Tales Of Dhvaras – Full Speed Or Nothing

Why is this release important?

Kyrre Riksen, the songwriter, guitarist and vocalist of Tales of Dhvaras
Kyrre Riksen of Tales of Dhvaras. Photo Credit: Håvard Jørgensen
The band founder, Kyrre Riksen explains. "This record is a tribute to the riffs the way we used to play them where we come from. After all these years, we only know Håvard Jørgensen (early Satyricon and Ulver) who still plays actively with his new band, Dold Vorde Ens Navn. The riff was our local language and weapon, and it needs to feed on passion to not die. When we were rehearsing at Stovner Rockefabrikk from 1991 to 1995 over 20 years ago, our songwriting was inspired by classical music and Norwegian folk melodies, and therefore we named the style “Skogsrock (Forest Rock)” as we felt we didn´t fit into an established music genre at that time.

Like always all songs are first conceived on the acoustic guitar and then evolved into hard hitting riffs to amplify both darkness and beauty (yes, darkness can´t lurk without it). For example, "Geiranger" sounded very much like the song "Tverrbekkli" with the only exception we had the time to record Geiranger live with full band instrumentation in the studio. Tverrbekkli, on the other hand, I squeezed in by recording it in one take with no metronome. Parts of that acoustic version was played live as concert intro in various youth clubs in the 90s with distortion making it sound similar to parts on Bathory´s album "Twilight of the Gods". My former Dhvaras band member, Espen Aure, introduced the album to me when it was released in 1991, and it fuelled new perspectives on what metal music could be.

Geiranger has a special place among all our songs as the whole theme was improvised in real time by simply staring at the epic waterfalls while I was in Geiranger. I was having a dialogue with the mountains so to speak. These days I carry one of my Norwegian bukkehorns as a songwriting tool to remember melodic ideas when wandering on longer journeys since bringing my guitar isn´t always practical on the go.

In our youth it was the rawness of the forest and escape from "following the flow thinking" (forbanna streitinger og byvankere), which inspired our songwriting. For me it was never fun to make the type of music we played, but more like a necessity or obsession. The same goes for skateboarding. It was never a rational choice to gradually displace my hip muscles by constantly slamming my body on the skateboard ramp (Grorudrampen). But it was something helping me to live my life with integrity and mindfulness. Anyways, I used to go to the forests of Østmarka (via Ellingsrud and Elvåga) and Nordmarka (via Steinbruvannet) to get in the right songwriting mood.

The songs "Skogsrockens Aapenbaring" and "Den Siste Groruddøl" were both written as a result of re-exploring these places from my youth. I no longer have long black hair, but that´s what happened then and still happens. Preferrably, completely alone with no other people around.

When we were 14 year old, my bass player, Ruben Drage Deleon, would often shake his head when I presented my ideas, and he pushed me to play more disciplined with rhythm and simplicity. He also taught me to master Spanish guitar harmonies, which I adopted in how I approach scales on the fretboard. Thus, in many ways he taught me how to translate my musical ideas into structured arrangements.

In hindsight, if I had a chance to go back in time and give myself a piece of advice as a youth back then I would say:
Don´t overthink it, just go full speed or nothing.
I feel a bit sorry for the metal head who suddenly decided to cut his hair and throw all his original visual drawings, lyrics and cassette recordings into the fire place in rage when the riff material was at its best (nothing was digital back then so it ceased to exist at least in physical terms). These were intense times, and when you´re that young, life decisions are made in the flick of a second.

This release is important, because Riffs Speak Louder. Tales of Dhvaras is about expressing our own story through sounds, and connecting the past with the present. You see, the mighty fjords of Geiranger may do just as good job in inspiring riffs as the forest. Respect for the individual and go full speed or nothing in whatever you are doing and wherever you are 👊. I am a grown up by now so I know for sure."