sorkness though.

While Valhall played a hybrid traditional doom metal and stoner doom metal style on their first two releases, they have completely shed the traditional doom metal elements from "Red Planet" which is a pure stoner doom metal release equally influenced by Black Sabbath and later contemporary psychedelic tinged stoner metal bands. With "Red Planet" I finally got what I was screaming for on the first two releases, which is a bottom heavy sound production, and although the drums feature a slightly powerless and dry tone, the heavy fuzzy guitar tone and organic bass make up for a lot of that. Even Sorkness who I have previously critisized for his non-distinct and sub par vocal performances has stepped up on "Red Planet". Don´t get me wrong the vocals are still the weak link of "Red Planet", like they were on the two preceding album releases, but here they are decent and tolerable.

The songwriting is solid but nothing out of the ordinary for the genre, and I can think of quite a few contemporary releases in the same genre which I would put on before this one. So, upon conclusion "Red Planet" is a decent quality comeback release from Valhall, but it´s probably more a hobby project for the members than a serious band as we haven´t heard from them since. I don´t know if that´s what keeps me a litte unconvinved of the overall quality of this release, but to my ears it´s simply a bit redundant. A 2.5 - 3 star (55%) rating is warranted.

4 days ago
0 comments
Permalink
Report #885158

VALHALL Heading for Mars

Album · 1997 · Stoner Metal

UMUR

"Heading for Mars" is the second full-length studio album by Norwegian stoner doom metal act Valhall. The album was released through Head Not Found in 1997. It´s the successor to "Moonstoned" from 1995. Formed in 1987 it took no less than five demos and a stylistic journey from a hybrid death, thrash, black, doom metal style too a more pure doom metal style on "Moonstoned" before Valhall landed on the music style heard on "Heading for Mars"...

...which is a Black Sabbath influenced stoner doom metal style combined with more epic traditional doom metal moments and even some 70s hard rock touches. Lead vocalist Ronny Sorkness gets the job done, but he doesn´t have a distinct voice or vocal style and the vocals are arguably the weakest link of "Heading for Mars" (just as they were on "Moonstoned"). Another issue from "Moonstoned" contineus on "Heading for Mars" too and that´s the below par sound production values. Doom metal and stoner doom metal releases need a heavy organic bottom end but this sound production is thin and lacking the heavy bass bottom which is so important for an album in this genre.

Repeating the same mistakes isn´t a plus in my book and Valhall seem content playing a similar doom metal/stoner metal style to the one found on the debut album (although leaning more towards stoner doom this time around), which in itself isn´t an issue, because the compositions are actually relatively well written and effective. But continuing with a lead vocalist which sounds out of his league and a thin sound production lacking bottom end are unforgivable. A 2.5 - 3 star (55%) rating is warranted.

4 days ago
0 comments
Permalink
Report #885157

VALHALL Moonstoned

Album · 1995 · Doom Metal

UMUR

"Moonstoned" is the debut full-length studio album by Norwegian doom metal act Valhall. The album was released through Head Not Found in February 1995. Valhall formed in 1987 and originally featured Gylve Nagell (aka Fenriz from Darkthrone) on drums on their first two demos (and on some tracks on their third demo). Nagell is however not part of the lineup on "Moonstoned" and actually hadn´t been involved with Valhall since 1990. Valhall started out playing a hybrid death, black, thrash, doom metal style but when they released their third demo "Trauma" in April 1990, they played a more pure death-doom metal style.

On "Moonstoned" none of the band´s extreme metal past is heard though, and the listener is instead treated to a more traditional doom metal style with a clean vocalist in front. It´s actually still Ronny Sorkness singing, who has been Valhall´s lead vocalist since day one, so he has just left the extreme metal snarling vocals behind and opted for a more "normal" vocal style. Stylistically the music on "Moonstoned" is similar to what an artist like Trouble did in the late 80s/early 90s, so there´s the occasional stoner doom metal touch to the band´s heavy doom metal style (Black Sabbath is of course also an influence).

Valhall are a well playing band but while Sorkness is a decent vocalist who gets the job done, he doesn´t have a particularliy distinct sounding voice and the vocals are a weak link of the album. The sound production is another...it simply sounds thin and lacks the heavy organic bottom end which this type of music is so dependent on. The songwriting is actually pretty decent and fairly memorable, but with the other issues "Moonstoned" isn´t a perfect release by any means. A 3 star (60%) rating is still warranted though.

6 days ago
0 comments
Permalink
Report #885053

VALHALL Pagan Token

Demo · 1991 · Death-Doom Metal

UMUR

"Pagan Token" is the fifth demo release by Norwegian death/black/thrash/doom metal act Valhall. The demo was independently released in March 1991. It succeeds the "Live Demo 91" which was released earlier the same year. Opening track "Melting Picture" had already been released on "Live Demo 91" and the same with "Painful Solitute", although they of course appear here in studio versions. The latter was also on the tracklist of the April 1990 "Trauma" demo. Other than those two tracks "Pagan Token" features "Versatility" and "Moribund Penisual".

Compared to "Trauma", this demo has a more homemade feel to it and it´s not nearly as well produced. "Pagan Token" features more of a rehearsal space recording quality. Stylistically Valhall had reached a point where they played a death-doom metal style which isn´t terribly different from the sound of the first Paradise Lost album. It´s slow (although occasionally faster-paced), sorrowfilled, and doomy death metal with a raw shouting/growling vocalist in front.

Coming from a good quality demo like "Trauma" to this is a bit of a disappointment. It´s not a bad quality death-doom metal release, but it´s not a particularly great one either. It sometimes sounds almost too stripped and it feels like there are empty spaces in the music where little is happening. It´s too bad because I felt Valhall was on to something with the "Trauma" demo but it appears to have been a one-of. A 2 - 2.5 star (45%) rating is warranted.

6 days ago
0 comments
Permalink
Report #885052

VALHALL Live Demo 91

Demo · 1991 · Doom Metal

UMUR

"Live Demo 91" is the fourth demo recording by death/black/thrash/doom metal act Valhall. The demo was independently released in early 1991. It was recorded live at the Bootleg venue in November 1990. The demo features three tracks. "Melting Picture" would appear on the forthcoming fifth demo recording by Valhall the March 1991 "Pagan Token" demo. "The Mission" is exclusive to this live demo and "Painful Solitude" had already appeared on the April 1990 "Trauma" demo, but would also appear on the "Pagan Token" demo.

At this point Valhall played a death-doom metal style which isn´t far removed from the first Paradise Lost album. It´s slow, brutal, and sorrowfilled death metal with a brutal shouting/growling vocalist in front. Although the drums are barely audible in the mix, it´s still a relatively decent quality live production and the songs are easy to decipher and listen to. It´s by no means a masterpiece live demo but it´s overall a decent quality release and a 2.5 star (50%) rating is warranted.