Valhalla walked the earth briefly in the early 1980s NWOBHM heyday and were from Hinkley in Leicestershire as they set off on the aspiring road to rock stardom. As many other bands would find at the time as the New Wave of British Heavy Metal took off, talent and ability wouldn’t be enough.
They had a reasonable following in their local area when gigging. Some early studio time allowed Valhalla to lay down two tracks – Lightning in the Sky and These Sunday Nights – which then saw the light of day as a single on what seems to have been a limited local release of a few hundred copies.
The band’s line-up subsequently filled out to a six-piece featuring more keys to swell out the sound and give a more “expansive” feel to their style. More studio time ensued which resulted in a demo tape before it all fell apart and that was that for Valhalla.
Something of a shame – however now a few decades later the excellent Cult Metal Classics crew got their hands on the band’s stuff from way back then and have issued it on CD which is limited to 500 copies.
It’s top stuff too. Six tracks of “traditional” NWOBHM expanding in to more ambitious territory with the “Mark II” demons as the keys were used more.
The first single – Lightning in the Sky is proper NWOBHM. A hard, fast, riffage bouncing along apace and a frenetic solo. All the required ingredients necessary at the time. The b-side, These Sunday Nights is a nice rocker too though with a more melodic feel to it due to the massive hook in the chorus.
Here’s Lightning in the Sky for you to listen to.
On to the demos.
First, there’s an alternative version of These Sunday Nights which was re-recorded. Love Stealer is another fine rocker with a big chorus and melody.
The other two cuts – Tell Me Where I’m Going to and Woman You’re Love both see the keys used more to the fore which give things a bit of a prog-tinged feel without losing the punch and power of the band.
Alas, add Valhalla to the long list of hopefully from the early New Wave of British Heavy Metal days for whom it might have been different had the breaks come their way.
If you’d like to bag a copy of Lightning in the Sky, get a move on as the CD is a run of 500 only.
I bought mine from Sonic Age Records: https://sonicagerecords.com/
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