Photo Credit: Matthias Schwaighofer

Warkings – Interview English

The Warkings about their Revolution and other battles

Artist: Warkings

Genre: Heavy Metal, Power Metal

Label: Napalm Records

Link: https://www.warkings.rocks/

Band members:

Vocals – The Tribune
Guitars– The Crusader
Bass – The Viking
Drums – The Spartan

Photo Credit: Matthias Schwaighofer

The experience of many battles has brought together the Roman Tribune, the noble Crusader, the fierce Viking and the warlike Spartan in our age to fight heavy metal battles. No sooner had they revealed themselves to mortals than the Warkings, in celebration of their rebirth, began campaigns to conquer the stages of this age. In the process, there were some unpaid bills to settle. Now, however, Revenge shall no longer cloud their vision and the third, large-scale campaign shall be launched. Revolution.

We have been honoured to receive an audience with the Warkings. The Viking takes a short break from the strategic considerations surrounding the upcoming battles to give us mortals a little more exposure to the current campaign, Revolution.

Time For Metal / Lars T.:
The Revolution seems to be a preparation for the onslaught on the Power Metal Olymp. With the third quiver full of battlefield anthems, you have resounding firepower for coming campaigns. Humans are still busy with the pandemic and can only fight small battles. What are your plans for the Revolution and beyond?

Warkings / The Viking:
We are about to rise from the halls of Valhalla (or Elysium or Olymp; or this boring thing the Crusader always talks about called Paradise). We will lead our armies into battle and conquer the throne of Metal all over the world. In simple words: We will tour our asses off as soon as we get hold of Loki, and he will erase his stupid virus from the world of the living.

Time For Metal / Lars T.:
You don’t have to hide musically, yet you stick to traditional robes (and masks). Who and what is behind it?

Warkings / The Viking:
We wear what we wear… so it’s leather and fur for me to ride into battle. Why should we choose other clothes than the ones we are used to wearing. I heard some people at our record company telling us we should wear stage outfits and not our daily clothes, but who cares. But I really don’t know what masks you are talking about. We are dead, we don’t need this stuffs all humans have to wear because of this virus.

Time For Metal / René W.:
How should we evaluate Reborn and Revenge? Are they already the heralds for the real Revolution? How have you developed in comparison to the two former albums? Which experiences have played a major role for the third strike?

Warkings / The Viking:
Maybe Revolution is the last one of a trilogy. So we were reborn and then fought against all the hordes from the underworld who wanted us back. And now it’s about time for a revolution in this world. Bring Metal into the stadiums, hmm, I think some other band said that before. We started to write new songs right after Revolution was released because there was nothing else to do. And before we had the urge to fight each other, we wanted to be creative. So we had a lot of time to focus on the little things. We added a lot of details, and we worked on our sound. We wanted the guitars as heavy as possible, the bass more aggressive and could use non-metal-instruments like the bouzouki.

Time For Metal / René W.:
Your artworks always have the same character, and you fall deeper into the Warkings role and now step from the battlefield into the barren mountains. Was the last battle fought roughly, or what impression do you want to create with the cover?

Warkings / The Viking:
This warrior represents all four kings wearing Roman armour with a spartan helmet, holding a crusader shield and wielding my axe. He stands on top of a mountain to look across his army of mortals, ready to start the revolution. That’s the theme of the cover. And if you have fought in a battle, each one is rough. I never had an easy battle, hahaha.

Time For Metal / René W.:
Let’s come back to the new songs. Please tell us a bit more about them. What themes have you taken up, what should be communicated to the listener?

Warkings / The Viking:
The theme of revolution is present in most of the songs. It’s about people who stood up for their belief, or what they thought was right at this moment. A Revolution often starts with good intentions. And when the violence and bloodshed starts, this gets lost, and in the end, you may not know why you started all this. Spartacus is about the famous leader of the rebellion of the gladiators and slaves in ancient Rome. Fight is our tribute to this beautiful ancient melody, that was sung on many battlefields. Ave Roma is a song about Julius Caesar as he crossed the Rubicon and started a civil war.

Time For Metal / Lars T.:
After the release of your previous album, Revenge, there weren’t many opportunities for direct feedback from your fans. In which way did this affect the creation of Revolution?

Warkings / The Viking:
It was strange, after Reborn, we went on tour, played a lot of shows and festivals. And then you can take this energy and experience to make another record. That wasn’t the case for Revolution. But we were so hyped and ready after Revenge to go on a tour that we used this energy and enthusiasm in the studio. Maybe we argued a bit more than before but in the end, it was helpful to create this album.

Time For Metal / René W.:
In addition to the positive words from the press, Revolution shot to number 13 in the German album charts. In your home country, it also went into the top 50. How do you feel inspired by such a good result done by your fans?

Warkings / The Viking:
That is truly something special for us. We are honoured that so many people support what we do, especially in these strange and rough times. We are very grateful for the love of our warriors and shield maidens. We can’t wait to go on tour again to meet them all and sing our battle hymns together.

Time For Metal / Lars T.:
You have produced music videos for We Are The Fire and Fight. A welcome change, especially in times like these. But why don’t you tell us a bit about what can go wrong (cue: outtakes)?

Warkings / The Viking:
After we wrote a song about the god of fire on the first album, Hephaistos started to get on our nerves, that he wanted to be on one of our videos. So we invited him for We Are The Fire. We thought that would be awesome – We Are The Fire – the god of fire. But he took it too seriously and brought A LOT OF FIRE with him. And because videos have to be shot in the human world, there are all these strange rules, so Hephaistos managed to trigger the silent fire alarm (funny thing that an alarm is silent) and all of a sudden, we had a lot of those firefighter-people in the hall. But as they never saw four undead kings and an ancient god before; we had some mead together, and off they went.

Time For Metal / René W.:
The question of all questions: You are finally want to be on stage again to celebrate the material with the fans. How is the concert situation in Austria, and what are your current tour plans for autumn and winter?

Warkings / The Viking:
It’s hard to predict anything because the rules are different in every country, but if everything goes as planned we are on tour with the German band Feuerschwanz in January 2022. You can find the dates on our homepage. And then there are some festivals in the summer. In November 2022, we are touring with our wolf-brothers from Powerwolf. That is our plan for 2022 – pray to the gods that this will be possible.

Time For Metal / Lars T.:
You have probably already given last words to many opponents on their way to hell, but maybe there is something else you would like to give to your ‚Warriors‘ and ‚Shield Maidens‘ today?

Warkings / The Viking:
We are honoured and blessed. A king is nothing without his army, without his warriors and shield maidens. And we truly have the best ones you can imagine. So it’s about time to bring the battle to the stages of the world, and sing our anthems with you all. And drink and fight and have a good time.

Time For Metal / Lars T. and René W.:
In awe, we bow to the Warkings and wish to express our sincere gratitude for this interview. We will surely meet again soon, side by side, on one of the many heavy metal battlefields of this era.

Warkings / The Viking:
We can’t wait!!!

Our review of Revolution, the new longplayer of the Warkings, can be found here. (German version only)