Fatima Hill’s Valhalla is power metal with female vocals. Fatima Hill are also from Sapporo, Japan. Their style of music seems to be classical power metal in the vein of a neoclassical King Diamond. If you are familiar with classic metal from Japan they are similar to a couple of bands - Seikima II and Genocide. Sometimes you might be able to pick up some Loudness influences as well. But they seem to market themselves among the folk death metal crowd with requisite imagery and lyrics as I picked this one up from recommendations of Darksymphonies.com. They call it “Mystic Night metal”. The lyrics seem to be derived from that old english style found in folk stories and fantasies. Well, one example is the keyboardist who poses in a brown hooded garb without removing his hood like one of Star War’s Jawas in desert Tattooine. Another are live photos where they are dressed in that 80s new romantic, Renaissance garb with torches and mandolyns on stage. It reminds me of another band from the Bay Area called The Lord Wierd Slough Feg. The Yngwie Malmsteen influence neoclassical riffs tend to be less high flying and instead more with a sinister twinge. Even though the metal style is a bit old fashioned this is one of the most engaging guitar playing I’ve heard in awhile. Its not shred-ology. It rocks. It chugs with cool tunes.

Obviously their main distinction is Yuka, the mature voiced female lead. Imagine in Japanese anime, high pitched and ditsy Sailor Moon battling some evil Empress. That evil Empress, who happens to be a full grown woman with a mature and deeper voice, is Yuka. Yuka’s voice in not cutsey and nice. Yuka actually sings a lot like her male counterparts from the Japanese metal scene. Yet they sound like they are squawking and struggling with the role. Yuka on the other hand is more convincing, naturally pulling off the tremolo and reaching high parts as a woman’s voice can. She is powerful yet feminine. Her main draw it seems is the curious inflections of her vocal melodies. It may be accidental. It may be that she is trying to fit the role of heavy metal vocalist with English as a second language (yes, Fatima Hill is in English). Imagine Kimberly Goss growing up with a deep accent and with more talent. Yuka’s unique effect is quite captivating bringing a sense of darkness and mystery that the band portrays even though they are basically classic metal.

I mentioned folk metal earlier because after the first half of straight ahead power metal the album breaks down into songs with more artsy (prog?) parts such as Renaissance influenced music with ballads and quieter pieces. Its interesting. It makes this album darker and more serious instead of a straight ahead set of undifferentiated songs. This combined with the underground production and Yuka’s extraordinarily different way of singing makes the music quite exotic. Its probably not for everyone. But since I’ve grown up throughout most of Pacific area, I think its very cool.

by Alzn, score 4 out of 5