Valkeryon

Artist: 
Album Title: 
Vision Of Fire
Release Date: 
Friday, August 22, 2014
Distribution: 
Review Type: 

Gosh, a band from Panama-City (you know, the capitol city of Panama, situated on both sides of the Panama Canal, which connects the Atlantic with the Pacific Ocean?), that's certainly something which doesn't come along every day! Which might explain why I found no extra info on the Progressive Power Metal band, other that that which they sent along with the download promo of the album (info which can also be found on their website), so I guess we'll have to make due with that, eh?

Everything started in recent history, when the more than excellent keyboardist Alpha Prime (real name Hector Polo) decided to discontinue his collaboration with the band Animedley. He immediately got in contact with new musicians, among which already drummer Anthony Malcolm, and after a while Rubens (real name Ruben Karamañites), whom had just returned from India (there's no mention of whether that was a return from a holiday, or from an extended stay there) joined the band as their singer. Originally going under the monicker of Unlimited, the band started out covering anime and videogame music, and gradually diverted toward the Power Metal genre. It's in that period that Jose Ricardo Chang entered the old to handle lead guitar tasks. But all was not well within the band, and as a result of the internal differences two members left the band (obviously, that must've been the original guitarist and bassist?). Deciding to forego the two-guitar idea, the band recruited one Gian Franco Julian as their new bassist, and its he whom, when the band decided to change its name to avoid possible copyright conflicts with its departed members, came up with the name Valkeryon.

Additionally to changing their monicker, the band also re-arranged its existing music, and started working head-on on the songs which would eventually be the make-up of this, their debut album. By the time of the recordings however, Julian had already departed (for reasons undisclosed, but they were most probably personal, and the parting must've been amical as no new name change occurred). But no worries, as recording engineer & producer Daniel de Leon took over bass duties for the album...and subsequently joined the band as permanent member. The album was self-released on a local basis in early June of 2014, and must've been almost immediately picked up by The Leaders Group, who would give the album a worldwide distribution a mere two-and-a-half months later!

With only one guitarist in the band, the Progressive side of things comes mostly from the keyboards, but there's passages in each song where the guitarist can also exchange his melodic riffing for more exhilarating repartee, and where the keyboardist goes for a temporarily more atmospheric exchange...and I'd say that the guys have found a good balance, enabling each musician to show off his prowess without exaggeration, in otherwise well-written songs. The lead singer gets ample harmonic backings from at least one of the other members, and his own voice has a signature of its own, thanks to a slight tough of nasality in the medium-high pitched singing voice...rather than be negative about it, I'd say that this sets him apart as a recognizable part of the band, indeed!

For your introduction to the album, or rather, your getting acquainted with the whole of it, the band posted its complete album at their webspace, (www.) valkeryon.com, and at YouTube, there's videos of at least two songs to be found. And that, is all I can tell you about this band, thus far.

 

87/100