Driven by brothers Jake and Pete Adams, Valkyrie draws from pre-metal style to create a rich and earthy heavy rock sound. They formed in summer 2002 in Rockbridge County, Va as a three-piece consisting of vocalist/guitarist Jake Adams, bassist Eric Seaman, and drummer Luke Shafer. This line-up released a five-song demo in 2003 that featured the song Wintry Plains, which would later appear with a different arrangement on Valkyrie’s Shadows album twelve years later.
In 2004 Jake’s brother Pete was introduced on second guitar and soon after, another demo was recorded at a local college radio station. Shafer soon departed and was replaced by Mike Hoke on drums and a new demo, Sunlight Shines, and a split 7″ with VOG were recorded. Seaman and Hoke parted ways with the band at the end of 2004 and were replaced by bassist Nick Crabill and drummer Nic McInturff. This line-up recorded the eponymous debut album, which was released by Twin Earth Records ( Starchild, Rebreather). The eponymous album was engineered by Chris Kozlowski (Pentagram, Trouble, The Obsessed, Spirit Caravan, The Melvins, Blue Cheer).
In early 2006 Valkyrie again parted ways with its rhythm section and recruited bassist Will Barry-Rec and drummer Gary Isom (Spirit Caravan, Pentagram). This lineup played numerous festivals throughout the United States, including the final Emissions from the Monolith Fest in Austin, Tx, and the long-running Stoner Hands of Doom festival in Phoenix, Az. Isom and Valkyrie parted ways in mid 2007 and Valkyrie recruited veteran drummer Warren Hawkins.
In 2008 Valkyrie released their second album, “Man of Two Visions” on the band’s own label, Noble Origin. Kreation Records, of Seattle, Washington, reissued both the S/T and “Man of Two Visions” on 12″ vinyl in 2007 and 2008. Also in 2008, Pete joined Relapse Records recording artist Baroness ( also from the band’s hometown of Lexington, Va ) and began to tour on a nearly full-time basis.
In July of 2010 Meteorcity Records (The Obsessed, Nebula, Atomic Bitchwax) re-released both the S/T and Man of Two Visions albums in CD format. In March of 2012, Alan Fary (Earthling) joined the band on bass. In 2013 Valkyrie recorded and released a split 7″ with fellow Virginia heavy metal act Earthling. In the summer of 2014 Valkyrie recorded its third full length album, Shadows, with Sanford Parker (Nachmystium, Pelican, Voivod). In early fall of 2014, Pete Adams was invited to play guitar for Glenn Danzig’s seminal punk band Samhain and played several reunion shows throughout the US.
Over the next few years Valkyrie began reaching larger audiences than before. 2015 proved to be a big year for Valkyrie, as in May of 2015 Relapse Records released Shadows, and in June, they reached no. 1 on the CMJ college radio loud rock charts. In August they played Gwar-B-Q in Richmond, Va to a crowd of 8-10,000 with bands like Gwar, Down, Cro-Mags, and the Descendants. Later in December Valkyrie joined Clutch and Crobot for a week of shows in 2500-3500 seat venues, and in 2016 they played Shiley Acres in West Virginia with Clutch and Drowning Pool to a crowd of roughly 5,000. In 2017 Valkyrie played shows with Clutch, Eyehategod and Corrosion of Conformity, and that June Pete amicably parted ways with Baroness, freeing him up to focus on Valkyrie.
After beginning to write songs for their follow up to Shadows in 2016, Valkyrie returned to Earth Analog Studio in Champaign Il to record with Sanford Parker in September of 2019. They are currently awaiting the release of their 4th studio album, soon to be released by Relapse Records.
Valkyrie’s twin harmonized guitar leads and clean dual vocal assault matched with a strong nod to classic doom and heavy metal creates a psychedelic and heavy sound that pays homage to classic heavy rock bands like DEEP PURPLE and THIN LIZZY while bringing to mind the pastoral and organic sounds of PAGAN ALTAR and JETHRO TULL. With no regard to current trends, or retro-rock posturing, Valkyrie rides on with a true, classic, heavy metal assault that has turned many heads with its impressive live shows and soul-stirring conviction.
https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Valkyrie/50395
https://thevalkyrierides.bandcamp.com
