Saturday, September 20, 2014

Heroes Of Vallentor Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
1: We are a Epic Heavy Metal from the north of Sweden, with much influences  from the '80s heavy metal.
We began in 2005 me, Lars Sköldmark and my brother Björn began to write some music. It wasn't until 2008
we released a demo and 2009 "The Path to Victory" came out.
Our music also include power/thrash influences.

2.You have your first full length coming out, how would you describe the musical sound that is
presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?
2: The album have a very epic feeling to it and some storytelling. It begins with an instrumental track with a
speech to it and then we unleash fast heavy metal after that. This include a lot of fast songs, but we also have
a bass song on it, very beautiful.
What differs from previous demo-releases is that the album have a more epic feeling than the demos. And we become better musicians as we rehearse alot, but that goes without saying really.
I would say this is not your typical power/heavy metal album, but I think it will be appreciated.

3,The band was broken up for a couple of years, what was the decision behind the split and also
the decision to reform?
 3: After we have released The Path to Victory demo, many members were playing in other bands, which were more successful at the time and they decided to skip many rehearsals with Vallentor. Also we were looking for a drummer at the time. We nearly recruited him, but since it was only me who had any interest in continuing withVallentor, I thought: since you guys have no interest, we split up.

Many months passed by, and then one night my brother and I decided to hang out and we had a couple of beers and discussed about old times with Heroes of Vallentor, the gigs, recordings, what not. Then we said: "We should start with the band again!". We then recruited new members, gigs followed, and 2014 our album will come out.
The rest, as they say, is history.

4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
4: The topics is based on the Sword & Sorcery genre, like Conan the Barbarian, Red Sonya and so forth, but Vallentor is a own realm that I created and the stories happen in that realm as well.
"Warriors path Part I" is actually a story about a Warrior from the North, who must help the people of Vallentor and the King of Vallentor against the wizard, Lord Agranoth.
A concept album, all in all. Each track follows either the good guys and the bad guys. :)


5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Heroes Of Vallentor'?
5: Before "Heroes of Vallentor" we called ourselves Crusader, but then we found out that a band already had that name and we quickly changed it. The Realm of Vallentor was something  i came up with for a long time ago,so the drummer Erik Forsgren suggested the name "Heroes of Vallentor" and we have used it ever since.

6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you
describe your stage performance?
6: One of our best gigs was at Vallsbergsgalan in Piteå, Sweden. The stage was huge, awesome, kickass
sound technicians and good support from the audiance. Also we are the houseband at the local metal festival
Nordic Rage Metal Festival in Boden in Sweden, where we hail from.

On stage we rock hard and I wield a sword of steel on stage. We also have very fun on stage and that is very appreciated by our fans and the audience.

7.Do you have any touring or show plans once the new album is released?
7: The only thing I can say that we have a few gigs here in Sweden and we have been trying to get some shows in Finland, right now we are waiting. After the release things will turn out better, I think.

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of metal?
8: Some reviews have dropped in, quite positive in my opinion. Some of our songs have been aired in British radio,which is cool. We'll see once the album has been released.

9.Are the band members involved with any other musical projects these days?
9: Right now we are all focusing on Heroes of Vallentor, which as taken up alot of time for all of us.

10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
10: On a quite successful path, I think! The sound will remain pretty much the same, but that can change,
we'll see. And a tour and some gigs will also follow, which is nice!
Right now we are also working on new material for the next album, "Warriors path Part II", but we still
have a long way to go with that album.

11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also
 what are you listening to nowadays?
11: Many of us like thrash-, heavy- and power metal, so the influences  differs alot actually. But you could
say that Heroes of Vallentors music is mainly influenced by Manowar, Sabaton, even alot of thrash metal
have inspired us.
I myself like Manowar, Running Wild, Candlemass, Slayer, Testament and Paragon. Well, a lot more of course.

12.What are some of your non musical interests?
12: One of my greatest's hobbies is Warhammer, both Fantasy and 40k, and in writing moment, I'm painting an Imperial Fist strike force.
I also read alot of historical texts, mainly medieval warfare. And Sci-Fi books.

13.Before we wrap up this interview do you have any final words or thoughts?
13: I am really looking forward to the release of the album, I'm so f****ng excited about this! And our release-party we will have the 25th of October in Boden, Sweden.
You can visit our homepage, http://www.vallentor.com and look us up on Facebook for details.
And to our fans out there, continue to support us, which you always have. May your steel never falter.
Also, thanks for the interview.
Fight with honour, die with pride!








 













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