Today, Swedish black metal elite Valkyrja stream the entirety of their highly anticipated fourth album, Throne Ablaze. A work forged in the fires of the ancients with deadly intent to raze the present, Throne Ablaze precludes a full European tour of Valkyrja supporting the equally legendary Marduk and Archgoat, which starts later this week (dates below). Set for international release today via W.T.C. Productions, hear Valkyrja’s Throne Ablaze in its entirety exclusively HERE.
Valkyrja was founded in 2004 with the earnest intention of channeling violence, deprivation, and loathing through means of extraordinarily potent audio emissions. Their ideals were permeated by passionate and boundless perversion – a sickly urge festering ever so vibrantly in the essence of its members, a will to cast off the manacles of societal enslavement and leave a dying world behind. While the brotherhood took shape, opposition and defiance surfaced from the deepest recesses of the mind: a fierce hostility towards the laws and morals of their surroundings, notions which felt entirely alien to the band’s core.
As part of Valkyrja’s philosophy of ridding themselves from limitations, no specific genre was ever chosen since it would only serve to establish a framework of useless expectation. The artistic output created under the flag of Valkyrja defies all earthly shackles, including those of commercial categorization. With ideology as lodestar, venturing into darkness without a backwards glance, they took their first fledgling steps on a road staked out by the night itself.
Valkyrja’s debut album, The Invocation of Demise, was recorded in Necromorbus Studio during March 2007 and then released in physical form by Northern Silence Productions six months later. Valkyrja quickly gained their reputation as a ferocious live act: a display of carnal lust leaving each stage with the foul scent of death. Drawn to the stench of putrid bereavement, Metal Blade Records contracted the band in 2009. The Invocation of Demise was treated to a re-release by their new ally, thus spreading the curse even further. The same year also saw a return to Necromorbus Studio for the recording of their second album, the most aptly named Contamination. The new tracks would prove to be a crucial part of the band’s live setlist as they, the following autumn, embarked on their first European campaign.
Forged and conceived to reflect blood and fire, the third Valkyrja album, The Antagonist’s Fire, set the world aflame on the eleventh day of the eleventh month in the year 2013. The opus also marked the beginning of Valkyrja’s long-running collaboration with elite underground label World Terror Committee. During the past decade, facilitated by Massive Music and accompanied by titans of extreme metal, over 100 different European cities has been forced to swallow the bitter wine of sonic violence. Furthermore, 2016 and 2017 saw two extensive North American tours with Valkyrja as co-headliner, during which 22 different states were soaked in rotten blood.
Five years removed from the third opus, Valkyrja return under a new guise. The past few years have seen the band subjected to several crucial lineup changes, igniting a period of utter despair that would sow the seeds for what has now come to pass: Throne Ablaze is set for worldwide release on November 26, 2018. The album reflects the passion and dedication of everyone involved, those who face every storm – past and future – with weapon in hand. It will forever stand as a monument of continuous struggles – so right there, in the core of this strife to conquer every obstacle, kneel and obey the fires of the blazing throne!
Full obeisance can be found exclusively HERE.
Cover art, courtesy of Nestor Avalos, and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Valkyrja’s Throne Ablaze
1. In Ruins I Set My Throne
2. Crowned Serpent
3. Opposer of Light
4. Tombs Into Flesh
5. Halo of Lies
6. Transcendental Death
7. Paradise Lost
8. Throne Ablaze
VIKTORIA EUROPA Part 2
Marduk + Archgoat + Valkyrja + support
Nov 30, 2018 (SVN) Ljubljana @ Winter Days Of Metal
Dec 01, 2018 (ITA) Brescia @ Black Winter Festival
Dec 02, 2018 (SUI) Aarburg @ Musigburg
Dec 04, 2018 (FRA) Paris @ Le Machine
Dec 05, 2018 (BEL) Bruges @ Het Entrepot
Dec 06, 2018 (NED) Hengelo @ Metropool
Dec 07, 2018 (GER) Leipzig @ Felsenkeller
Dec 08, 2018 (CZE) Plzen @ Bozkov
Dec 09, 2018 (GER) Ludwigsburg @ Rockfabrik
Dec 11, 2018 (GBR) London @ The Underworld
Dec 12, 2018 (GER) Trier @ Mergener Hof
Dec 13, 2018 (GER) Essen @ Turock
Dec 14, 2018 (BEL) Arlon @ L’Entrepot
Dec 15, 2018 (NED) Eindhoven @ Eindhoven Metal Meeting
Dec 16, 2018 (GER) Bad Oeynhausen @ Druckerei
MORE INFO:
www.facebook.com/valkyrjaswe
www.w-t-c.org
www.facebook.com/W.T.C.Productions
