Here the day comes BUY IT Credits: Valkus guitars, bass and vocals Giuseppe Orlando: drum drum recorded at Outer Sound Studios March 2011 . Guitar bass and vocals recorded at Destroyed studios, Vicenza, april-may 2011.Mixed at Outer Sound Studios by Giuseppe Orlando Rome June 2011, mastered by jens bogren at fascination street, örebro, july 2011.

http://druzynaspolszczenia.pl



Tracklista:
1. Dawn 05:26 
2. Sunrise 05:02 
3. Morning 06:41 
4. Afternoon 05:47 
5. Sunset 05:37 
6. Evening 05:20 
7. Night 06:43 

Rok wydania: 2012
Gatunek: Dark/Gothic Metal
Kraj: Włochy

Skład zespołu:
Valkus Valkiria -śpiew, gitara, bas , instrumenty klawiszowe
Mike - gitara
Giuseppe Orlando - perkusja (muzyk sesyjny)

http://blackenedhorde.com/

You don’t see a whole lot of concept albums in the black metal genre, so when you do come across one, you know you are in for something special. The 2012 full-length album Here The Day Comes by Italian black metal band Valkiria is a hauntingly moving collection of somber songs. Each one is titled as a different part of the day, as the album name suggests. Valkiria have succeeded in creating a record that is heavy, deep, and though provoking. This is not an album made for the mosh pit. This is a very unique experience that is profoundly well constructed. The way the album slowly builds is a thing of beauty. Starting at Dawn it goes through the day, resting on the final song. Night. These are long songs that are thick with heavy atmosphere. Don’t expect the traditional black metal shredding fast speed. This is a different kind of black metal. I would almost call this progressive black metal. The way it moves, changes, and builds more closely resembles progressive metal. But the way it cuts images in your thoughts as you listen to it is something distinctive that only high quality black metal can do. Valkiria have tried something non-traditional with Here Comes The Day and they pulled it off flawlessly. If you only came to headbang, you might get bored, but is you appreciate how black metal can be beautiful art created by masters, Here Comes The Day is an astonishingly poignant way to pass through a day.

8.5/10

http://isk.int.ba

Zar smjena dana i noći nije predivna metafora za život i smrt? Možda čak i jedna od najprirodnijih koje poznajemo, ne samo zbog njene integracije u prirodni tok stvari, već i zato jer nam se odvija pred očima. Pa, to je očigledno pomislio i poznatiji pod pseudonimom Valkus Valkiria. je osnivač talijanskog doom/goth benda Valkiria koji je aktivan od sredine devedesetih zahvaljujući isključivo njegovoj upornosti i posvećenosti. “Here The Day Comes” je peti album benda, a sastoji se od sedam pjesama koje je veoma teško i nepravedno posmatrati odvojeno, sve pjesme su fragmenti jedne cjeline i ovakav album se ne sluša tek tako i da bi nešto sviralo.Pjesme su nazvane do imenima cjelina dana i noći, pa se album sastoji od zore, izlaska sunca, jutra, popodneva, zalaska sunca, večeri i noći. Jednostavna, skoro školska metafora koja fantastično funkcioniše.Pjesme su izrazito turobne i nostalgične, pogotovo meni koji nisam navikao na ovakav zvuk, ali slušatelja ne pritišću na negativan način, već bude emocije koje možda i nemaju najpozitivniji predznak, ali ponovo vam kazuju da ste samo čovjek. Snaga cijelog albuma leži u prelijepim melodijama, kao i novom članu Valkirie (ne zna se da li je stalni), bubnjaru Giuseppeu Orlandu koji je poznat po rokanju u bendu Novembre. Guiseppe je čak i snimio i producirao ovaj album, uradio je fantastičan posao. Za mastering albuma zadužen je Jens Bogren koji je radio sa bendovima Paradise Lost i Katatonia, te ništa nije prepustio slučaju. Vjerujem da bi i bez masteringa ovaj album zvučao fantastično, ali mastering ga je sredio da baš bude cakum-pakum.

Italija je zaista čudna zemlja. Ili mi podari bendove koji me smore, poput ranije spominjane Cadaverie ili fantastične bendove kakav je i Valkiria. Ovo doom/goth djelo je preporuka mjeseca! Uživajte u sve kraćim danima i dolasku zimske noći…

www.metalmouth.net

Following up their 2009 album “Upon This Earth”, Valkiria return with their haunting black metal offering “Here The Day Comes”. Delivering some golden tickets to the realms of the dark.

We begin with “Dawn” and as the title implies it opens up bleary eyed and slow to begin, but soon we’re swaying to beautifully atmospheric guitar work from Mike that really sets the tone for the beginning of the album. The vocals are incredibly well performed by Valkus Valkiria, brainchild of Valkiria, the fixed mid level tone that settles the song well. This rolling beauty is the perfect way to start up this album.

“Sunrise” starts quite differently, it breaks open instantly and with some incredibly sharp sounds and powerful melodies, before dropping down into a soft progressive roll of atmospheric guitar and supporting slow beat drum work. By this point its obvious to listener (even by looking at the track names) each song represents a different part of the day and so far has been encapsulated well by their tone and energy levels perfectly associated with the feelings of the image. Moving on from “Sunrise”, we come to “Morning” (as expected) another beautifully crafted track but this time with more elegance than its forbearers, Giuseppe Orlando becoming more energetic with his drumming and setting a great beat to continue the album with, so far? so very very good.

Into the “Afternoon” a generally faster beat that still has its breathing room, the music itself has becoming slightly more epic and feels on a grander scale than “Morning” or “Dawn”. It’s only let down is the feeling of it being a build up to something that doesn’t happen, the grind of the guitars and rising vocals pronounce something more to come but somewhat weak at its end. But when considered, it may have represented their vision of the “Afternoon” nicely. Well played guys, well played. (Not to sound too poncey there but he,y it’s black metal, I can’t help it ok!)

Another step on this day journey leads us into the Goosebumps forming “Sunset”, played at full volume this eerie tune really sets the spine tingling, the guitar set on super whine and the vocals set on lonesome, this really hits you hard after a few play-throughs, by far the best song on the album and setting itself up to be one of my favourite songs of the year. (I know right, me, a death metal enthusiast having a black metal song as his favourite of the year, mind blowing)

“Evening” time and we’re winding down into a darker abyss, the song is broken into two parts. The first with a kick of energy and some nice fast beats, the second is that “sit down” you have after work to relax. Very chilled and a testament to how well this album has been put together, the concept fit’s the music so perfectly it’s hard to distinguish the idea from the music, either way “Evening” is an incredible song.

Lastly we arrive at “Night”, a drone master class that feels as dark as it names suggests, the high pitched background guitar perfectly framing the track as it winds down the album, a perfect ending to a near perfect album.

A very clever way to write an album, you certainly feel that even though the album limits itself to a short time frame to represent it, it’s still a journey they’ve undertaken. An album worth way more than one play through. Just awesome.

Dawn 9/10
Sunrise 9/10
Morning 10/10
Afternoon 8/10
Sunset 10/10
Evening 10/10
Night 9/10

Overall: 9.5/10

thebitemagazine.wordpress.com

Hailing from Italy, this is the 5th album that Valkiria have produced. Along with Novembre’s drummer Guiseppe Orlando, who also mixed the album and an unknown guitarist called Mike, the bands creator Valkus Valkiria has produced an album that takes you on a journey. And will need to be listened from start to finish, just so you can appreciate the sheer grandeur associated with this album.Telling a story from sunrise to night this album plays really well to the idea of a concept album, a sort of musical poetry, describing ones mood and feelings as the day progresses.  With Guiseppe Orlando having complete freedom on drums the end result is something very fitting to an album, which switches from Black Metal to a gentler style of prog, then building back to being ferocious, to very dynamic effect. Even synths are used in this album, and they are used in such a way as to add atmospheric depth to the story telling by flirting in and out of the rhythm section, not to overpower and over complicate things.The journey you’re taken on is a journey that isn’t as bleak as one would expect from a Black Metal band, instead it’s one of rich and vibrant sounds, enhanced by the sudden djentesque melodic prog interludes. Yeah it’s still ferocious, dark and rather melancholy but as the album progresses so does the vibrancy of the sound. Mike’s fretwork starts become more intricate and layered, vocals become more harmonised, drums become more frantic, culminating in a fantastically layered cake of gloomy delights.To have everything working musically at precisely the right time on an album as intricate as this just shows how well the album was mixed. You can also hear the bass more prominently, which is usually unheard of in Black Metal. But Orlando has treated it as a completely separate entity and layered it in such a way that instead of just beefing up the overall sound, its used as another character in the story that is “Here The Day Comes’’. The end result is one of an epic tale of rebirth and death of a day, starting at a slow pace, becoming more vibrant, then as night draws in the music takes on a more darker sinister edge, until you’re left with night and the blackest of Black Metal to fall asleep to.

Overall, this album is a real tour de force, and really pushes Valkiria into the upper echelons of the Black Metal elite, there’s nothing to fault really. The sudden changes from heavy to soft really keep you interested in the musical tapestry being weaved by Valkus, and his merry men. You really get a sense that this is an album that you will keep noticing new things in every time you listen to it, and that’s what sets it apart from mediocrity and makes it a well written album.

www.metalhead.it

“Here the Day Comes” è il quinto album dei Valkiria. “Here the Day Comes” è il quinto album di Valkus, colui che ha dato vita al progetto e che nel tempo lo ha educato e portato avanti. “Here the Day Comes” vede lo stesso Valkus e Mike alla chitarra e Giuseppe Orlando (Novembre) alla batteria. Il taglio è quello di un gothic-doom come c’era tempo fa,  cupo, vasto, malinconico, epico. “Here the Day Comes” è suddiviso in sette canzoni, le quali prendono il nome dai diversi momenti della giornata. Un viaggio, un filo conduttore, una tematica che cinge i testi e la musica. Quest’ultima vede gli inserti tipici del genere, con arpeggi malinconici, interposizioni tastieristiche, riff delle chitarre armoniosi, decadenti e umorali, ma anche efficacemente heavy. Cliché tipici? No, per niente! Valkiria è l’esibizione di musica elegante, con un piede nel passato ed uno verso un sound comunque proprio. Qualche passaggio appare slegato da ciò che li segue o precede, ma andiamo a finire in un’analisi talmente profonda la quale non sarebbe in grado di descrivere l’universo di questa realtà italica (Valkus è di Potenza) che ogni volta ha sempre un capitolo interessante da raccontare, nella sua personale storia.

(Alberto Vitale) Voto: 7/10

www.metal-observer.com

It is interesting sometimes, how much your mood or your surroundings affect the impact of an album. When I had first listened to VALKIRIA’s fifth album “Here The Day Comes”, it was bright, warm and sunny and while it was enjoyable, it didn’t strike me as anything overtly interesting. Today, though, that changed dramatically, since autumn had struck and it was grey, rainy and dreary outside. And suddenly the Gothicy, Doomy Metal of the Italians makes perfect sense and words for the review start to form in my mind. So despite being the fifth album already, I had never even heard the name of the band before, but it looks like they started out as an atmospheric Black Metal band that then morphed more and more into the Gothic/Doom genre, utilizing both growls/screams and clear vocals. In the year 2012 they now bring us a very well rounded version of the genre and for some reason I haven’t detected any clear vocals, so they may have been put on hiatus, but that does not distract from the melancholic and atmospheric core. Throughout the album the name of older KATATONIA keeps coming back to my mind, with some generous sprinkles of PARADISE LOST, but to narrow VALKIRIA down to these two names would be both unjust and foolish since they take influence, but do not copy. Going with the album and song titles, “Here The Day Comes” seems to be an account of a full day (I wish I had the lyrics, so I could see, if there also is a story following it) and musically the intensity of the tracks follows the parts of the day that represent each song. “Dawn” sets out doomy, melancholic and with a nice melody, whereas “Morning” incorporates even some double-bass into the atmospheric music and the last two songs of “Evening” and “Night” get moodier and more atmospheric, with increasing instrumental passages to just take you away. It is this flow that I completely missed while listening to the album during bright sunshine and that in the end elevates “Here The Day Comes” over the different bands that have emulated older KATATONIA’s sound in the past (and present). There is an ebb and flow of Doom and calmer, more reflective passages, always maintaining a high level of atmosphere, though, that holds the fabric together. As mentioned, we only get growls here, but they are woven into the tapestry of the music as an integral part and quite frankly, I don’t miss any clear vocals here. The production has the same warm feeling that the atmosphere gives, which together with the very moody cove artwork creates a total package.
VALKIRIA’s fifth is an excellent Gothic Doom/Death album that emanates atmospheric doominess which, given the right surroundings, can put you into the perfect autumnal mood.

8/10

www.hardsounds.it

Partito sedici anni fa come solo-project, negli anni a seguire si è formata sempre meglio l'idea di plasmare Valkiria come una vera e propria band. Prima chiamando vari ospiti sparsi tra demo e full, poi mettendo in sesto una line-up in carne ed ossa visto che di batterista, almeno per i dischi precedenti, non c'era nemmeno l'ombra. Ad oggi questo gruppo può affidarsi al drumming di Giuseppe Orlando, e finalmente Valkiria è un trio ben assestato, con un sound neanche niente male. Massiccio. ma neanche tanto; imponente, ma anche timido. Senza strafare delinea un extreme gothic dei Katatonia che furono, tratteggiando con cura il sound, entro riff epici che rimarcano fedelmente gli standard tipici del genere. Tra arpeggi malinconici e distorsioni disperse nel vuoto si passa dall'alba alla notte in compagnia di brani suonati in modo sincero. E a dirla tutta questo è più importante di tanto altro. Finalmente una svolta degna della loro lunga carriera.

75/100

www.metalglory.de

Eigentlich ist die Idee, ein komplettes Album und dessen Songs nach dem Verlauf eines Tages zu benennen, gar nicht so bahnbrechend. Trotzdem haben sich VALKIRIA mit ihrem Album "Here The Day Comes" dazu entschlossen und setzen dieses Konzept auch durch eine passende Metaphorik in den Texten angemessen um. Genau wie bei dem schwelgenden Doom/Death Metal der Italiener kann da natürlich nicht auf das ein oder andere Klischee verzichtet werden, den bodenlosen Abgrund des Kitsches und der musikalischen Belanglosigkeit können die beiden Herren aber zum Glück meiden.

VALKIRIA sind Fans des 90er-Doom-Metals der englischen Schule, der sich aus den Wurzeln des Death Metals speiste und damals solch grandiose Bands wie MY DYING BRIDE, ANATHEMA und PARADISE LOST hervorbrachte. Irgendwo in der Schnittmenge von "Gothic", "Turn Loose The Swans" und "The Silent Enigma" mit einem Schuss alter KATATONIA und OPETH findet sich der Sounds VALKIRIAs nun wieder und formt sich auf "Here The Day Comes" zu sieben melodischen, melancholischen, manchmal auch melodramatischen Songs. Elegische Gitarrenwände, sich mit Growls abwechselnder etwas jammernder Klargesang, größtenteils eher gedrosseltes Mid-Tempo, ruhige Halbakustikparts - man kennt das Schema bereits seit vielen Jahren. Erfreulicherweise schaffen es VALKIRIA aber trotzdem, keinen mangelhaft kopierten Sondermüll abzuliefern, sondern auf diese Weise ein ganz charmantes Undergroundalbum zusammenzuzimmern. Das große Songwriting oder ein ganz eigener, charakteristischer Sound fehlt den Italienern zwar noch, aber was nicht ist, kann ja noch werden. Solide Arbeit ist "Here The Day Comes" auf jeden Fall schon mal geworden.

hardcity.gr

Gothic mixed with doom is the description of the new, fifth album released by the Italian duo which formed Valkiria along with the participation of drummer Giuseppe Orlando (Novembre), who has also handled the recordings of their album at Outer Sound Studios in Italy. Vicenza’s duo returned with a new album this year released by their new label, Bakerteam Records, and in my opinion, this is the best band’s album since the days of creation.

Definitely, "Here The Day Comes" has the best sound Valkiria has been ever created, bright and crystal clear, a really spectacular sound. You know, I love the dramatic atmosphere in music which has the power to yield emotions, and the new Valkiria’s album, hides everything I love to find in such bands that are moving in that space.  But the most remarkable thing is the way they supervise it. Simplicity! This is the main, the biggest asset of this sound. Without any complicated techniques, this band can distinguish for the sincere soul submission which is making each component of the album to be uniquely in style and sound that will captivate you from the first listening. There are times where you want in a musical world to be attached and get away from all ordinary things which are strangling your life trying to discover what is hiding inside yourself. This is what Valkiria manages to give you through the seven compositions of their new record. Through the immediacy of their sound, they manage to lead you from darkness to light, or from light to dark so, eventually white mixed with black and gray succeeds.

Indeed, "Here The Day Comes" is a fascinating album full of a melancholy atmosphere that will bring you to mind images of Anathema, Katatonia and Opeth of the early years. Valkus' vocals refer to death metal technique and fit perfectly on these hazy arrangements. Doom metal tones throughout the whole album of Valkiria will steal your soul with creative flare-ups which eventually lead you out of the tunnel of your merciless and loneliness reality. In this, the melodies of the band have a huge role as are placed in a magical way into the songs and unfolding in front of your eyes a sensational experience.

Apparently, through these 16 years of experience in music, Valkiria has maintained to complement the synthetic capacity to the highest level. Obviously the "Here The Day Comes" is the most mature album which these artists have been ever revealed. If you know them through previous discs, then you will easily realize that now they are at a higher songwriting level that gives them the chance to play games with the listener, to penetrate into your mind, distract your attention and monopolizing your interest. It's really amazing how they brought you into a music vortex with the track "Dawn" that starts this album and they manage to do this with just a few notes. Dark and nostalgic, increases the intensity as the seconds is rolling and furthermore Valkus' voice can really fascinate you with his performance. All seem so simple and, to my great surprise, so charming at the same time.

Equally impressive is the rest of the album, with songs like "Sunrise" that is filling the space with its exuberant personality and the guitar creates a very catchy riff in a very simple way. The sun comes to earth and is playing games with the clouds in "Morning." Slowly they will pass you to a morning landscape that unfolds before you, and reminiscent the desperate attempt of the sun which is trying commanding to the horizon that is full of hazy clouds painting the sky with gray color. This gray color prevails in your mind with the guitar seems to be imprisoned between massive and compact rhythms which are driving the song to a multidimensional reality by giving the impression of continuous emotions rotation. The way that Valkiria composing the song is amazing as they manage to create conflicting emotions, driving you in a game of a constant search of ego identity.

The dynamism of the evening comes leading the isolationist mood of the morning in an outburst before the absolute serenity of the night. The "Sunset" comes with a nice melody to suck in your mind and will soon lead you into a whirl which gradually drives you in the darkness of the night.

Eventually yes, I think that this is a really fantastic album that finds Valkiria to be in an ideal synthetic crescendo. The "Here The Day Comes" is a breathtaking album that will play with your mind emotional games. Listen to it with the lights off and eyes closed. Let it take you and lead you to its own, an incomparable world. It has become my favorite album in recent months, and hopefully will also be your favorite album and together will be united in another unique aesthetic dimension. See you there.

e-shop.season-of-mist.com

5e album des Italiens de VALKIRIA, "Here The Day Comes" s'adresse aux amateurs de KATATONIA, ANATHEMA (les vieux), FORGOTTEN TOMB (les récents) et MY DYING BRIDE. Beau, fragile, aérien, cet album nous transporte vers les cieux, la voix typée Black Metal étant le seul véritable élément nous rappelant le passif des membres du groupe (ECNEPHIAS, OBSCURE DEVOTION, VEILED MOON, NOVEMBRE). En un mot comme en cent, une bonne balle que cette galette ma foi. En un mot donc : pépite !

http://legacy.de

Das italienische Projekt VALKIRIA kann man als neustes Beispiel dafür ansehen, dass sich harte Arbeit im musikalischen Untergrund auszahlen kann, denn das aktuelle Album der Band erscheint nach vier Eigenveröffentlichungen erstmals über ein Label. Glückwunsch dazu schon mal. „Here The Day Comes“ ist ein Konzeptalbum, das den Verlauf eines Tages schildert, wie die sieben durchgängig von ‚Dawn’ bis ‚Night’ betitelten Songs belegen. Interessante Idee, funktionieren tut das allerdings nicht besonders gut. Wenn man den Hintergrund des Albums kennt und weiß, welcher Track gerade läuft, dann wird man vielleicht anerkennend nicken und bestätigen, dass das ein wenig nach dem Morgen klingt, aber es wird niemand beim ersten Genuss des Albums Ausrufe wie „Ach, klar, da geht’s doch gerade um den Mittag!“ artikulieren. Über die musikalische Qualität des Albums sagt das aber nichts aus. VALKIRIA sind fit an ihren Instrumenten, der Sound des Albums ist transparent, andererseits auch voll und drückend genug, um sich problemlos in die Gehörgänge zu schmeicheln - leider aber auch genau so schnell wieder raus. VALKIRIAs Gothic-lastiger Doom/Death Metal ist nicht schlecht, nur leider viel zu brav und unspektakulär. Zwar wird immer mal wieder zwischen ruhigen Passagen sowie heftigeren Lagen gewechselt, aber selbst die härteren Parts mit Doublebass und Screams klingen alles andere als aufregend. „Here The Day Comes“ ist eine von diesen CDs, die den Hörer unheimlich schnell einlullt und zu Hintergrundgeplätscher verkommt. Wann immer man sich mal aus dieser Trance herausreißen kann und aktiv zuhört, ist das, was die Band leistet, ziemlich gefällig. Aber eben auch nicht mehr, und so bleibt eine nette CD, die man gut nebenher laufen lassen kann, die aber wohl niemandes Welt auf den Kopf stellen dürfte.

9/10

mediafirerarzip.com

“Here The Day Comes” is divided into seven phases representing the melancholy a devout black metal druid feels as 24 hours drift past. As such, the tracks are entitled “Dawn,” “Sunrise,” “Morning,” “Afternoon,” “Sunset,” “Evening” “and “Night.” Each track is a slowly evolving tone poem with passionate melody, moodiness embedded in minimalist structures and the illusion that a symphony of lost souls plays alone at the edge of the world.

blogandrockeando.blogspot.it

Excelente material de doom metal con pizcas exactas con sabor gótico es lo que expongo ahora. Música muy al estilo de Saturnus (otros consagrados en este estilo que me agrada tanto). Valkiria con esta, su mas reciente producción, corrobora el buen paso que han traído desde sus inicios en 1997. Here The Day Comes resulta ser una producción que a mi punto de vista resulta por demás genial, especialmente por esa voz agría y un tanto ácida de su vocalista y líder "Valkiria". Bríndense la oportunidad de disfrutar un buen doom metal.

skullreview.blogspot.it

Após quatro álbuns grandiosos, a dupla formada por Valkiria (vocal e instrumentos) e Mike (guitarra) nos presenteiam com um belo álbum e que demonstra todo o enorme potencial da banda, fundada em 1996. O grupo italiano oferece-nos uma mistura muito interessante e brilhante de doom, dark, atmosférico e death, com boas variações musicais e muita originalidade. Aqui o pecado da monotonia passa longe! Masterizado por Jens Bogren que também trabalhou com "Katatonia" e "Paradise Lost", "Here The Day Comes", possui uma produção cristalina e do começo ao fim é uma viagem longa, fria, obscura e realmente depressivo e emocional. Além disso, o álbum possui um enredo fortemente ligado a vida cotidiana e nos faz pensar sobre alguns acontecimentos diários como o nascer do sol, o entardecer e a chegada da noite, ou seja, componentes do tempo que a maioria das pessoas não apreciam. Dessa forma, o conceito do álbum é brilhante, importante e muito bem feito. O disco possui, como já citado, uma boa variação rítmica e traz uma dupla inspirada e com uma enorme capacidade de criação de riffs, sequencias melódicas e passagens que fluem muito bem entre a agressividade e a emoção. Esse é o grande segredo do álbum que possui 40 minutos de duração e flui facilmente. Desde o começo do álbum, o ouvinte consegue captar e ter a total sensação e sentimento de transição desde o amanhecer ("Dawn"), primeira composição, até a noite ("Night"), última música do disco. "Here The Day Comes" é uma viagem muito bem intercalada e amarrada que merece ser apreciado, pois o disco inteiro é parte de uma experiência sonora agradável. O único problema encontrado foi no estilo vocal mais gótico, desenvolvido em "Night", mas que não chega a comprometer a qualidade do disco. Enfim, um álbum grandioso e que nos faz repensar sobre o tempo.

www.midwinterfires.com

Again, I have to repeat that: writing reviews is something that allows to listen to very special things. And again, something special appears, as the dawn gradually unveils the secrets of a new day, the journey through “Here the Day Comes” slowly reveals the huge Valkiria‘s potential. The Italian band offers us a very interesting mix of doom/dark/atmospheric/death, but that’s only a general description, just a starting point to try understanding Valkiria’s musical approach, because the band proposes a yet personal sound with very good musical variations. The soundscapes the band creates in “Here comes the day” really develop within the different moments of the day, songs of “Here the Day Comes” are in fact titled “Dawn”, “Morning”, “Afternoon” and so on, and I must say that the experiment comes to a very good result.  As I said above, Valkiria’s music presents a good variation within the main theme, so melancholic and yearning moments fade into powerful progressions, but the most important thing I guess is the great band’s ability to concretely manipulate a mature sound, creating a great, inspired, convincing musical architecture, with superb guitars dialogues, heavy sequences, enchanting, dreamy, emotional passages. Vocals are growls/clean, perfectly merged into the music, with a great rhythmic section, where drums, played by Novembre’s Giuseppe Orlando, are absolutely rich and powerful. “Dawn” is slowly introducing the coming light, with delicate clean guitars which open the curtain, revealing the yearning miracle of a new day. Don’t want to describe song after song, just listen to the whole album, let “Here the Day Comes” fully captures your soul with its different moments, as every day in life should do.

Vote: 8/10

www.rockandmetalinmyblood.com

Nella mia mente, il Doom Metal ha sempre evocato immagini strettamente legate al paesaggio tipico del paese nativo della band le cui note mi arrivavano dallo stereo. Ascoltare "THE ANGEL AND THE DARK RIVER" dei My Dying Bride, "The Silent Enigma" degli Anathema o "Gothic" dei Paradise Lost per me significa lasciarmi trasportare fino alle grigie e nebbiose campagne inglesi esattamente come "DANCE OF DECEMBER SOULS" dei Katatonia mi trascina dentro i boschi della fredda e oscura Svezia. Ho sempre pensato che tutto questo fosse dovuto alle impressioni che questi territori lasciarono nell'animo dei musicisti al tempo della composizione di questi capolavori e che riuscissero a trasparire anche dalle note catturate negli studi di registrazione. Seguendo questo ragionamento, sembra quasi impossibile che l'Italia, tipicamente la terra del sole, dei chilometri di costa e della canzonetta, potesse diventare la culla adatta per la rinascita della Fenice Doom Metal dalle ceneri di un genere che sembrava alla fine della sua breve ma importante esistenza. Eppure, con le uscite dei Resonance Room e dei The Foreshadowing, si è innescato un processo che ci ha velocemente portato a diventare una delle scene più importanti del Doom Metal mondiale. A confermare questo stato di grazia dei musicisti italiani ecco arrivare "Here the Day Comes" dei Valkiria, band che nonostante svariati problemi di line-up è già giunta al quinto full lenght.
L'album si fa spazio nelle nostre orecchie con l'atmosferico intro di "Dawn". Un crescendo di echi di chitarre e una batteria marziale viene presto rotto dalla voce di una seconda chitarra che imbastisce una melodia semplice ma di sicuro effetto che lascia spazio al disperato scream di Valkus Valkiria, fondatore e mastermind del progetto finendo per avvolgere perfettamente l'ascoltatore e dando veramente un senso alla definizione di band Atmospheric Dark Metal. Il fade Out finale di "Dawn" mette in risalto l'esplosione di energia di "Sunrise", presto mitigata da breve intermezzo arpeggiato al quale segue nuovamente l'esplosione delle chitarre distorte e dello scream di Valkus, perfettamente sottolineati dalla batteria diGiuseppe Orlando dei Novembre, qui in veste di special guest, che si è occupato di arrangiare e registrare le parti di batteria (oltre che del mixaggio del disco) con il suo stile unico (menzione d'onore per i meravigliosi fill dopo il secondo intermezzo in clean). Il potente intro di "Morning" è il perfetto per il violento scream di Valkus ottimamente supportato dalla sua chitarra che duetta con quella di Mike in un incrocio di powerchord semplice ma diretto che aumenta a dismisura la capacità di quest'album di toccare le più profonde corde dell'animo umano, aiutate da un songwriting che alterna sapientemente evocative sezioni con onirici arpeggi clean e sezioni dove chitarre, batteria e vocals creano un'atmosfera di violenta disperazione che penetra profondamente nel cuore dell'ascoltatore. "Afternoon" è un pezzo che mozza il fiato, la struttura dei pezzi e la semplicità dei riff di chitarra unite al costante flusso di emozioni che scaturisce dalle note di questo album ricorderanno da vicino la pietra miliare "BRAVE MURDER DAY" dei Katatonia ma senza dare quella stucchevole sensazione di già sentito che in molti casi colpì i dischi Doom Metal prodotti dopo il boom dei primi anni '90. A marcare questa differenza è principalmente la batteria di Giuseppe Orlando che crea pattern tecnici e dinamici senza mai perdere evocatività o senso logico. Arriviamo a "Sunset" e veniamo subito colpiti da riff dissonanti di pregevole fattura che si intersecano in un continuo flusso di emozioni che percorre tutto l'album e ci permette di porre l'accento sulla produzione curata dagli Outer Sound Studios di Giuseppe Orlando, una produzione chiara e potente che avvolge completamente l'ascoltatore e aiuta i Valkiria a trasportarlo nel loro grigio mondo. La sesta traccia, ovvero la meravigliosa "Evening", inizia con un duetto chitarra/basso veramente da brividi prima di lasciare spazio ad un intermezzo di pura disperazione che sfocia in un lungo outro ambient che prepara la strada a "Night" dove Giuseppe Orlando da veramente il meglio di se nell'intro per poi continuare con un accompagnamento pressochè perfetto che disegna i contorni di un'atmosfera impareggiabile chiudendo un album intenso ed atmosferico che forse pecca con i troppi rimandi al capolavoro "Brave Murder Day" ma che sono comunque mitigati da un'immensa dose di classe e talento.

Voto: 8 su 10

destructive-music.com

A little bit of a concept album now from Italian Gothic Metallers VALKIRIA with their fifth full length album entitled ‘Here Comes the Day’. Indeed its concept is as the album title suggests the day and it works its way through the day starting with opening track ‘Dawn’ and finishes seven songs later with ‘Night’. ‘Dawn’ is slow and methodical and keeps with the theme of dawn slowly drawing close and the day sluggishly getting under-way. Ambient from the very start and with a rising slow melody that reminds me of My Dying Bride or early Anathema, this is a perfect start to the album and the day. ‘Sunrise’ is up next and as you’d expect has a more uplifting and inspiring feel to it and features as the whole album does some high quality musicianship and wonderfully elegant guitar solos.‘Morning’ is a more Death Doom Metal nature maybe to signify the tedium and stress that comes with the start of the day but as a song fails to grab the attention like the previous two tracks whilst ‘Afternoon’ picks up the pace and the quality again with its darker ominous sounds and haunting atmospheres. ‘Sunset’ has a raw harsher sound as it welcomes the coming darkness whilst still being highly melodic and utilizing good pace changes, and ‘Evening’ with darkness now truly descending has a heavy brooding quality but is also highly catchy. ‘Night’ is the inevitable ending to what has been an album of high contrast and hugely enjoyable harmonies and this joyous triumphant return to twilight is marked by a powerful epic sounding song to end on.

I love the artwork, the theme and the sound that Valkiria have created and in ‘Here Comes the Day’ they have created an uplifting album of superb quality.

[8/10 - Luke Hayhurst]

www.xtreemmusic.org

Quinto álbum de estudio de VALKIRIA y primer cara a cara con la propuesta musical de este par de italianos. “Here The Day Comes” y su tenebrosa fachada nos ofrecen una banda de la que podríamos sacarles un perfil bastante emocional, melódico e incluso depresivo por momentos.
Musicalmente, no inventan nada, imagino que tampoco lo pretenden, pero no hay que negar que sus influencias están bien plasmadas dentro de sus parámetros compositivos. Sus canciones se hinchan desmesuradamente de la sombra rítmica de los primeros KATATONIA, (aquí hay mucho de ello), la época intermedia de MY DYING BRIDE (en menor medida) aunque con una perspectiva digamos que más actual en sonido y bastante matizada por otras bandas.
Temas como “Afternoon” o “Sunrise” podría ser un calco perfecto a lo que a día de hoy nos ofrecen gente como RAPTURE, THE MORNINGSIDE o los desaparecidos SLUMBER por poner algunos ejemplos. Dejando a un lado las claras influencias de la banda de Renkse, VALKIRIA también gustan de añadirle elegancia pausada, pues también se codean con matices mucho más rebuscados que los ayudan a remarcar un tímido distanciamiento a las citadas comparaciones. Con ello, nos referimos a los momentos más pausados, dejándonos guiños de elegancia muy similar al de sus tocayos NOVEMBRE, (no en vano, aquí tenemos a Giuseppe Orlando echándoles un cable en composición y en grabación) así como pequeñeces instrumentales con algun interludio en la línea de ALCEST. La tónica lírica lleva esos aires de guturalidad de los primeros OPETH a la par que también se asoman en terrenos muy propios del Black Metal.
En líneas generales creo que han grabado un álbum de una calidad indiscutible, con unas composiciones que se te pegan con su primera escucha, aunque también es verdad que arrastran un factor sorpresa tan manido, que en el transcurso del mismo es fácil centrar el visor en objetivos muy similares. Aún así, creo que VALKIRIA gustarán y mucho a los que disfruten de bandas como OCTOBER TIDE o cualquiera de las mencionadas un poco más arriba, ya que “Here The Day Comes” es sinónimo de un fantástico holograma en cuanto a competividad musical.

“Here The Day Comes” ha sido grabado en los Outer Sound Studios de Roma por el batería de NOVEMBRE y masterizado por Jens Bogren (PARADISE LOST, HELEVORN, KATATONIA, OPETH) en los Fascination Street Studios, así que, en ese aspecto tampoco andan nada mancos.

terrarelicta.com

  Italy has become in the last few years one of the most significant representatives for melancholic gothic doom and Valkiria with their fifth album shows that they are on the top of the list among the bands performing this style. Their leader Valkus Valkiria is now accompanied by Mike on guitar and special guest Giuseppe Orlando from almost forgotten and silent since 2007 Novembre on drums who was also responsible for the recording of this album. Another note goes to the nowadays indispensable Jens Bogren (Paradise Lost, Katatonia, Opeth,...) who mastered the sounds. Here Comes The Day is the first record from Valkiria which is released by a proper record label (Bakerteam/Scarlet records), as the first four albums were all self-released. I'm not really familiar with their first two albums, but found a lot of interesting moments in their previous two: Of Dreams And Pain (2007) and Upon This Earth (2009). Though very different from each other, there is a link that connects all of those works in marvelous melancholic melodies often deeply anchored in doom metal. Of Dreams And Pain saw Valkiria in doom/death waters, while Upon This Earth is kind of gothic doom in the purest mediterranean form, especially because of the vocal performance and Here The Day Comes tends more towards black/doom metal approach, again, only because of vocal style. At first instance the one could think that Valkiria can't find it's own identity with such variations in their sound from album to album, but once you accept the fact that this is a natural progress and that each album is one step higher in quality than the previous one this fact doesn't really matter. On Here The Day Comes Valkiria incorporates all the qualities from the past and renders them new clothes, this time also with top notch production. After a quick look at the beautiful cover artwork with the early morning sunbeam that brightens the hill, let's dive into this adventurous release.
Here The Day Comes is a well deliberated concept; kind of metaphore regarding the whole harsh existence; expressed through different parts of the day: "Dawn", "Sunrise", "Morning", "Afternoon", "Sunset", "Evening" and "Night". Although this idea works pretty original, the music is not as such, but I don't find any problems because of this. Let me explain... Valkiria drives carefully in the early/mid 90's kind of doom sounds and succeeds to bring in front the very essence of the genre with extraordinary musical skills from each member. The guitar work is simply breathtaking, something like a mix between Gregor Mackintosh (Paradise Lost) and Anders Nyström (Katatonia) with plenty of soloing, beautiful passages, acoustic interludes and nice, always melodic rhytmic sections. Giuseppe Orlando has proved himself to be an amazing drummer before in Novembre and he's showing all his capabilities also in this work, though in different form and in much slower tempos with powerful beats, but those double bass drum insertions lift everything one level up on many occasions. The black metal kind of vocals are something that I wasn't really impressed with by the first two or three listens, because I expected some more clean singing parts like on the previous album which I adored, but it has grown on me and later on I couldn't imagine anything else to render this dreary atmospheres so very alive and intense like they are. Yes, here and there are some spoken words ("Dawn", "Sunset", "Evening", "Night") which adds a lot of  atmosphere and some kind of dynamics to the overall ambiance. A little, but very useful kind of ambiental orchestral synths, mostly at the end of the songs, together with occasional piano touches and in general eerie atmosphere creates the link with gothic music. There is no doubt that the listener will find strong connections withAnathema from The Silent Enigma in the opener "Dawn", or most evident KatatoniaBrave Murder Day/Sounds Of Decay in "Sunrise", "Morning", "Evening"... andParadise Lost Gothic in uplifting "Afternoon", plus some Draconian, Agalloch or even early Tiamat in some song structures. The pace is mainly slow with few mid tempos thrown here and there. Although all those references Valkiria created an outstanding album which works like one song divided into seven parts and brings to the fans of the genre something that everyone should wish to grab and consume. Not an easy album, it certainly needs a lot of listens to be fully accepted, but believe me, it's worth. 
I think that the time has come for Valkiria to be recognized as one of the most prominent representatives in doom/black/gothic fields. Such an outstanding musicianship cannot be missed and beside The Foreshadowing they should take the leading role in  Italian dark music spectrum. It would really be a disgrace to miss this dark gem.

Review written by: T.V.
Rating: 8,5/10

valkyrianmusic.com

A little bit of a concept album now from Italian Gothic Metallers VALKIRIA with their fifth full length album entitled ‘Here Comes the Day’. Indeed its concept is as the album title suggests the day and it works its way through the day starting with opening track ‘Dawn’ and finishes seven songs later with ‘Night’. ‘Dawn’ is slow and methodical and keeps with the theme of dawn slowly drawing close and the day sluggishly getting under-way. Ambient from the very start and with a rising slow melody that reminds me of My Dying Bride or early Anathema, this is a perfect start to the album and the day. ‘Sunrise’ is up next and as you’d expect has a more uplifting and inspiring feel to it and features as the whole album does some high quality musicianship and wonderfully elegant guitar solos.‘Morning’ is a more Death Doom Metal nature maybe to signify the tedium and stress that comes with the start of the day but as a song fails to grab the attention like the previous two tracks whilst ‘Afternoon’ picks up the pace and the quality again with its darker ominous sounds and haunting atmospheres. ‘Sunset’ has a raw harsher sound as it welcomes the coming darkness whilst still being highly melodic and utilizing good pace changes, and ‘Evening’ with darkness now truly descending has a heavy brooding quality but is also highly catchy. ‘Night’ is the inevitable ending to what has been an album of high contrast and hugely enjoyable harmonies and this joyous triumphant return to twilight is marked by a powerful epic sounding song to end on. I love the artwork, the theme and the sound that Valkiria have created and in ‘Here Comes the Day’ they have created an uplifting album of superb quality.

4/5

lmpmagazine.com

I am, and always have been very selective about Doom Metal. On one hand, you have the bands that make it a glorious listening experience, and then there are the ones that make it a grueling and awful affair. Luckily, VALKARIA haven’t disappointed yet, and they aren’t starting now. Here the Day Comestakes a less is more approach and gives you all the good stuff, without all the bells and whistles. The record takes you through the different parts of a single day, and all of the emotions one can go through in a mere 24 hours, from light to dark. Go back to albums like Icon from PARADISE LOST, and you can sort of grasp what you have here. Slow, haunting guitar melodies that seep into the cerebellum, piano that send shivers down your spine and growling vocals are all present, as you would expect, and while VALKARIA aren’t necessarily breaking any molds, they are holding their own and making music worthy of a chance. Metal albums come out by the boatload every week, and we can become so quick to pass on a lot of things due to the magnitude of releases, but I urge those of you who like a more mellow listening experience, without sacrificing the heaviness that you love so much to give VALKARIA a shot. This is their fifth studio album, and their formula is proven. There is a nice progressive touch as well that I must touch upon. Some moments, especially when it comes to bass lines, are very reminiscent of the later OPETH style, while some of the guitar melodies hint at the era when AMORPHIS was first finding their stride around Tales from the Thousand Lakes. This is most welcome, especially to a guy like me who loves that kind of thing. For the most part, I like my metal fast and blistering, but I can’t help but hold tight to Here the Day Comes for now. I don’t always have to have it a million miles an hour, but I do need it to be good, and I think this album is great. If you dig the moodier side of metal, this one is for you. I highly recommend this to fans of MY DYING BRIDE and PARADISE LOST, or just metal in general. – By Bubbs Harris

>> Recommended Tracks: “Sunrise”, “Evening”
>> Release Date: April 9th, 2012
>> In Conclusion: The overall concept of the album is really cool, and the haunting tone of the album makes it great for those times when you just want to be alone in a dark room with your thoughts.

RATING 7/10

www.iyezine.com

Gli ultimi mesi ci stanno regalando diverse uscite davvero magnifiche provenienti dal versante più oscuro del metal; un piacere che aumenta in maniera esponenziale e che ci rende (finalmente) orgogliosi visto che alcune di queste sono ad opera di band italiane.Infatti, dopo gli imperdibili lavori degli Ecnephias di Mancan (che in passato ha collaborato proprio con i Valkiria) e dei The Foreshadowing, tocca ora alla creatura di Valkus dare alle stampe un’autentica perla che riporta in vita il gothic-death doom nella sua essenza più pura, quando album come “The Silent Enigma”, “Dance Of December Souls” e “Turn Loose The Swans” dettavano i canoni stilistici di un genere capace di regalare emozioni come pochi altri.
“Here The Day Comes” è un concept, che, come si può evincere dal titolo dei brani, è incentrato sul racconto dei diversi momenti della giornata, visti come metafora dell’intera esistenza; il disco, che si avvale della preziosa collaborazione di Giuseppe Orlando alla batteria, si rivela fin dall’iniziale “Dawn” un commovente compendio di arte tetra e malinconica; “Sunrise” (da vedere lo splendido video) e “Morning” trasportano l’ascoltatore attraverso le loro atmosfere cupe e decadenti mentre, da “Sunset” in poi, il mood si fa ancor più fosco e opprimente in ossequio al calare delle tenebre.
Questa è la tipica opera che richiede un ascolto integrale per favorire una migliore assimilazione e la lunghezza non eccessiva aiuta molto in questo senso; dal canto loro, i Valkiria sfuggono al rischio di risultare una copia sbiadita dei campioni del passato grazie alla sensibilità compositiva e all’imponente impatto emotivo infuso in “Here The Day Comes” nella sua interezza.
Difficile trovare qualcosa che non funzioni nella proposta di Valkus e Mike: volendo cercare il classico pelo nell’uovo, forse sarebbe stato preferibile l’utilizzo del growl in vece dello screaming che, personalmente, reputo più adatto al black metal, ma anche così non viene mai meno il senso di fatale rassegnazione che aleggia nel disco al cospetto dell’ineluttabile scorrere del tempo.
Una piacevole scoperta per chi non conosceva i Valkiria e una conferma dello stato di salute di una scena come quella nostrana che, pur tra ogni genere di avversità, appare in grado di sfornare con buona continuità lavori di livello assoluto come “Here The Day Comes”. 

www.metal-temple.com

Every day is a gift. It is our chance to change things, to learn, to create whatever we want, but when was the last time any of us just see the day, every single day as it is? From "Dawn" to "Night", "Here the Day Comes", the new VALKIRIA's album makes me see beyond the everyday life, beyond every human mind's troubles or even worse than that: A routine. It makes me to think about the small things during the day like a sunrise, an afternoon or a night and respect these time components which most of the people don't appreciate. So, this concept is brilliant and important as well. Well done, VALKIRIA!
Instrumentally, besides of adding guitar solos, which I think it is most necessary, the dark point of view, the dark décor of this concept is amazing. It's important sometimes to give the emphasis to the instruments instead of focusing on the vocal work. Sometimes, and "Here the Day Comes" the décor becomes the main story teller, and I'm glad VALKIRIA gave the instruments their rightful respect.
I have to give the credit for the all VALKIRIA members for using the violin because the violin helped them to reshape the story line- the violin made the story line even more powerful that it already is.

In conclusion, "Here The Day Comes" is a fine piece of art which make the fans or any other person, to connect to things that the human mind have turned them into almost nothing. And remember, there's always another day…

thepitofthedamned.blogspot.it

ametalstateofmind.com

Valkiria’s new album, Here The Day Comes, is a story within the confines of seven gothic/doom metal songs. You don’t need to read between lines to see the theme within the song titles.  Let’s see if you can figure it out:  Dawn, Sunrise, Morning, Afternoon, Sunset, Evening, Night.  If you ask me, that’s brilliant.  And I believe you’ll think so as well.  This seven-song somber album is sung in harsh vocals accompanied by cold, dark, and gloomy harmonies that carry the weight of each song.  The album is driven by the music; a few of the songs have little vocal presence, thereby letting the music take us on our journey.  The album was mastered by Jens Bogren who also worked with doom gods Paradise Lost and melancholic masters Katatonia.  Based on that, you should be able anticipate the overall tone of the album – melodic doom. Here The Day Comes is the 6th studio album from the Italian doom metal band.  From beginning to end it is one long, dark journey (as the band puts it) between life and death.  The 40-minute album flows so tightly together that it may as well be one long song broken into segments, however, subtle tempo changes give each track separate ideas and sentiment.  While listening to this album, you go get the sensation that it is one long piece.  The overall tone is dark and cold, rarely picking up any sort of aggressive momentum.  Valkiria does use double bass drum technique often, but that doesn’t always mean the overall speed of the song will be played faster.  The guitar riffs and rhythm keep the song at a relatively medium cadence.  Here The Day Comes perfectly defines melodic doom metal; not entirely fast, but with enough melody it alleviates the feeling of impending doom. From the beginning of the album, you do get the sense of transition from Dawn to Night which I assume is a metaphor that refers to one’s life.  Even the song Afternoon sounds a little more uplifting than the rest…at least I would assume this is a happier part of their exploration between the dark journey of life and death.  Even though the tempo changes between each song are not that drastic, the transitional feeling is evident which, if you ask me, is great song creation.  Valkiria’s version of doom is exactly what the subgenre recipe calls for; dark melodies, melancholic interludes, haunting solos, and in this particular case-harsh vocals.

Here The Day Comes is a journey.  It isn’t one of those albums you pop in on your preferred player for one or two songs. The entire album is part of an experience; therefore I waive my 45-minute minimum rule on album length.  Though it falls short on my rule by 5-minutes, the fact that it feels like one song broken up by seven unique segments makes it a reasonable amount of time at 40-minutes.  Valkiria has created an excellent doom metal album and story within.

miqueridaoscuridad3.blogspot.it/

valkyrianmusic.com

A little bit of a concept album now from Italian Gothic Metallers VALKIRIA with their fifth full length album entitled ‘Here Comes the Day’. Indeed its concept is as the album title suggests the day and it works its way through the day starting with opening track ‘Dawn’ and finishes seven songs later with ‘Night’. ‘Dawn’ is slow and methodical and keeps with the theme of dawn slowly drawing close and the day sluggishly getting under-way. Ambient from the very start and with a rising slow melody that reminds me of My Dying Bride or early Anathema, this is a perfect start to the album and the day. ‘Sunrise’ is up next and as you’d expect has a more uplifting and inspiring feel to it and features as the whole album does some high quality musicianship and wonderfully elegant guitar solos.‘Morning’ is a more Death Doom Metal nature maybe to signify the tedium and stress that comes with the start of the day but as a song fails to grab the attention like the previous two tracks whilst ‘Afternoon’ picks up the pace and the quality again with its darker ominous sounds and haunting atmospheres. ‘Sunset’ has a raw harsher sound as it welcomes the coming darkness whilst still being highly melodic and utilizing good pace changes, and ‘Evening’ with darkness now truly descending has a heavy brooding quality but is also highly catchy. ‘Night’ is the inevitable ending to what has been an album of high contrast and hugely enjoyable harmonies and this joyous triumphant return to twilight is marked by a powerful epic sounding song to end on. I love the artwork, the theme and the sound that Valkiria have created and in ‘Here Comes the Day’ they have created an uplifting album of superb quality.

rating 4/5

darkthrone85.org

Riecco gli italianissimi Valkiria con questa loro nuova release, un concept carico di melodia in cui si intrecciano sonorità che spaziano dall’Epic al Gothic senza tralasciare quello che è  puro e tragico Doom. Un peccato pensare come a  questa band non sia mai stato dato il giusto valore e rilievo nel mondo del metal estremo, pur avendo all'attivo diverse pubblicazioni, questo è il loro quinto full length, comunque, sembra che ora per merito della Bakerteam records, sarà più facile trovare quello spazio necessario a far conoscere le proprie produzioni. Come già anticipato, Here the day comes, porta in sè una notevole carica di melodia, tipica del genere se vogliamo, ma che rende tutto il contenutodell'album, di piacevole ascolto; sicuramente c'è una notevole carica di malinconia e tristezza nell'affrontare quello che è il concept dell'album, le varie fasi della giornata, in cui luci ed ombre, speranze ed incubi, scandiscono il passare del tempo nell'arco delle 24 ore. Non vi è la descrizione di un pomeriggio o di una mattinata, ma le sensazioni che ognuno di noi prova nelle diverse intensità di luce, la vita attiva e la speranza nella luce del sole, i sogni, gli incubi e l'abbandono nell'oscurità della notte. Un disco carico di atmosfere e sensazioni, ma dove alla fine, quelle che prevalgono, sono le emozioni.

Voto 7,5/10

www.heavyworlds.com

Anni fa, alla comparsa del fenomeno grunge a livello mondiale, una parte della mia generazione si imbattè in alcune uscite che cambiarono la loro vita; mentre tutti erano alla ricerca del sound sporco tipico seattleliano, una stretta falange rimase allibita da alcuni lavori gothic/doom che emanavano sinistre magie e trattavano dell’oscurità con acume e spietata sapienza.
Ad ascoltare i Valkiria i miei anni si sono magicamente riproiettati all’inverso, di quasi due decadi. Il duo potentino, qui alla sua quarta uscita discografica, plasma la propria proposta su un gothic/doom sinistro  e sulfureo che mette ansia e uno strano senso di soffocamento; sette tracce per una quarantina di minuti sono sufficienti per apprezzare le evoluzioni di un genere che troppo spesso viene sottovalutato o semplicemente tassato come ‘ripetitivo’. La produzione è volutamente ‘notturna’ e sinistra, votata all’impatto delle atmosfere e della voce maligna di Valkus Valkiria (la copertina del disco vi esemplificherà meglio la mia spiegazione); i suoni sono freddi e glaciali come un inverno passato in una grotta, mentre le performance mirano a esternare l’ambiguità oscura che si crea tra le batterie ossessive e il guitar work…
“Here The Day Comes”, se si guardano i titoli, è un concept basato sulla ‘giornata’. Anche stilisticamente, i momenti più accessibili rispondono ai nomi di “Morning” e “Afternoon” con le loro strutture meno ‘appesantite’, mentre il duo d’apertura “Dawn”/”Sunrise” e il trinomio conclusivo “Sunset”/”Evening”/”Night” sprofondano in un tunner tetro e claustrofobico.

Ci vogliono davvero molte energie per suonare un disco doom metal; ci vuole molta intelligenza per abbellirlo con melodie dark e midtempos. L’apoteosi la si raggiunge quando il suono ‘crea’ immagini nel subconscio. I Valkiria ci sono riusciti e “Here The Day Comes” è un must del genere, tanto da non temere il confronto con gli act stranieri più blasonati. Bravi.

8,5/10

www.lordsofmetal.nl

When I read that Giuseppe Orlando happens to be involved in Valkiria, as drummer and as studio wizard in his Outer Sound Studios, my interest is promptly raised. His band Novembre has done amazing music for years and the man will not concern himself with inferior products. I appear to be right, since ‘Here The Day Comes’ is a very beautiful album, a gem in the much too few practised gothic/doom metal genre where bands like Katatonia and Paradise Lost got their eternal fame from. The music is very melancholic, dark and dreamy, but never ultimate slow. The enchanting melodies of the guitars (clean and distorted) are really ear-candy. The album gives you a nostalgic feeling, longing for the early nineties, when so many new bands created epoch-making music. 
I am surprised when finding out that ‘Here The Day Comes’ is already the fifth studio album of this Italian band. Main man Valkus Valkiria started putting up this (at that time black metal) project way back in 1996, but only since 2005, when the debut ‘Epika’ came out, they release regularly albums. The reason why ‘Here The Day Comes’ is my first encounter with the band has a simple explanation: all previous albums were self-released. The current line-up works together since 2010: in addition to Valkiria himself (vocals and all other instruments) guitarist Mike and drummer Giuseppe have contributed to these three quarters of an hour emotive music. Moreover it is a diverting concept to colour every part of the day musically. 
Consequently this album begins with ‘Dawn’, a song from which the long, instrumental intro already creates high expectations. Quiescent guitar sounds glide into a beautiful solo. When vocals join in, it goes a bit faster, just for a moment. It is remarkable that Valkiria’s vocals verge more to black metal than to death grunts, although there is also a distant spoken part that could come straight from the ‘The Silent Enigma’ era of Anathema. When the sun came up behind the horizon (‘Sunrise’) they have shot a very beautiful video clip. This composition includes an opulence of meandering soloing in a fluent manner, with bits of piano in the background. The instrumental part halfway is marvellous, with introvert plucking and a captivating spoken sentence. ‘Morning’ is fetching and up tempo, while raucous vocals hold the means between grunts and blackened screams. The howling guitar solos in many of the songs are inspired by the skills of Greg Mackintosh (Paradise Lost). The slow fragments in ‘Afternoon’ even have a Pink Floyd-ish charm, but the outburst that follows leaves no doubt: they go in crescendo towards a mighty climax. What a stunner! Katatonia also pops up now and then as point of reference, mainly in the repetitive guitar notes in some of the songs. That is mainly the case in ‘Sunset’, where the spoken fragments sound very bitter. Modest keyboards add a soaring atmosphere to ‘Evening’, while the latest track ‘Night’ showcases any pathos in the spoken part. All this is surrounded by delicious, fluttering guitars and some necessary roughness in vocals and music. Aficionados of all above mentioned bands must check this out, because this is top notch quality! I knew that Orlando would not contribute to a mediocre band! 

Rating 88/100 

www.thisisnotascene.com

It is often the case that an unassuming release, one of a band that you are not familiar with prior to hearing, and one that has seemingly received very little attention can be one that is a joyous discovery. This has certainly been the case with Valkiria’s fifth release “Here The Day Comes”. Valkiria site such Gothic /Doom bands as influences such as Ulver, Anathema and Paradise Lost, and this certainly tells in their music which also has elements ofKatatonia and early Opeth. Like such bands, Valkiria are evidence of that famous phrase that less is sometimes more.“Here Comes The Day”is split in to seven parts all representing a different phase in the daily cycle, beginning with opening track entitled “Dawn”, right through to “Sunrise”, “Morning” through to “Sunset” and “Night”Opening track “Dawn” really sets the scene for the album with its haunting, slow opening before it picks up some heaviness and menace but remains atmospheric and beautiful at the same time. Throughout the album remains slow-paced and melancholic but once again with a sense of beauty and even frailty. One minor criticism with this, and it is minor, is how there is quite an obvious pattern to many of the songs: slow and eerie opening followed by a clean guitar part, before heaviness creeps in. A pattern which is certainly present on most of the songs, but this is merely an observation rather than a real criticism and does not detract from the music whatsoever.Vocally the album mostly consists of a harsh growling, which does not overpower the subtlety of the music. Only on closing track “Night” is there any sign of clean singing which although portrays the depressive feeling of the music is not the strongest point of the album. Production wise, “Here Comes The Day” shows a great clarity which is not always the norm for such doom-ridden music, but in this case clarifies and benefits the atmosphere.

As already hinted by the song titles given thus far, “Here Comes The Day’s” track names follow the pattern of the daily cycle, beginning with “Dawn”, through to “Sunrise” and “Morning” right through to “Sunset” and “Night”; and much like the day follows this pattern, this album is such a great work “Night” will be followed by “Dawn” with the repeated listens. A tremendous example of music being in a sense basic, but captivating and able to take you on a journey (cliché I know). An album that by no means outstays its welcome and even feels like it is gone too soon.

rating 8/10

lmpmagazine.com

 I am, and always have been very selective about Doom Metal. On one hand, you have the bands that make it a glorious listening experience, and then there are the ones that make it a grueling and awful affair. Luckily, VALKIRIA haven’t disappointed yet, and they aren’t starting now. Here the Day Comestakes a less is more approach and gives you all the good stuff, without all the bells and whistles. The record takes you through the different parts of a single day, and all of the emotions one can go through in a mere 24 hours, from light to dark. Go back to albums like Icon from PARADISE LOST, and you can sort of grasp what you have here. Slow, haunting guitar melodies that seep into the cerebellum, piano that send shivers down your spine and growling vocals are all present, as you would expect, and while VALKIRIA aren’t necessarily breaking any molds, they are holding their own and making music worthy of a chance. Metal albums come out by the boatload every week, and we can become so quick to pass on a lot of things due to the magnitude of releases, but I urge those of you who like a more mellow listening experience, without sacrificing the heaviness that you love so much to give VALKIRIA a shot. This is their fifth studio album, and their formula is proven. There is a nice progressive touch as well that I must touch upon. Some moments, especially when it comes to bass lines, are very reminiscent of the later OPETH style, while some of the guitar melodies hint at the era when AMORPHIS was first finding their stride around Tales from the Thousand Lakes. This is most welcome, especially to a guy like me who loves that kind of thing. For the most part, I like my metal fast and blistering, but I can’t help but hold tight to Here the Day Comes for now. I don’t always have to have it a million miles an hour, but I do need it to be good, and I think this album is great. If you dig the moodier side of metal, this one is for you. I highly recommend this to fans of MY DYING BRIDE and PARADISE LOST, or just metal in general. – By Bubbs Harris

>> Recommended Tracks: “Sunrise”, “Evening”
>> Release Date: April 9th, 2012
>> In Conclusion: The overall concept of the album is really cool, and the haunting tone of the album makes it great for those times when you just want to be alone in a dark room with your thoughts.

rating: 8/10

www.versacrum.com

Il moniker Valkiria evoca epopee di battaglie metalliche combattute nel nome di Odino e del true-metal, le caratteristiche stilistiche di Here the day comes si riferiscono in vece ad un elegante ed austero doom gothicheggiante, che consolida la tradizione nazionale inaugurata da Klimt 1918 e Novembre, eccellenze assolute ed autorevoli referenti riconosciuti anche oltre i patri confini. L’incipit di “Dawn” (i titoli dei singoli episodi, sette in totale, si riferiscono alle parti di un giorno, dall’alba alla notte) è quanto più aderente e rispettoso dell’imprescindibile lezione impartita a metà anni novanta dagli Anathema: “Silent enigma” trova tra queste disperate note il suo degno allievo! L’eccellente produzione di Giuseppe Orlando permette a tracce melancholiche come “Sunrise” di emergere in tutta la loro dolente eticità: la verve crepuscolare dei Katatonia viene portata alla luce (!), e l’interessante opera di scavo produce frutti mirabili. Ma non classifichiamo troppo frettolosamente Here the day comes come opera priva di carattere proprio: le melodie funeree di “Sunset” trovano sbocco in un epico finale dalla eloquente drammaticità, le belle progressioni di “Afternoon” si innestano sì su basi a la Paradise Lost, ma le note a margine trascritte con cura dal gruppo lasciano intuire un impegno che non va taciuto; è questo uno dei motivi meglio riusciti di Here the day comes, e va sottolineato il risolutivo contributo alla batteria da parte dello stesso Giuseppe Orlando, portatore di un tasso di classe che trova pochi pari non solo in ambito nazionale. “Morning” è una mesta marcia funebre, processione di anime angosciate che si snoda tra le rovine di Templi in disuso e cipressi il verde dei quali stride con un paesaggio cinereo,  “Evening” e “Night” ci accompagnano all’epilogo, confermando quanto esposto nelle tracce che le precedono, collo sguardo posato su simulacri sonori contraddistinti da una marmorea fissità. Se i Valkiria sapranno dimostrare maggiori coraggio e capacità d’osare (emerge collo scorrere del Tempo una uniformità d’approccio che potrebbe penalizzarli su durate più estese, e che non consente di addivenire ad un giudizio più organico sull’opera), elaborando schemi più personali, potranno meritarsi un posto di rilievo tra le schiere dell’elite del gothic-doom. Non fanno difetto di mestiere e di esperienza (hanno già pubblicato lavori auto-prodotti), queste sono le basi sulle quali dovranno edificare le loro future fortune.

getyourrockout.co.uk

alkiria are a 2 piece doom metal band from Italy. Here Comes the Day, while being Valkiria’s 6th studio album, is their first attempt at a concept album. The concept behind Here Comes the Day is the life and death of a day, with each track label to fit a stage of the day from ‘Dawn’ to ‘Night’. To be brutally honest I for one am always sceptical of bands that try this, as they can sometimes fail really rather badly. Still, as I had never heard any of Valkiria’s previous work I was looking forward to approaching Here Comes the Day with an open mind, and I was not disappointed. From the opening bars of ‘Dawn’ you can tell that you’re in for something special, especially if you like your music doomed and dark.Opening track ‘Dawn’ slowly builds a sombre mood until around the 2 minute mark, when a piercing scream marks the start to the vocals which rip through track like a hungry animal ripping through his prey. Next track ‘Sunrise’ with its beautifully haunting guitars is a natural continuation, as you can imagine the sunrise breaking through the grey morning clouds. Following on from sunrise is the track ‘Morning’. With its building atmospheric pressure and distorted guitars entwined with acoustic elements it begins to grow in darkness as the power rises. ‘Afternoon’ is a gloomy and dark affair as it give you the feeling of the approaching darkness of the night to come, and it slowly grabs you and leads you through the desolate vocals and shakes you to your very core. With ‘Sunset’ it is a dark, melodic, emotive and exciting track which draws you into the darkness, as it gives you the feeling of hope failing as the sun sets into the distance. ‘Evening’ is more reflective and less energetic than anything else on the album while still being rhythmic, despairing and full of gloom and doom. ‘Night; closes Here Comes the Day with amazing vocals that convey a sense of weariness as another day ends. with a haunting outro that will haunt you for hours after the music as ended.

To sum up this album Here Comes the Day is filled with anger and passion, while managing to be heavy and melodic, yet it is slow enough to make you feel melancholic and filled with doom. Fans of and melancholic doom metal should definitely check out this stunning album. My only other comment on this album is that if I closed my eyes while listening to this album I kept seeing Cradle of Filth- is this a good or a bad thing? You decide!

 www.powermetal.it

Seppur il loro nome rimandi a nordiche lande e battaglie epiche, gli italianissimi Valkiria (il fondatore Valkus è di origini lucane) ci propongono un gothic doom dalle tinte soffuse, molto in voga in Svezia negli anni 90 (mi sono venuti in mente più di una volta i Katatonia), e nell'ultimo decennio nella nostra capitale (The foreshadowing e Novembre sono tra le influenze più palpabili). “Here the day comes” è un elegante viaggio nei meandri dell'animo umano, più specificatamente all'interno delle varie emozioni inerenti le fasi della vita (il giorno come metafora di nascita, crescita, declino e morte), attraverso una dualità emotiva e musicale così prorompente ma anche così stranamente delicata. Arpeggi distorti e non, potenza sonora ed epicità si mescolano sapientemente ad atmosfere più malinconiche, estese, a tratti disperate: il tutto condito da melodie sinuose e raffinate, inserti tastieristici occasionali ed azzeccati, ed una sezione ritmica volontariamente messa in risalto in fase di mixaggio (ad aiutare il duo Valkus e Mike dietro le pelli troviamo Peppe Orlando dei già citati Novembre). Ho apprezzato molto la naturalezza e l'armonia con le quali i Valkiria hanno saputo trasferire in musica sentimenti così comuni, ma anche così difficili, quindi non posso fare altro che consigliarvi l'ascolto per intero di questo cd, che volta dopo volta saprà lasciare il segno in ognuno di voi. Un ennesimo gioiello proveniente dalle terre italiche, ennesima conferma che anno dopo anno non abbiamo più niente da invidiare alla scena metal europea e mondiale. Bravi

Voto: 8,5/10 

www.metallized.it

Un tenue bagliore rossastro lentamente fa la sua comparsa rendendo visibile la lontana linea dell'orizzonte prima nascosta da un'impenetrabile oscurità. Un'aura lucente e confortante preannuncia l'ormai prossima nascita del nuovo giorno, tanto che dopo un po' il semicerchio del luminoso disco solare fa capolino impedendoci presto di mantenere lo sguardo fisso verso quello spettacolo che da miliardi di anni continua a ripetersi ininterrotto. L'astro principe del nostro sistema stellare sale lentamente verso lo zenit, portando con sé le creature diurne, pronte a gettarsi a capofitto verso la nuova giornata, chi con speranza e voglia di fare, chi con rassegnazione e sconforto. Ogni tanto qualcuno si gira a fissarlo: lui è lì, comanda le nostre attività e nel contempo emana un calore a tratti insopportabile, tanto che nella profondità del pomeriggio siamo spesso costretti a rintanarci in luoghi ombrosi e solitari per cercare refrigerio.
Poi - come ogni parabola che si rispetti - inizia a calare, la luce si fa meno intensa e pian piano il giallo brillante lascia il suo posto al più quieto rosso arancio del tramonto. La terra ripiomba nell'oscurità, noi torniamo alle nostre abitazioni per riposare, mentre gli esseri della notte escono per condurre la loro porzione di vita indissolubilmente legata al buio, che durerà fino ad un nuovo giorno.
Strano aprire una recensione con la descrizione di una giornata - direte voi -, ma particolare - vi rispondo io - dare alle canzoni di un intero disco i nomi delle varie parti di quest'ultima e sopratutto cercare di interpretarne l'atmosfera.
Insomma, interessante sin dalla presentazione il nuovo disco dei Valkiria; complicato e di lenta assimilazione anche sul lato musicale questo Here the Day Comes, opera quinta del talentuoso duo tricolore (supportato dietro le pelli per l'occasione da Giuseppe Orlando dei Novembre).  La musica proposta dai nostri è un malinconico e ottimamente concepito gothic doom, arrangiato tra l'altro in modo da non risultare immediatamente fruibile e sopratutto portatore di un considerevole carico emotivo che non ne consente l'ascolto distratto o svogliato. Preparatevi dunque perché vi ci dovrete immergere con tutto il vostro essere, facendo vostre le melodie e le cupe ed avvolgenti atmosfere se vorrete godere appieno di ciò che state udendo. Sei corde ben delineate e corpose intagliano arpeggi malinconici sia in clean sia in un distorto tagliente e perfettamente adatto allo scopo; Mike dimostra inoltre di padroneggiare appieno l'uso dell'effettistica infarcendo i suoi spazi con lunghi delay e riverberi che contribuiscono all'atmosfericità dei passaggi della sei corde.
Le chitarre ritmiche (che sinceramente non so dirvi se siano state registrate dallo stesso Mike o da Valkus) sono insolitamente indietro a livello di volumi e risultano ottimamente contestualizzate - seppure poco invasive - grazie ad un mixing che ha giustamente tagliato le basse frequenze facendo perdere sì un po' di monoliticità al riffing ma dando il giusto spazio al basso, che ha così avuto modo di svolgere il suo compito in condizioni ideali. Passiamo proprio a parlare dell'ottima sezione ritmica: come accennavo prima, il quattro corde - maneggiato dalle sapienti mani di Valkus - è riuscito a sfruttare lo spazio concessogli in modo ottimale, supportando adeguatamente la ritmica nei momenti più tirati (al di là dei virtuosismi, dato che in quei frangenti quello è il suo compito) ma prendendosi poi la libertà di svariare con gustosissimi passaggi piuttosto indipendenti che gli hanno permesso di catalizzare l'attenzione, anche grazie all'ottimo suono morbido e definito nonostante l'equalizzazione da disco metal che ha tagliato le frequenze medie.
Per quanto riguarda la batteria non scopriamo certo oggi il valore di Orlando, che mostra capacità divina di calarsi nel pezzo, precisione, potenza nell'accompagnamento e sopratutto sobrietà massima e riesce ad inserire tappeti di doppia cassa che trascinano il brano senza farli apparire troppo in primo piano svariando continuamente con tutto il resto del kit; se a questo aggiungiamo un'equalizzazione praticamente perfetta (forse solo in certi frangenti il suono è eccessivamente secco, ma è proprio voler cercare il pelo nell'uovo), il quadro come potrete immaginare è completo.  Discreto il lavoro di Valkus anche dietro alle tastiere: buona la qualità dei suoni “atmosferici”, usati con parsimonia e nei momenti dove servivano davvero (in tutto il platter le keyboard non sono che delle semplici comprimarie), mentre piccola nota negativa per quanto riguarda gli occasionali passaggi di pianoforte dovuta alla notevole plasticità del suono (magari usare un piano vero sarebbe stato meglio). Ultimo capitolo come sempre è quello dedicato alle voci: sarò estremamente sincero, ho trovato lo screaming di Valkus un po' troppo monocorde nell'interpretazione (e non bastano i pochi inserti in overdubbing di narrato o di growling basso a compensare) e sopratutto troppo aggressivo rispetto alla musica proposta. Sarà un'opinione personale, però secondo me il disco sarebbe stato più dinamico con una voce bassa più presente (che tra l'altro non mi è parsa male negli sprazzi che ho avuto modo di sentire) e limitando lo screaming ai momenti di maggior tensione. Tra i pezzi più riusciti mi prenderei la libertà di segnalarvi la opener Dawn, delicatissima nella sua partenza e ottimamente concepita nella lenta accelerazione guidata dagli ipnotici arpeggi e dalla batteria di Orlando, e la bellissima Evening (nomen omen): provate ad ascoltarla in un momento di quiete e vi evocherà davvero l’attimo di lieve oscurità dopo che il sole è calato (con annessa ansia se siete soli e in un posto desolato). Come riassumere tutto questo in delle considerazioni finali?
Da amante del gothic doom non ho potuto fare a meno di apprezzare questo disco e nel complesso ritengo che i Valkiria siano un'ottima realtà italiana degna di essere supportata. Di contro, in certi frangenti questo disco è davvero pesante da ascoltare e, al di là delle - poche - critiche tecniche, penso che i nostri possano ancora fare passi avanti a livello di songwriting; non c'è ancora forse quel quid che permette a questo duo di rapirci totalmente in un attimo, anche se probabilmente - di nuovo - si tratta di una considerazione personale che non andrà più di tanto ad inficiare il voto in calce.

Se amate il gothic doom non perdetevi Here the Day Comes, vi metterà alla prova ma alla fine sono certo che lo saprete apprezzare. 

www.rockencuba.com

Valkiria acaba de sacar su quinto álbum con esa mezcla de Gothic/Doom Metal que caracteriza a la banda italiana que está integrada por dos miembros y han contado para este disco un baterista invitado. Indudablemente el espíritu del grupo es Valkus Valkiria, quien se encarga de todos los instrumentos y además de la voz, además de tener sobre sus espaldas el peso de gran parte del concepto de la banda. Con títulos que evocan momentos del día, la banda suena muy depresiva, la voz gutural, y con una grabación muy clara que es toda una delicia. El sonido es similar al de bandas como Paradise Lost y Opeth, y aunque parte de este sonido está en manos del productor Jens Bogren, quien también ha trabajado en la producción de estos grupos con los que comparó el sonido de Valkiria, la esencia le corresponde a los músicos. Desde que comienzas a escuchar ya te das cuenta de que no es un disco hecho para sorpresas, y que todos los temas estarán estructurados sobre una idéntica base de sentimientos. Dentro de los límites del estrecho sonido que caracteriza la banda, las distintas canciones crean una variedad que por momentos es difícil de sentir. Tras una primera escucha es fácil percatarse de que se ha hecho un trabajo profundo para ir caracterizando cada uno los momentos del día. La música es todo el tiempo lenta y cargada de atmósferas. Algunos teclados apoyan la música con distintas armonías, en un sonido que también tiene algo de deuda con el de My Dying Bride. Para muchos, será ésta una banda heredera del sonido de Katatonia, y de aquella interesante obra titulada Black Murder Day. Incluso por momentos podemos escuchar en Valkiria algunos riffs que suenan similares a los del disco mencionado. Here The Day Comes es un disco que suena invernal y que mientras más se escucha más sensaciones del frío y desolación entran en tu cabeza.

El disco contó con un músico invitado en la batería a Giuseppe Orlando (Novembre) lo que hace que el trabajo mejore considerablemente ya que una batería secuenciada hubiera desgraciado por completo la grabación. El disco se grabó en los Outer Sound Studios de Roma por Giuseppe Orlando y masterizado por Jens Bogren (Paradise Lost, Opeth, Katatonia) en los Fascination Street Studios de Suecia.

zwaremetalen.com

Niks zo opbeurend op een regenachtige maandag als goede gothic doom. Here the Day Comes is doom, maar is het ook goed?Valkiria maakt er in ieder geval geen geheim van waar ze door beïnvloed worden. Van de gitaarsound tot de trage melodieën, en zelfs het artwork, in alles doet deze band aan Draconian ten tijde van Arcane Rain Fell denken. Soms echter trapt men het gaspedaal wat meer in, waarbij er duidelijke invloeden uit de melancholische death metal te horen zijn (een Insomnium of Dark Tranquillity zijn er nog wel eens in te herkennen).Gelukkig weet Valkiria zich, door de uitstekende songwriting, te onderscheiden als meer dan een veredelde coverband. De eerder genoemde stijlen worden door de band zo gecombineerd dat er een eigen geluid ontstaat dat ik nog niet eerder gehoord heb. Ook de productie, met veel nadruk op de zware drums en het gitaargeluid wat meer naar de achtergrond, draagt bij aan de deprimerende sfeer dieValkiria neer weet te zetten.

Here the Day Comes is een cd geworden die gewaardeerd kan worden door liefhebbers van zowel gothic doom als van melodeath, en een echte must-have voor iedereen die nog steeds terugverlangt naar de tijden van Arcane Rain Fell.

85/100

www.metal.it

Con questo album ci troviamo di fronte a un nuovo capitolo, il quinto se consideriamo soltanto i full-lenght, della carriera multiforme del progetto Valkiria -quindi del polistrumentista Valkus- iniziata nel 1996; nel suo curriculum ci spostiamo dalle prime realizzazioni puramente black metal sino ad arrivare a un doom metal accortamente sfumato con elementi gothic.
Nel tempo Valkus -per ovvi motivi- ha collaborato con musicisti, adesso nella formazione si è aggiunto stabilmente Mike e inoltre troviamo la partecipazione diGiuseppe Orlando, batterista dei Novembre.
Come potete immaginare già dal titolo il tema di questo nuovo concept è il giorno, o meglio l’intera giornata sviscerata in tutte le sue fasi; semplificata al massimo la tracklist che si limita a indicare in quale momento ci troviamo. Suoni distorti ci accompagnano già dal risveglio e non ci lasceranno per tutta la durata di questa composizione realizzata su atmosfere cupe, malinconiche e squarciate da una voce ruvida e graffiante tipicamente death. La batteria di Orlando funge quasi da lancetta che scandisce gli attimi, lenti o accelerati, quasi a interpretare la reale percezione che si può avere nei differenti momenti, mentre voce e chitarra costruiscono l’ambiente intorno all’ascoltatore; lo sfondo è rappresentato da un’angoscia quasi impercettibile alle prime battute che però aumenta rapidamente per raggiungere l’apice in “Afternoon”. Con “Sunset” troviamo quasi uno sfogo, un ultimo ruggito prima del calar delle tenebre che ci ridonano un’anomala calma riottenuta. 
Come ogni buon concept, ma ancor di più in questo lavoro, evitate lo skip o rovinereste le intenzioni di Valkus, e magari ascoltatelo più volte di seguito per apprezzare maggiormente la ciclicità cercata e trovata. 

“Here the day comes” è un po’ quello che ci presenta già l’artwork: una bella interpretazione, capace di rappresentare il soggetto alla stregua di una realizzazione grafica. Un dipinto, una sequenza di immagini codificate in musica!

obscura.ws

Italy is really living a true Golden Age about metal music as never before. From the mid/late 90′s there has been a enhancement of quality and quantity virtually in every direction and every style.
Valkiria is one of those bands born on that period. Now at the fifth release, the first for Bakerteam Records (sub-label of Scarlet Records) they are here with ‘Here Comes The Day’ a very interesting journey through mist and rain, desolation and pain.
Following an imaginary bridge linking Katatonia with Paradise Lost both taken in their mid 90′s outfits (even if the influence of the first is much more evident) Valkiria recorded a full set of songs whose imaginary atmospheres are exceptionally able to catch the listener’s attention.
Perfectly recorded at Outer Sound Studios (Italy) by Giuseppe Orlando (Novembre) whose power drumming adds a deeper edge to this dreamy and melancholic feeling, ‘Here The Day Comes’ is a multi-layered album, in which virtually everybody can find a true purpose and a reason to find addicted with.
Well balanced between melodies and aggressiveness, slower and faster tempos, the songs go on one after the other, each one showing amazing guitar work and in general excellent musicianship and particular taste for melodies. One could talk about gothic/doom or something like that, personally I think that whatever label you’re going to chose for ‘Here The Day Comes’, that would be in any case a minor issue, so busy you will be in listening to the tracks in it!

This is definitely one of those albums you can’t really miss, so be quick and grab your copy as soon as possible, because “here the day comes”.

thenewreview.net

If there is one kernel of artistic wisdom that doom should have taught metal aficionados by now, it is that sometimes less is more – incredibly more. Valkiria’s 5th offering is a shining example of this axiom breathed into living tones. Surprisingly, the production quality did not succumb to this bare-bones approach whatsoever, making this album akin to a crystalline version of the shoe-gazing, depressive and ethereal vein heard on albums by acts like Neige et Noirceur or the recent Abigail Williams release (Becoming). I’d always wondered what great production could do this type of music, and Here The Day Comes seems to show that, despite the charm of deliberate raw recording quality, with clarity comes an added power. Despite the name-dropping of Neige or Abigail Williams above, this is not even close to black metal. Here The Day Comes sounds like a gothic, doomy marriage of Woods of Desolation with early Opeth (a lone, reverberated guitar in “Evening” immediately recalls “Under the Weeping Moon”), yet with overall track length pulled back nicely. The instrumentation is executed well – there is a delightful absence of sloppiness and each instrument really expresses itself – yet the album retains a very organic, human feel. Compared with Valkiria’s previous releases, this album is far superior, in both writing and production, and features less of the clean goth vocals that do appear once (“Night”), a style I personally find distasteful. Much to my relief, the vocals are well-fitted – when music has this kind of emotional force behind it, a mediocre vocalist can literally ruin everything. The vocals are primarily of the blackened death variety, layered a bit though not distracting on this point whatsoever. There are no moments on the album that really take the listener by surprise. One can interpret this to be good or bad. About half of the songs begin doomy, enter a brief clean guitar interlude and then kick in heavy again with the vocals – this is not necessarily a definite negative, but once it was noticed I found myself slightly distracted with the format’s repeated application. While there are a fair amount of leads on the album, there are no solos and the power behind the music left me craving one brain-shattering solo that could give the entire work a sense of climax. However, these points don’t necessarily detract from the album. All in all, the music is truly powerful, depressive and emotional; occasionally it dives into the black only to then resurface into shining light. Dissonance appears momentarily to give greater contrast to the otherwise wistful atmosphere that the album is soaked in. These brief mood swings help create a sense of variety within the boundaries of sound that Valkiria have drawn out for themselves.

Beautiful. Haunting. Depressing as fuck. If you enjoy depressive black metal, Opeth and the shoe-gazer vibe, then this album is definitely a keeper. There is actually too much to say about the album – the bass-lines that aren’t afraid to break away from the band, the appropriate use of keys to really add a whole new dramatic dimension. As the album’s tracks course their way from “Dawn” to “Night,” I have a feeling this will be my own life’s soundtrack for a while. Great, profound, lovely work.

4,5/5

www.time-for-metal.eu

Bei der Band Valkiria handelt es sich um eine Zwei-Mann-Kombo aus Italien, das Schlagzeug wurde lediglich durch den Gastmusiker Giuseppe Orlando besetzt. Auffällig bei dem neuen Album Here The Day Comes sind vor allem die Titel der Songs, diese wurden mit Morning überEvening bis Night wirklich in der passenden Reihe benannt. Das Konzept der Italiener ist durchaus melancholisch gestrickt, was auch optisch bei der Wahl des CD-Covers berücksichtigt wurde. Dieses zeigt ein verschwommenes Bild eines Waldrandes, durch den die hoch am Himmel stehende Sonne durchscheint. Somit wird der Hörer bereits vor dem ersten Stück in die gewünschte Stimmungs gebracht. Den Käufern erwartet markanter Growl-Gesang des Sängers Valkus Vakiria. Seine Stimme ist sehr wandelbar, was gut im Song Night herauszuhören ist, in dem seine Experimentierfreude hervorzustechen scheint. Ein weiteres Merkmal sind die langsamen, atmosphärischen Gitarrenriffs von Mike. Dabei kann er sich in jedem Song richtig austoben und sein Können unter Beweis stellen. Das Album Here The Day Comes transportiert eine feste Grundstimmung - mit reichlich Abwechslung ist daher weniger zu rechnen. Was ebenso keinen Platz auf dem Album gefunden hat, ist ein Ohrwurm-Hit. Dafür wurde ein ganz klares Konzept und ein klarer roter Faden bedient, welcher sich durch das ganze sieben Song starke Album zieht.

Fazit: Mir gefällt das Album wirklich sehr gut - vor allem die Gitarrenriffs und das gemächliche Tempo der Stücke haben es mir angetan. Ein Nachteil ist, dass die Songs recht schwer zugänglich sind und es für genrefremde Metalheads an Abwechslung mangelt. Es sollte sich aber keiner scheuen, wenigstens mal reinzuhören, um das eigene musikalische Spektrum zu erweitern. 

 8 von 10 Punkten

heavymetal.about.com

Valkiria, the Italian band, not the Chilean one, make Finnish-style black metal with Sweden on their minds. With Here The Day Comes, Valkiria's fifth release, founder Valkus Valkiria, some guitarist named Mike and Novembre's drummer Giuseppe Orlando have fashioned an album with tactile melody, the universal appeal of italo-growl vocals, languid rhythm, dotted whole note guitar swaddling and an intelligent production.​ Before some guitarist named Mike came along and long before Giuseppe Orlando's arrival, Valkus Valkiria was Valkiria, the band, the man and the name. He recorded all the instruments himself on Valkiria's previous ventures with the exception of the drum machine which was ghost-programmed by some programmer named Mancan. Valkiria, the man and not the band, recorded these previous albums in his own Villa Valkiria home studio.​ This time around, Giuseppe Orlando handles some of the heavy-lifting. Often times, the lugubrious atmospherics require little from the drummer, which allows him to build up energy for the next dynamic explosion. When most of the songs near completion, Giuseppe has to step it up as Here The Day Comesrelies on long blast-beat double-duty to get the tracks to satisfactory conclusions.​Here The Day Comes is divided into seven phases representing the melancholy a devout black metal druid feels as 24 hours drift past. As such, the tracks are entitled "Dawn," "Sunrise," "Morning," "Afternoon," "Sunset," "Evening" "and "Night." Apparently brunch and high tea don't count. Each track is a slowly evolving tone poem with passionate melody, moodiness embedded in minimalist structures and the illusion that a symphony of lost souls plays alone at the edge of the world.Valkus, some guitarist named Mike and Giuseppe have expertly crafted the elements of the album's expansive arrangements by layering concise instrumentation, including keyboards that rarely rise above the shadowy worlds between the chords, with intuition to know when enough is enough, yet not be fearful to let it rip when the dynamics call for it.Here The Day Comes contains unusually fine bass playing rarely heard in black metal productions. Giuseppe Orlando mixed the album and knows quite well where the bass should sit in a mix. It is a major reason that the album projects a sound much greater than the rows of squiggling wave forms racing across his Pro Tools screen. Every track melts one into another with a consistent flow that produces the whole of an experience and not the sin of monotony.

The album's impact is one of a rich watercolor where no edge seems to overlap another, where the choices in a darker palette do not initially overwhelm the listener due to the limitations in the idiom that black metal must use to be, well, black, yet by investing a little time with Valkiria's Here The Day Comes, the underlying subtlety rises up to place the album several notches above the run-of-the-mill. 

3,5/5

www.hardsounds.it

Partito sedici anni fa come solo-project, negli anni a seguire si è formata sempre meglio l'idea di plasmare Valkiria come una vera e propria band. Prima chiamando vari ospiti sparsi tra demo e full, poi mettendo in sesto una line-up in carne ed ossa visto che di batterista, almeno per i dischi precedenti, non c'era nemmeno l'ombra. Ad oggi questo gruppo può affidarsi al drumming di Giuseppe Orlando, e finalmente Valkiria è un trio ben assestato, con un sound neanche niente male. Massiccio. ma neanche tanto; imponente, ma anche timido. Senza strafare delinea un extreme gothic dei Katatonia che furono, tratteggiando con cura il sound, entro riff epici che rimarcano fedelmente gli standard tipici del genere. Tra arpeggi malinconici e distorsioni disperse nel vuoto si passa dall'alba alla notte in compagnia di brani suonati in modo sincero. E a dirla tutta questo è più importante di tanto altro.

Finalmente una svolta degna della loro lunga carriera.

voto 7,5/10

rockmusiccritic.com

I feel a little introspective today due to several things taking place in my little world right now. I did not think I would feel up to writing any reviews today, but when I am upset I listen to music, and when I listen to music I automatically start dictating a review in my head. So I figured I might as well write it down. As luck would have it, the first thing I listened to today was “Here the Day Comes” by Valkiria, which is an appropriate fit for my current brooding. 
“Here the Day Comes” is the fifth album from this Italian dark, gothic metal band. The album contains seven tracks, each named after a part of the day – Dawn, Sunrise, Morning, Afternoon, Sunset, Evening and Night. That sounds fascinating to me. I need to find a lyric sheet to see what he is singing about. 
The music is fairly slow-paced and has a lot of atmosphere. Sweeping keyboards and slow, melancholy guitar leads make this a good fit for a doom album. I would possibly compare it with early to mid-era My Dying Bride in terms of the despair the music evokes in the listener. The vocals are black metal style harsh (hence needing the lyric sheet), and I think they fit well with the bleakness of the music. 

The production quality of the album is good and the seven songs on the album last for around 40 minutes. This album was just what I needed to pass the time today; it fits my mood perfectly. I will certainly give this album two thumbs up.

www.auxportesdumetal.com

Valkiria est un combo italien fondé en 1996 et qui a sorti cinq albums, en comptant le petit dernier intitulé Here The Day Comes. 
Le style pratiqué intègre des éléments Doom, Gothiques, Atmosphériques, je pense que nous sommes en présence d'un groupe qui apprécie Katatonia, voire Anathema(anciennes cuvées) et My Dying Bride.
On notera que la tracklist indique le déroulement de la journée, en sept parties (Dawn ... Night), pour environ quarante minutes de musique mélancolique, voire dépressive.
Deux constatations après une première écoute : une musique plaisante, avec une ambiance lourde et des riffs puissants, et une production haut de gamme, avec un enregistrement assuré par Giuseppe Orlando (batteur deNovembre, qui joue sur cet album), puis masterisé parJens Bogren (Paradise Lost, Katatonia, Opeth). Maintenant, il est temps de passer à la seconde écoute.
Dawn se met en place, très lentement, l'atmosphère n'est pas gaie, on est clairement dans une optique Doom, l'ambiance est sombre, dépressive. Les vocaux extrêmes qui font leur apparition sont particuliers car ils sont doublés et évoluent dans une mouvance Black/Death, qui colle plutôt bien avec la musique pratiquée (il en est ainsi sur toutes les compos). Le tempo est lent, la mélodie est accrocheuse. On notera une courte partie en voix claire parlée (disons qu'il y a un soupçon de My Dying Bride dans ce passage). Pas mal pour commencer ! Sunrise part sur les mêmes bases, avec une longue intro instrumentale puis l'arrivée du chant. Deux passages mid-tempo font leur apparition, mais ils sont très minoritaires. Remarquez, on est dans le Doom Atmosphérique... ça se comprend donc !
Morning "durcit" un peu le propos, on part cette fois sur un rythme plus "élevé". Bon, on a de nouveau rapidement l'installation de cette ambiance mélancolique et plutôt accrocheuse malgré l'absence d'originalité. 
Inutile de poursuivre de la sorte, en détaillant les autres titres, on va donc résumer ce qui suit, en indiquant que c'est exactement le même principe que ce qui précède : toujours sombre et mélodique, avec des passages instrumentaux très atmosphériques, un tempo qui va du très lent au mid et un chant expressif mais qui pourrait parfois être un peu plus varié... à l'image de la musique en définitive. 
Les parties plus "rapides" (peu fréquentes malheureusement) apportent pas mal à la musique lorsqu'elles interviennent et sont même salvatrices dans la mesure où l'album se révèle finalement plutôt linéaire et un peu trop homogène.
Tel est l'univers de Valkiria.

Des morceaux agréables, des atmosphères intéressantes, une production impeccable... mais il y a cette linéarité, cette absence totale de surprise... On passe, certes, un bon moment, mais on a cependant la sensation que Here The Day Comes ne squattera pas la platine CD.

15/20

www.teethofthedivine.com

I remember the first time I heard Katatonia and their doom masterpiece, Brave Murder Day. It was off the Century Black Firestarter compilation in 1997, and “Murder,” which was sandwiched between Borknagar and Arcturus, struck me as just completely miserable. It had a dry, dessicated sound, like something left to rot in a dim, airless room. (Come to think of it, I just described BMD‘s album cover.) That song in particular, and the rest of the album (which is more lush and tear-stained than that one track) has cast quite the long shadow since then, to the point where it’s become my first reference point whenever I hear sodden, atmospheric and melodic doom.Then again, the comparison has been all too obvious in several cases – Rapture’s debut Futile, for instance, or Russia’s The Morningrise, which mixes the sound of Brave Murder Day with Agalloch-ian prog and folk. And now here’s another obvious descendant in Italy’s Valkiria, a two-man outfit which apparently started as black metal, but now, five albums later, oozes a similar kind of heart-rending, melodic and Katatonic doom.They’ve got the palette nailed – droning guitar melodies, with keening tones over simple, thrumming bass. A dual approach in the vocals as well, with rasp and roar layered together to create something strained and bestial. There’s also a muttered clean vocal that drifts in occasionally – shades of Turn Loose the Swans. I also have to applaud the restrained and tasteful use of piano and synth strings – just enough to lend an air of grandeur, but not so much as to overwhelm the proceedings with capital-A Atmosphere. All of that adds up to a sound that’s majestic, stately and somber, like a funeral procession pressing resolutely on through the rain. However, while playing this album it started to dawn on me that the procession wasn’t really leading anywhere. The seven tracks here – each named after a time of day, e.g. “Dawn,” “Sunrise,” Morning,” etc – don’t flow so much as they just bleed out. Both “Morning” and “Afternoon” grow a little more insistent and aggressive at times, but just when they get going, they wither and wander away just as quickly. By the time “Night” has run its course, it all adds up to one long and fairly monotonous day.

That may be exactly what some of you want and expect from an atmospheric/melodic doom experience, and once again, Valkiria have nailed a great continuation of that early Brave Murder Day sound and palette. However, the writing  just couldn’t keep my attention long enough to make as indelible an impact.

www.wingsofdeath.net

Twee mannen, een stem, een gitaar en een drumstel. Dat zou een zeer nauwkeurige beschrijving van de black / gothic / doom metal formatie Valkiria kunnen zijn. Soms moet je muziek ook niet moeilijker maken dan het is. Oorspronkelijk afkomstig uit de Italiaanse black metal scene heeft Valkiria de meeste extreme elementen van dat genre van zich afgeworpen en concentreert zich nu op sferische gothic / dark / doom metal met een behoorlijk meer aardse benadering.

Het vijfde album van het duo Valkiria: Here The Day Comes, bestaat simpelweg uit een zevental nummers, en in dit geval ook, hoofdstukken. Achtereenvolgens komen in (chrono)logische volgorde Dawn, Sunrise, Morning, Afternoon, Sunset, Evening en Night voorbij. Zoals ik al schreef: soms moet je dingen niet moeilijker maken dan ze zijn.

Dawn, de dag komt log en traag op gang, dat lijkt me een herkenbaar gegeven. Alleen: jammer dat Valkiria zo niet elk hoofdstuk z'n eigen sfeer kan geven. Want ook het opkomen van de zon lijkt niet vrolijk bejubeld te worden. Ook de ochtend, middag en ga zo maar door klinken allemaal even somber. Een gemiste kans? Of wil Valkiria ons duidelijk maken dat het leven van alledag allemaal een pot nat is, een aaneenschakeling van sombere momenten? De diepere gedachte van dit thema en de muzikale invulling daarvan op dit album ontgaat me hiermee. Dat kan natuurlijk aan mij liggen (vind ik ook helemaal niet erg) maar waarom dan zo'n nadrukkelijke indeling van je album?

Dan maar even sec naar de muziek, want die vind ik uiteindelijk toch wel heel mooi. Het belangrijkste kenmerk van de tracks op dit album is het gebruik van trage melodieuze gitaarlijnen, die zijn gebaseerd op harmonieën, waarbij beide partijen vaak net iets andere ritmes spelen. Dit levert een mooie gelaagdheid op, die een behoorlijk melancholisch, donker gevoel oproept. Een beetje droevig zelfs wel. De drumpartijen zijn log, traag, maar niet eentonig. Normaal gesproken zou ik bij dit soort beheerste, sferische dark/doom metal liever cleane zang horen, maar de black metal screams voldoen hier ook wel. Maar hebben dus niet mijn voorkeur. 

Over het geheel zit er onderling dus weinig verschil tussen de nummers qua inkleuring. Het album laat zich dan ook graag beluisteren als een geheel. Hoewel ik begrippen als saai of eentonig in deze context niet in de mond zou willen nemen, heb ik toch moeite om het album na een paar luisterbeurten nog helemaal uit te luisteren. Echt fraaie muziek, maar uiteindelijk toch niet spannend genoeg.

www.metallus.it

Il progetto Valkiria nasce in Basilicata nel 1996 per volontà del fondatore e polistrumentista Valkus, dopo aver accumulato una buona esperienza in alcuni act di metal estremo. Il deus ex machina della band, trasferitosi poi a Vicenza, presenta oggi il quinto studio album “Here The Day Comes” un concept che dipinge attraverso la musica i diversi momenti della giornata, dall’alba all’arrivo della notte e per contrappasso l’eterna lotta tra bene e male, luce e tenebre. Il gothic/doom metal dei Valkiria ricorda le sensazioni e le atmosfere care ai mostri sacri della scena britannica e non è un caso ritrovare tra i solchi di questo disco, pennellate grigie che arrivano dalle prime fatiche di Anathema, Paradise Lost, Cathedral e soprattutto il cupo romanticismo dei My Dying Bride. Va precisato però che i nostri non sono semplici continuatori delle band sopraccitate, ma elaborano le influenze con personalità, dando al lavoro un’impronta ben definita, attraverso melodie che riescono a fare una presa quasi immediata. I ritmi lenti e crepuscolari di “Dawn” danno subito l’impressione di come la parte dedicata alla luce viaggi lungo coordinate intimiste e, termine da prendere con le pinze, velatamente più positive, attraverso la sapiente diluizione degli arpeggi tra le atmosfere autunnali dettate dai riff di chitarra di Mike e l’uso di un growl possente ma non portato all’eccesso. Il termine “autunnale” non è utilizzato a caso, poiché il guest di lusso Giuseppe Orlando, alla batteria, fa sentire il suo tocco personale creando parentesi (perdonate il gioco di parole) “novembrine”, in un contesto sonoro che tuttavia appare più melodico e lineare. Il punto di passaggio, in “Afternoon” e “Evening” è dato da momenti granitici e carichi di drammaticità, mentre il congedo notturno offre brevi cammei sinfonici, affidando il finale all’inaspettata dolcezza di “Night”. Un lavoro maturo che soddisferà le aspettative dei fruitori di queste sonorità.

Voto: 7

www.themurderinn.it

È necessario, che io premetta, quanto fossi all’oscuro dell’esistenza dei Valkiria. Ammetto inoltre che il desiderio e la voglia di ascoltarli sono stati pilotati al 90% dalla notizia della collaborazione con la band di Giuseppe Orlando (sempre sia lodato, insieme a suo fratello Carmelo) storico batterista e co-fondatore dei Novembre. 
Andando ad analizzare solo ed esclusivamente “Here The Day Comes”; tralasciando i precedenti dischi dei Valkiria, l’idea che la presenza del guest Orlando, potesse in qualche modo creare una fotocopia dello stile “alla Novembre”, era quanto meno plausibile. 
In realtà poi il gruppo nella sua interezza, quindi voce ed altri strumenti che non passino sotto la lente d’ingrandimento della notorietà, si impegnano fortemente per creare un suono, che con i colleghi romani, ha diverse affinità, salvo poi mantenere le giuste distanze in termini di tecniche, accorgimenti e altro. 
In ogni canzone, permea la sensazione di immensità, di salto nel vuoto, dell’emozione ad alti livelli, espressa nelle sfumature imprevedibili di un goth-doom che prova ad ogni modo a non cadere in strutture pre-stabilite e soliti cliché. 
Ogni brano è sufficientemente immediato, senza però perdere di credibilità. Il pelo nell’uovo è rappresentato da alcuni passaggi poco chiari, mal amalgamati, tra il tappeto melodico e quello più crudo e collerico; motivo per cui, nonostante l’iniziale lascito emotivo, dopo poco si fa fatica a tenere in mente un brano in particolare piuttosto che un altro. 
I Valkiria hanno fatto un ottimo lavoro, e si sono avvalsi di una personalità eccellente dal punto di vista musicale; dalla sua “Here The Day Comes”, necessita di diversi ascolti per essere fagocitato appieno e nella maniera giusta. 
Da fan dei Novembre, credo che l’aspettativa (qualora non si conoscano già i Valkiria) sia molto alta, così da finire a giudicare l’operato di quest’ultimi mediocre rispetto all’opera dei fratelli Orlando; è per questo motivo che invito chiunque sia interessato ad ascoltare questo disco a farlo, con la mente completamente sgombera di cultura musicale, e a suddividere gli ascolti in parti diverse della giornata, seguendo la tracklist (scandita a partire dall’alba “Dawn”, fino ad arrivare al brano conclusivo “Night”, la notte appunto).
Un disco che al di là di tutto mi ha fatto pensare due cose: voglio approfondire la loro discografia e altra band italiana di cui essere fieri, in patria e all’estero. Bravi Valkiria.

Voto: 7,5

www.italiadimetallo.it

I Valkiria sono una heavy metal band tutta italiana, originaria di Potenza, città del sud d’Italia. “Here the Day Comes” rappresenta il quinto capitolo della carriera artistica del combo meridionale, iniziata, oramai, nel lontano 1996. In principio iValkiria erano una one-man band formata dal solo Valkus, che si avvaleva di sparute collaborazioni, evolutesi solo successivamente in un duo, grazie all’inserimento di Mike. Con il passare degli anni le coordinate stilistiche, se pur ancorate al primordiale spirito black-metal degli esordi, si sono ampliate a molteplici sfumature, fino a creare un pregiatissimo gothic-metal in cui l’alternarsi di violenza, empatiche atmosfere e melodie, creano, tutte assieme, una crepuscolare matrice interessante. Se pur la band si occupi interamente e da sempre di ogni aspetto del lavoro creativo e realizzativo, questa volta i Valkiria si sono avvalsi di uno special-guest d’eccezione, parlo di Giuseppe Orlando, già batterista dei noti Novembre, che in questa sede si è occupato di tutte le parti di batteria e della registrazione dell’intero lavoro nei suoi Outer Sound Studios di Roma, oramai meta privilegiata di tutte le band dallo stile a tinte dark. L’album apre il suo greve cammino con le melodie acustiche di “Dawn”, che fa da preludio con un sound cupo e riflessivo, dove un drumming medio tempo interviene come a scandire l’inesorabile scorrere del tempo; ma è solo dopo due minuti che uno scream fa capolino e si esibisce con tono di ruggente disperazione, come da manifesto al sofferente mondo dei Valkiria. La successiva “Sunrise”, sembra quasi interloquire con la precedente composizione, difatti, il bit è quasi un continuo, ma in questa sede la struttura musicale, quantunque cambia il suo stato d’umore per mezzo di ariosi fraseggi chitarristici, rilassanti clean vocals ed, infine, grazie ad un semplice, quanto ben arrangiato arpeggio contrappuntistico di pianoforte, che da un tocco elegante e ben riuscito in su alla coda del brano. Con “Afternoon”, entriamo in territori disperati, in cui un black-doom dall’incedere oppressivo e multitematico ci travolge in un turbine di pensieri agli antipodi del prepositivo. In “Morning”, un penetrante e  veloce arpeggio di chitarra distorta dà il preludio ad una composizione che rimanda al vicino passato black-metal della band, ma che in questa sede dialoga continuamente con fraseggi acustici ed atmosferici, dove le chitarre assurgono ad un unico scopo espressivo, la melanconia; simile discorso va fatto per la successiva “Sunset”. Proseguiamo il nostro ascolto con “Evening”, un brano gothic-doom dal tempo medio e dalle coordinate espressive estatiche, per mezzo dell’alternarsi di inserti acustici e tastieristici. Sicuramente quest’ultimo brano è il più riflessivo e quindi meno energico dell’intero lotto. L’album si conclude con “Night”, summa stilistica di tutta l’opera in questione, e come se questa rappresenti in un unico componimento tutto ciò che lo scorrere dei primi sei brani abbia narrato.

In tutta sincerità, penso che questo quinto album dei Valkiria sia un ottimo lavoro di decadente heavy metal, ben arrangiato, composto in maniera eccellente e dotato di una produzione nitida, capace di valorizzare ogni singolo aspetto. I brani, se pur intricati, scorrono fluidamente, in un susseguirsi di rabbia, passione e riflessione. Che dire, “Here the Day Comes”, rappresenta una manna per tutti gli avidi di melanconiche sonorità, come certamente lo è il sottoscritto.

 voto 8/10

www.seaoftranquility.org

Ah, yes, doom metal. The metal subgenre that focuses on slow tempos, heavy beats and expression of desparation, misery, and lost hopes. Do you like that sort of music?Yes?Well, then Valkiria's Here the Day Comes should be right up your alley, because doom metal is exactly the main game of this Italian metal project. Granted, the tracks on this album are not the heaviest and slowest doom metal tracks ever, but they are definitely heavy and slow enough to express doom metal desperation. The main source of inspiration seems to be Paradise Lost – and categorizing this album as gothic doom metal would not be entirely incorrect - but Valkiria takes the sound light years beyond Paradise Lost, including more black metal-esque vocals amd a much more lush texture to the music.The main characteristic of the tracks on this album is the use of slow melodic guitar figures which are based on harmonies rather than unison playing, and quite often, the gutiars are not only harmonic, but they also play slightly different rhythmic figures. These layered guitars generate not just a lush and epic feel, but also a very melancholic, dark and sad feel. Most of all, to someone like me who adores both doom metal and guitar harmonies, it sounds beautiful... in a dark and haunting way of course. The drums are steady and heavy, but far from boring, and the drums and the bass really provide the solid back bone that keeps all the melodic and harmonic impressions in place. Normally, I prefer clean melodic vocals in my doom metal, but Valkus' harsh black metal vocals somehow fit neatly into the overall picture.The production is quite well defined, allowing you to hear all the layered guitars, but it is definitely not raw and there is almost a certain sense of raw fragility to the guitars – both the distorted ones and the clean ones. I also like how the bass is quite audible and even given a central place in many of the softer and mellower passages.

It seems that 2011-2012 are good years in the world of doom metal, as we have seen the release of a lot of different styled doom metal albums – ranging from sludge doom over old school doom and progressive doom to funeral doom – and, now, with Here The Day Comes, Valkiria shows us that there is also room for high quality gothic doom metal. Fans of melodic and melancholic doom metal should definitely check out this massive album.

rating 4,5/5

planetmosh.com

Formed in 1996 Valkiria’s 5th album which was recorded at Outer Sound Studios in Rome is set to be released on the 16th of April  by Bakerteam Records. I am quite excited by this album after reading several other reviews which all claim it to very powerful, so here we go.Dawn starts off at a very slow and dreamy pace with a souring guitar sound. The drums drift in to accompany it and the layers build up until the vocals eventually rip through. This track is quite uplifting, in a sad way. Similar to the feeling you get at the end of a good film when someone’s death is avenged and there is an outpour of emotion.In contrast Sunrise starts of at a slow walking pace, also with a dreamy feel. I enjoy the quiet guitar parts that fade in and out, joined with climaxes that join with the vocals. The piano at 3.33 is a welcome surprise and sounds fantastic accompanying a soulful solo guitar. The track then goes on at a faster pace with driving force to the end.As expected Morning starts off at a slightly faster pace, with interesting suspension effects on the guitars. The vocals kick in fairly early on and a groovy pace is set by the drums.I love the starting droning melody at the start of Afternoon and the guitar sound that accompanies it. Once the drums kick in and the pace picks up it is just stunning. The section at 2.25 is particularly uplifting and I enjoyed the fading out of the double kicks at the end. This is my favourite track on the album so far.Sunset has a sense of beauty and menace to it, as a real sunset does I suppose (I am looking at one right now) with the different colours light of the sun but with the promise of darkness. I particularly enjoyed the last section of the song starting at 4.10 which carries on until it fades out.Again the start of Evening draws me in with a slow, simple but emotive riff. There is a lovely dreamy section at 2 minutes in. I’m just waiting for the space to pick up leading towards the climax. I get it around 3 minutes in, fantastic, when the double kick comes in its just magic.I am in love with the guitar tone at the start of Night reminds me of the soulful sound that Chuck Schuldiner used in his solos, beautiful. However I have to admit I am not as keen on the clean droning vocals used in this track. But the screaming vocals used later on fit in really well with the faster pace. At 4.10 I am treated to a catchy and uplifting solo, it seems this track will go out on a big high. All of a sudden the track ends with the solo fading out. I feel a bit strange now, I thought there would be more of a climax, I feel quite hollow now. But just as I go to repeat the track the guitar comes back in after a few seconds of silence. These last few seconds seem to resolve the anguish I felt before. It has certainly made that track very memorable for me.Valkiria manage to create music that is uplifting, soulful and sad all at the same time. My emotions and feelings were all over the place listening to this album. The way the tracks are written is very intricate and interesting.I really enjoyed the concept of the album; the representation of different parts of the day through music was quite emotive. I think the album artwork helped to capture the feel of the album really well too. Although I am very open minded about music I am really glad I took a chance to listen to something a bit different and didn’t go for my usual death and thrash metal. I am very impressed with this album, certainly a new favourite of mine.

For those of you who like an album to listen to while thinking walking alone somewhere this album is a must.

Rating 9 out of 10

www.crossfire-metal.de

Die Italiener nehmen uns hier mit auf eine Zeitreise. Eine Zeitreise, die früh morgens beginnt, und im Dunkeln endet. Durch Sieben Songs geht die Fahrt, deren Titel einen ganzen Tagesablauf beschreiben: „Dawn“, „Sunrise“, „Morning“, „Afternoon“, „Sunset“, „Evening“ und „Night“. Melancholisch bis majestätisch getragene Sounds beschreiben ihren doomigen Gothicstil, der allerorts melodisch kommt und mit vielen Akustikparts und Growls versehen wurde. Midtempo ist die höchste Geschwindigkeit, und hauptsächlich beschreiben Synthies die Atmosphären. Der Abschlusstrack „Night“ gewinnt noch einmal an Tiefe, der wohl ansprechendste Track auf diesem Longplayer. Zu „Sunrise“ wurde ein Videoclip abgedreht. Ein passendes Cover, das gut ihren Inhalt beschreibt, verpackt die Scheibe. Bei dieser Reise zwischen Leben und Tod, überwiegt auf ihrem fünften Album die Seite des Lebens, denn zu abgründig gehen die Italiener nicht zu Werke. Ihre ersten vier Alben stehen übrigens auf ihrer Homepage zum Download bereit.

Note: 6.5 von 10 Punkten
Autor: Joxe Schaefer

www.suonidistortimagazine.com

È il 1996... 
Valkus non riesce più a trovare uno spazio appropriato nella band in cui milita, così, per dare sfogo ai riff che da tempo lo tormentano, decide di dare vita al progettoValkiriA, che prende nome dalle caratteristiche divinità minori della cultura norrena.
Le Valkyrjur (plurale di Valkyrja in norreno) nell'arte moderna sono rappresentate come delle fanciulle armate in sella a cavalli alati, le quali hanno il compito di scegliere gli eroi più valorosi caduti in guerra, per portarli nel regno di Odino: il Valhalla.Il nuovo CD, 'Here The Day Comes', in uscita il prossimo 16 aprile, ha la copertina caratterizzata da un paesaggio immerso nell'oscurità, la quale però viene squarciata dalla presenza dirompente della luce.  In questa Eterna Lotta fra Tenebra e Luce, quest'ultima assume il significato allegorico della Vita, mentre il buio e le tenebre notturne rappresentano la Morte, di cui i ValkiriA, non mettono in risalto il valore negativo e pauroso, ma pongono l'accento sul fatto naturale, al quale non possiamo sottrarci, poiché è parte integrante della vita stessa, che avendo un andamento costante, segnato da un inizio ed una fine comuni a tutti i percorsi, può essere definito come un ciclo che si ripete. 
La vita è subordinata allo scandirsi del tempo, che la vede sorgere al mattino per poi piegarsi fino ad annullarsi sotto il peso della Notte, ma ciò, ripetendosi all'infinito non spaventa: “Non esiste notte tanto lunga che impedisca al sole di risorgere “ [Anonimo].
Le tracks prendono il nome dalle varie fasi del giorno, infatti il primo brano del CD è intitolato'Dawn' (alba), caratterizzato da un risveglio lento e progressivo degli strumenti... 
Le tenebre iniziano a dissiparsi e mentre avanza un Sole timido ed insicuro, il mondo accoglie una nuova creatura: debole, delicata e bisognosa di energie che la rinforzino. Il Sole ha finalmente raggiunto la sua posizione e la terra prende vita. 
Le sonorità di 'Morning' (mattino) ed 'Afternoon' (pomeriggio) hanno un andamento più veloce, caratterizzato da delle energiche chitarre che accompagnano una voce potente ed estremamente decisa. 
È il tempo di rendersi protagonisti attivi della propria vita, di agire e di sfruttare le nostre capacità in maniera che possano dare frutto, per fare in modo che il preziosissimo dono che ci è stato concesso non venga perduto attraverso un comportamento lascivo e perditempo. 
Dopo aver assistito dall'alto alle fatiche del giorno, il Sole si ritira, mentre la vita dell'uomo si fa sempre più debole ed incerta: le forze calano, la stanchezza inizia a farsi sentire, l'energia vitale inizia a scemare. 
In 'Evening' (sera) è presente una intro strumentale lenta e struggente, che sembra voler prepararci all'atmosfera notturna. 
'Night' (notte) è un brano in cui vi è l'alternarsi dei suoni energici e potenti delle chitarre con le melodie più lente e dolci. 
Dopo aver faticato a lungo, siamo ormai giunti alla fase finale: la Notte è venuta a prenderci con un abbraccio nel quale stremati ci abbandoniamo per farci cullare,per poi portarci verso l'eterno silenzio che ci attende. 
Le voci, non sempre pulite, sono perfettamente fuse nel linguaggio musicale dei ValkiriA, che si esprime attraverso melodie cupe, suggestive ed evocative dalle ritmiche lente e malinconiche,che trovano collocazione in scene misteriosamente sinistre e cupe, tipiche del Gothic e del Doom Metal. 
La registrazione del CD è avvenuta negli Outer Studios di Roma, dove i nostri hanno collaborato con Giuseppe Orlando, mentre Jens Bogren si è occupato della fase di mastering che ha avuto luogo presso gli svedesi Fascination Street Studios. 

Dopo tutte le fatiche e le energie impiegate per la realizzazione del nuovo album, 'Here The Day Comes' : “Ecco arriva il Giorno” in cui i ValkiriA tornano alla luce... 

www.decoymusic.com

Valkiria are long-time veterans of the gothic/doom metal realm and with Here the Day Comes, I think they've finally broken through into the upper crust of the genre. Mixing a healthy dose of atmosphere with early-to-mid career Anathema aesthetic and keeping it close to what My Dying Brideand Swallow the Sun create album to album, Valkiria know exactly what they're doing on these 7 well developed tracks. Here's to hoping they break out beyond their home country of Italy.

www.alonemusic.it

Here The Day Comes,nuovo lavoro dei Valkiria (il quinto per esattezza),  segna una nuova impronta che porta la band descritta come Doom/Gothic al post rock.Un disco ricco di spunti e di idee, ben riuscito che dona un mix di stili e generi caratterizzando dei momenti di raro impatto sonoro.Trovarsi di fronte alla crudezza della batteria puramente metal mischiata al suono delle chitarre che hanno abbandonato le distorsioni fredde e taglienti per amalgamarsi con il basso finalmente ben presente,con un ruolo definito e ben strutturato. Una produzione ben riuscita, gli ambienti sonori sono stati accuratamente delineati e l'essenza del progetto è in rilievo. Un disco notevole, semplice ma efficace che vede all'interno Giuseppe Orlando (Novembre) alla batteria e Jens Bogren (Paradise Lost, Opeth, Katatonia) per il mastering. 

Consiglio vivamente l'acquisto di questo disco che segna un nuovo orizzonte musicale.

8,5/10

www.avenoctum.com

A two-man outfit from Italy, Valkiria specialise in gothic rock/doom, with a light and airy Mediterranean feel worked in alongside the leaden gloom. They’ve borrowed heavily from classic Katatonia over their past full-lengths, and this influence is still very apparent on new release ‘Here the Day Comes’.The album starts out pretty strongly. ‘Dawn’, makes for a convincing intro, weaving slow and smouldering doom riffs full of sorrow around melancholy, shoegazey swells. ‘Sunrise’ meanwhile employs a riff that is almost identical to that of Katatonia’s ‘Murder’, the track’s Brave Murder Day-isms merged with both fragments of brooding melodic doom and the bittersweet, yearning rhythms and delicate introspection of subsequent album ‘Discouraged Ones’. It’s highly derivative but the doom adds something new, and the atmosphere and feeling are spot on. Third track ‘Morning’ starts off very promisingly too; a careful balance of forcefulness and restraint, with the wounded drive of ‘Saw You Drown’ and just a tinge of BM, but the song seems to lose its urgency midway through, signalling the point at which the remainder of the album loses much of its focus and impact.Subsequent songs are still consistently solid, full of melancholy gothic rock grooves, gentle clean passages and mournful doom riffs polished to a fine sheen, but they tend to suffer from a certain aimlessness, meandering about in a way that is enjoyable but often leans towards the mundane. Proceedings nevertheless remain both atmospheric and highly competent, but there is a sense of a spell being broken; of the the feeling just seeming to dry up as the album quickly runs out of steam. Things do fall back into place on occasion, such as when ‘Sunset’ spirals down into a beautifully brooding and dejected groove, but  generally speaking the latter part of the album is lacking in the momentum and direction of the opening songs, not helped either by the employment of a fade-out on almost every track. The album feels lacking in structure, and increasingly doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. The tracks are broken up into different segments of the day, from Dawn and Sunrise through to Evening and Night, but sadly nothing meaningful is done with this concept, with no real narrative to speak of running through the album.

Though overstretched at 40 minutes, in its finest moments ‘Here The Day Comes’ moves me far more than anything Katatonia have put out in the last few years, and there is enough quality material here to make for an excellent, if less than original EP. More than anything though it serves as a reminder of just how good the melancholy Swedes were at their peak.

(6.5/10 Erich Zann)

www.metalwave.it

Apprezzabili nei loro esiti, longevi nonostante i contrattempi della cagionevole line-up e italianissimi, i Valkiria pubblicano in questo 2012 il loro quinto e ultimo full lenght: “Here The Day Comes”.
Un concept di 7 tracce, inquiete e malinconiche, che scandiscono altrettanti momenti del giorno, in una visione ciclica del tempo che evoca suggestioni sui massimi sistemi fatte musica. Dalle veghe luci dell’alba alle ombre scure della notte, i nostri ci offrono ancora una volta un viaggio nel loro cupo doom metal, ispirato – forse, chissà – dai più superbi e aspri paesaggi nostrani.
Il progetto Valkiria, nato dal master mind Valkus, si avvale stavolta del nuovo chitarrista Mike e della collaborazione, per quanto riguarda parte della produzione e batteria, di Giuseppe Orlando, il quale sembra “novembrizzare” tutto ciò che tocca. Il contributo, tuttavia, se riconoscibile, non si discosta affatto da quanto proposto finora dai Valkiria.
“Dawn”, l’alba, il primo brano del disco, comincia tenue e fosca come le prime luci del giorno, con i suoi ritmi rallentati. Poi la luce sembra farsi più chiara con “Sunrise”, brano dai toni alterni e languidamente carichi. In “Afternoon” sembrano poi alternarsi luci e ombre, deliri e urla rabbiose, alla ricerca di una quiete che tarda a giungere. Ma tanto è ormai pieno giorno e “Morning” pare una ricerca affannosa nella quale le forze sembrano voler mancare da un momento all’altro, esasperata e triste nei suoi arrangiamenti sul finale. “Sunset” è l’ultimo energico moto prima del totale abbandono a “Evening”, che termina con un oscuro tappeto di tastiere e pianoforte. In questo buio sembrano risvegliarsi incubi e inquietudini già trovati durante il giorno, mentre ritornano, come in rare altre volte, la voce pulita col consueto growling/screaming. Fino a raggiungere la dimensione onirica del sonno, individuata forse da un arpeggio di chitarra riverberato che chiude definitivamente il disco. 

Che altro su “Here The Day Comes”? Direi semplicemente che vale l’ascolto, soprattutto per i fan di My Dying Bride, Novembre, forse persino Agalloch ed Empyrium. L’atmosfera c’è (anche se vagamente stantìa nella sua omogeneità) così come il lavoro di produzione: il disco possiede lo stesso potenziale lirico del sole velato, nella nebbia nel giorno.

www.welovemetal.com

Two men, a guitar, and a drum set. That would be a very accurate description of the gothic/doom metal men known as Valkiria, if it wasn’t for the raw nerve they manage to jump up and down on. “Here the Day Comes” is the fifth release from the band and has been heralded as a great piece of gothic doom metal with rich melodies. There is nothing in that statement I can disagree with, but it doesn’t do the album justice.Another statement made is “[the album] is a dark journey between life and death.” That is getting a little closer, but when you are sitting down with the nerve exposed of having lost something or someone important in your life this album takes you on a ride of grief that can only be achieved with talented musicians that are in touch with their material.“Here the Day Comes” begins with the track “Dawn.” The song confused me so much as we think of dawn as the beginning of a new day. In every movie we see, as long as the heroes make it till dawn things will be ok. In Valkiria’s world, dawn signifies the thought of something much more sinister.The slow, yet powerful intro works you into a frenzy as we have been programmed to think one thing, but Valkiria is feeding us another. When the song changes pace at 1:35 it added to a sense of discovery or hope, but the vocals quickly squash that. For me personally the song created a sense of helplessness that was crafted from start to finish.The album continues through the theme with Sunrise, Morning, Afternoon, Sunset, Evening, and finally Night. I didn’t go into great detail with the others because I don’t want to give away what was the best part of “Here the Day Comes.” As “Night” approaches we feel more in control and powerful. But; isn’t night supposed to be the time of evil?Night in this case is a chance to be reborn and set free from the trails and horrors of the day. The album builds through every song and got me to think of night as a time to cherish. This is incredible song writing and artistry with flicking the switch of human emotion.Having recently lost someone close to me I connected with this album on a different level. While I sleep I can dream of my loved one and enjoy their company, but when the day comes the emotions of losing them spill over again and again.

I have no idea if this is what Valkiria wanted to invoke, but I have a feeling emotion will be drawn from this album no matter your circumstances. Valkiria’s “Here the Day Comes” is everything that is good about the emotional connection of heavy metal!

Metal on,

Martell

www.metalzone.gr

metalmelodicsound.metalcave.org

Początkowo jednoosobowy black metalowy projekt niezależny VALKIRIA uzyskał w roku 2011 kontrakt z wytwórnią Bakerteam Records już jako grupa i z zupełnie inną muzyką.
Ta płyta stanowi mieszankę gatunkową dark metalu i gothic z domieszką melodic doom/death. Jest to album zwarty i kompaktowy w formie, jednorodny ale równocześnie w żadnym wypadku monotonny, choć zagrane tu motywy przewodnie do odkrywczych nie należą. 
Smutek, smutek, ciepły smutek i rezygnacja w tonacjach SATURNUS, z krążącymi melodyjnymi gitarowymi ornamentacjami i niezbyt ciężkim wokalem, charakterystycznym dla bardziej posępnego dark metalu i ze śladowymi naleciałościami black. Tempa umiarkowane i wolne - a najważniejszy jest klimat i namalowany został głębokimi długimi wybrzmiewaniami, czasem oszczędnymi a czasem zaskakującymi nawiązaniami do PARADISE LOST.
"Here The Day Comes" ....podróż w czasie ,w obrębie jednego dnia i nocy, poetycka ale równocześnie zdecydowanie metalowa. I bardzo smutna i refleksyjna.
Piękny "Sunrise". Po prostu przepiękny.
Dosyć dawno już nie było tak wzruszającej melodyjnym smutkiem płyty bez odstępstw w kierunku eksperymentu, progresji czy też komercyjnej łatwości odbioru. Niekiedy nieco brutalniej ale w ramach stylu, jak we wstępie do "Afternoon", który potem tak pięknie się rozwija. Klimatyczna transowość bez korzystania z ambientowych rozwiązań, gitary po prostu, łagodne tła i głośna jak na ten gatunek sekcja rytmiczna z miękkim basem i znakomicie ustawioną perkusją, przy czym perkusista gra z ogromnym wyczuciem.
Ogólnie twórcy tej płyty czują ten rodzaj grania. Nie wiem czy czuli black metal, ale tu pokazali się w tym aspekcie "rozumienia" istoty gatunku perfekcyjnie.
Muzycznie postarali się aby poszczególne pory dnia znalazły swoje odrębne odzwierciedlenie w stylu kompozycji i w miarę upływu czasu album staje się coraz bardziej posępny, chłodniejszy i ta zmiana jest bardzo wyrazista przy "Evening". Zakończenie w postaci "Night" po prostu fantastycznie perfekcyjne, paradajsowe z czasów "Gothic" z seriami swobodnie polatujących w eterze partii gitarowych wzmocnionych ciężkimi kruszącymi riffami i kolejną wyrazistą rasową gothic metalową melodią.

Wysmakowana, niesamowicie elegancka muzyka klimatu w wykonaniu mało znanego ale zdecydowanie wartego poznania zespołu VALKIRIA, który sprawił tą płytą sporą niespodziankę. Obowiązkowa pozycja dla wszystkich miłośników melancholijnych klimatów w mocniejszej oprawie dźwiękowej.

giornalemetal.blogspot.com

www.mondometalwebzine.com

Fondati da Valkus nel 1996, i veneti Valkiria arrivano in questo 2012 alla pubblicazione del quinto full-length, intitolato "Here the Day Comes"! L'album sarà disponibile dal 16 aprile per la "Bakerteam Records". E ora vediamo di cosa si tratta..."Dawn" ha un inizio delicato, come un lento risveglio all'appropinquarsi dell'alba. Gli echi delle chitarre acustiche che si propagano leggeri, e poi il cadenzato ritmo che accompagna dolci e malinconiche note. Molto intensa anche la linea vocale, uno screaming affilato alternato a un clean cupo, che si adatta ottimamente alle atmosfere del brano.
"Sunrise" è la naturale prosecuzione, le chitarre intrecciano arabeschi di note in questo mid-tempo, creando sonorità gotico/doom veramente belle e sognanti.
In "Morning" le atmosfere cominciano ad acquistare una maggiore oscurità, e il sound maggiore energia. Nella visione "fasi del giorno/fasi della vita", sulla quale è basato il concept dell'album, siamo nella piena giovinezza, periodo di massima energia; ed ecco il riffing farsi più corposo e tagliente, e un utilizzo del doppio-pedale farsi preponderante e incisivo. Nella seconda parte si affaccia una forte vena malinconica.
Cupo e oscuro è l'inizio di "Afternoon", presentandosi poi con un alternarsi di momenti vigorosi e altri più delicati. Veramente affascinante il lavoro svolto dalle due chitarre, sulle quali è stato fatto un lavoro certosino negli arrangiamenti e nelle armonizzazioni. Perfetto il comparto ritmico, con l'ottimo lavoro svolto da Giuseppe Orlando (Novembre) alla batteria e dalle linee corpose e fluide del basso. Linea vocale assolutamente superba.
Con "Sunset" comincia il tramonto/declino del giorno/vita, un sound che alterna momenti cupi ad aperture melodiche, toccanti ed emozionanti.
"Evening" è una traccia cadenzata e dalle atmosfere molto cupe. Si riesce a percepire molto bene l'affievolirsi delle energie vitali, che piano piano abbandonano l'essere umano giunto a questo "stadio" avanzato della vita. Si ripresentano gli arpeggi malinconici e i riff contenuti, con qualche sprazzo prima del finale lasciato a un tenebroso synth.
"Night" chiude questo "Here the Day Comes" in maniera ottimale. L'interpretazione vocale è molto buona e trasmette il senso di stanchezza di una vita vissuta e che volge al termine. Le sezioni melodiche prendono il sopravvento sulla forza dei riff.

I Valkiria sono riusciti a dare il giusto andamento all'album, vitale ed energico durante la prima parte e più cupo e decadente nella seconda. Un oscuro viaggio tra vita e morte, grazie a questa similitudine "fasi giornate/fasi vita". Bellissimo album, un bel mix tra gothic/doom metal e ottime melodie, assolutamente consigliato!

www.melodic.net

"Here the day comes" is the 5th album from Italian gothic/doom metal band Valkiria, you can almost touch the music´s atmosphere on these 7 tracks. With long instrumental parts, beautiful melodies and horror-like harmonies, Valkiria focus on capturing the listener in a certain mood where the titles are short but also quite poetic, all from "Dawn", "Sunrise", "Morning", "Afternoon", "Evening", "Night" and "Sunset". At times, they remind of Finnish bands like Before the dawn and To/Die/For. Turn off the lights, watch the rain fall down on the window and tell ghost stories to eachother. Want a soundtrack? Well, here it is. 

Sorroweternal.blogspot.com

After making great strides over the course of the last 15 years, Italian gothic doom two piece Valkiria are poised to take the next big step in their career. After signing with Italy's own Bakerteam Records, the duo are set to release their fifth studio album, titled "Here The Day Comes." Broken down into seven tracks which, not coincidentally, identify the different stages of day, the album is their first to feature live drums, provided by heralded Novembre drummer Giuseppe Orlando. Throw in some rich, dark tones, and you have an album that is as unique and varied as the day itself.
The soft, atmospheric tones that open "Dawn" fit the ideology perfectly, giving you the feeling of that early morning moment. The buildup involved here is key, allowing the layers and the sound to grow naturally. The use of live drums immediately pays off, with each booming kick pouring through your speakers. The vocals aren't one dimensional, either, with deathly growls slamming head on into blackened screams, only to end with clean crooning. The doom metal influence is apparent, with a slow, deliberate tempo dominating the track. As the day progresses, we come to "Sunrise." With the sun now peaking out over the horizon, the music kicks into a new gear. The melodic passages are stunning, creating great imagery. Offset by the heavier moments, the track is ripe with a more dynamic guitar lead than its predecessor. Even including a small piano melody does wonders for the overall arch of the song, which plays out as an instrumental, with the rare scream from frontman Valkus.
But as "Morning" begins, we come back to the death/doom style that the band executes so flawlessly. Orlando's drums are key, pounding and pulsing throughout. The density of the guitars grows, along with the vocal layers. An interesting component that comes into play is the fractured harmony that comes from the vocals themselves, with two distinct deliveries on top of each other. Atmospheric keyboards cut through the mix, adding an eerie feel to the overall sound. That darkness penetrates into "Afternoon," drawing a sharp contrast from one passage to the next. Clean, echoing guitars fade in, then erupt into a flurry of distortion and drums. The storm passes, making way for another melodic section. Here, the band's strength is apparent, crafting numerous melodies, and bringing them together in a cohesive and effective way. Playing the harshness of the vocals of the richness of the music is a bold move, one that pays dividends over and over. It also allows for an equal split of the focus between the vocal line and the musical story.
As we turn from day into night, beginning with the track "Sunset," there is a decidedly darker feel to the music itself (no pun intended). It is often overshadowed by the devastating guitars, but the bass shines through here, adding a depth to the music. the ability to move back and forth between a more post-metal oriented attack and the traditional death/doom sound is impressive, and allows the band to show off multiple facets of their work. Never is this more evident than on "Evening," where contrast and compare is the name of the game. One moment, you are thrashing away with speed and power, and the next you are immersed in a delicate piano melody. It may seem like second nature to be able to make those pieces fit, yet so many bands pass on that, looking to simply bludgeon you to death with riff after riff. As we fade into "Night," there is one last assault to muster. With a three headed vocal monster, you are treated to everything this duo has to offer. This is a standout track, and could be the one to turn head across the world. With a mix so crisp, musicianship that is so clean, and writing that is deeper than many others, this track speaks volumes. The haunting outro will stay with you after the music has stopped.

With influences ranging from Katatonia to My Dying Bride, it is no wonder Valkiria have created such a diverse and inspired sound. Sure, you may have heard albums like this in the past. Perhaps even recently. But rarely does an album follow it's story arch so well, and yet not find itself stale by the midway point. With each passing time of day, you are treated to something slightly different than the offering before it. The subtleties encapsulated in these seven tracks are numerous, and it would be a travesty to only listen once. "Here The Day Comes" would be a welcomed soundtrack to any day of the week.

8.5/10

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