Photo: Matthias Schwaighofer
When it comes to glorious power metal fueled by historical figures, giant battles, and armor/fantasy-laden lore, look no further than the discography of Warkings for comfort. Their fifth studio album Armageddon continues the band’s anthemic style, upping the game with bigger choruses, bigger choirs, bigger hooks, as well as numerous guests to fill out the songwriting. We reached out to The Viking once again to inform us how Armageddon differs from previous works, changing cover artists and the process behind what we see, special guest vocalist choices, touring experiences / lessons learned, the odors of long running stage gear, the ups and downs of social media, and long-term festival/tour plans.
Dead Rhetoric: You told us at the end of our interview for the previous record cycle Morgana that you didn’t want to rush into the studio for this latest record Armageddon. Do you believe the proper touring and festival appearances you were able to do allowed the band to refuel creatively for the newest record?
The Viking: Oh yes, definitely. To be honest, after we recorded Morgana, we were like burnt out and fed up with studio work. We basically made two records during the pandemic and finally we could tour with Morgana. We played a lot of festivals and did a lot of tours, and that really recharged the batteries and gave us new ideas. We finally could see how the songs work with the public and with the fans on stage. It really recharged our batteries, that’s true.
Dead Rhetoric: Did the writing process differ as a result of all this time spent together? Because often bands write and work differently when they are able to rehearse together versus working on material alone separately in their own studios…
The Viking: In that case, we have never written songs rehearsing. We always write them within our studios. We make one or two members work on the material, and then bring it together to the band. This time it was totally different because we brought in people from the outside, writing songs with us. We had a different producer who was heavily involved in the songwriting. It was very different to the previous four records, as that was basically just the band writing and no one else.
Dead Rhetoric: How do you think this outside writing shaped the record differently compared to the previous ones?
The Viking: It was this injection of fresh blood. After Morgana, we were burned out – and maybe wondering if we would ever write another record again. We had the idea of asking a different producer to work with us, and maybe someone we could write the record together with as an outside person. We wrote the first song in December 2023, and gave it to Felix Heldt, the guy who produced the record. His ideas came back, and we were all blown away. We wanted to make everything a little bit bigger. Bigger choruses, bigger choirs, bigger everything. It was exactly what we wanted, so that really shaped the record.
Dead Rhetoric: How has it felt now having Morgana le Fay be a part of Warkings for her second album? Do you believe this gives the band’s more coloring to paint with on the vocal front – even though you have a commanding, seasoned male vocalist in The Tribune?
The Viking: I think so. How does it feel to have a witch in the band? You have to be careful! (laughs). When she came into the working with Morgana, on that record we wanted to dig a little bit more into the harsh vocals. And it works out well with our male singer, The Tribune. We toured with her, and there is no way to get to know people better than on the tour bus. We realized that we are a good fit – and not only does she have great harsh vocals, but she also has an astonishing clean voice. Which is very different from the singing voice of The Tribune. This is one more color or shade we can add to the songs for the Warkings. You never kick a witch out of the band – trust me! (laughs) You don’t want to be cursed.
Dead Rhetoric: Petér Sallai from Hungary handled the cover art this go around – and has also done some supplemental single artwork covers. What was the process like working with him – what do you enjoy most about his style that may differ from other artists you’ve worked with in the past?
The Viking: The first four albums, those were also done by a Hungarian artist. His name was Gyula Havancsák. We are totally happy with that. We took outside songwriters with this one, we went with a new producer, and we decided to go with someone else for the mixing and mastering – so we wanted something different done with the artwork. We wanted another style. And we got to know Petér, he’s done a lot of stuff with Sabaton and other bands. We gave him the album title, and told him what the song was about, and he immediately came up with the cover idea. It’s a little bit more realistic, darker, harsher. It fit perfectly to the album’s theme. When we decided what we were going to do for the singles, we asked him if he wanted to do some single artwork. We just told him the title of the song, a couple of sentences of what the song was about, and he always hit the nail on the head with his artwork. We are very happy with what he’s done.
Dead Rhetoric: How did the special guest appearances take shape between Orden Ogan, Dominum, and Subway to Sally? Did you know exactly what tracks you wanted each to appear on for this new record?
The Viking: For Orden Ogan we met the band on festivals throughout Europe after the last two and a half years, so we became friends. When we wrote “Genghis Khan”, our singer came up with the idea to ask Seeb from Orden Ogan if he wanted to sing this song. The song wasn’t written for him; it was just an idea that we came up with in the studio and he said yes. With Dominum, the singer of Dominum is the producer of our album Felix. He was the guy who co-wrote all the songs with us. It was natural that he found this song “Hangmen’s Night” and we asked him if he wanted to sing. We love his voice. It was a little bit different with Subway to Sally. We toured with them, and then the idea came up to write a song together “Stahl auf Stahl”. We wrote it together with the band – and some parts of the lyrics are in German because Subway to Sally only sings in German. The song went so well, we release it on our record, and they released it on their last album. We made a video with that song, so it made things different.
Dead Rhetoric: What makes the historical subject matter a perfect match to the music for Warkings? Have you always had an interest in warriors, battles, and historical-oriented material – even growing up in childhood?
The Viking: Yes, totally. Growing up in Europe – it’s all around you as a child. You grow up going to castles, fortresses, visiting ancient cities like Rome and elsewhere and see all this stuff. It was always a big part of everything. Also, we play heavy metal, power metal – it’s like power metal is perfect to sing about battles and glorious stuff. We combine the two things we love – we love history and telling the tales of that. Even if it’s very bloody and very dark.
Dead Rhetoric: What has been like for Warkings to tour with acts like Powerwolf, Dragonforce, and Subway to Sally, beyond your headlining tour dates with Victorius and Hammer King? Do you see the fruits of your labor in terms of a growing, sustainable following in many different countries?
The Viking: Oh yeah. When we started the band in 2018, the record came out in November, and we immediately went on tour in 2019. We toured a lot until the summer – and then we worked on the second record, and everybody knows by 2020 what happened with the pandemic in the world. Nobody was allowed to tour, so when we were finally allowed to tour, the first big tour we did was with Powerwolf, and we are eternally grateful for that. That made our name more well known to a big audience. We played in front of big arenas every night, for like twenty days in a row. Also, touring with a band like Dragonforce, they are really great guys, a lot of fun to tour with them. We did the Subway to Sally tour, which is a very big band especially in the German speaking area of Europe. It’s a different genre; we could play for people every night that maybe have never listened to power metal. We can grab some of these fans.
We still are very surprised that people love what we do. It’s never planned, because sometimes people say we are a casting band because of what we do. We just made something that we thought was totally crazy and ridiculous, but we love it and now our fanbase grows every day. Especially if you tour with those big bands. You learn something from them, you see how they do things, how they conduct themselves at shows. We became close friends with Powerwolf, and we are playing a couple of festivals and one-off shows with them again this summer. These tours gave us the opportunity to do our own headlining tour.
Dead Rhetoric: Now with five albums to choose from for a setlist, can you discuss the difficulties in putting something together that not only satisfies yourselves as musicians, but also appeals to your fanbase? Are there times you hope to explore deeper cuts, especially in headlining situations?
The Viking: Yeah. It’s always like four or five Mike Tysons trying to create a setlist. We end up fighting over every song. Especially if we do festivals. We will be doing a lot of festivals this summer, and the most time you will get may be an hour time. To fit five albums into a 50- or 60-minute time – it’s always a big discussion. Headlining shows are very, very nice. You can play 90 to 100 minutes, and play songs that maybe you haven’t played for a long time. We did a headline tour last year in the spring, and that was the first time we could play songs that we’ve always wanted to but never had the time to. We hope to do this on our next headline run also. Let’s see what the new album brings, what songs the fans like and what we want to play live.
If you ask us, we would play all the albums – but that would be like four boring hours! (laughs)
Dead Rhetoric: How does the band handle the maintenance and cleaning of your stage outfits? Have there ever been any mishaps of note because of this stage gear over the years?
The Viking: (laughs). You won’t believe this, but they’ve never been cleaned! (laughs). We stink like a zoo in the summer. If you go to the lion’s den, the smell – have you ever been to a zoo where they have a wolf pack, that’s how we smell. There are some parts of the stuff that we wear on stage you can wash, but most parts you can’t because it’s armor, helmets. We try to clean them as good as we can. Sometimes we get into trouble because we have this stage gear backstage with other bands, and they complain about how stinky that stuff is. That was the good thing touring with Powerwolf because their costumes also have never been cleaned, so we had a competition to see who stinks more! (laughs).
Dead Rhetoric: Has there ever been trouble getting this gear into or out of certain countries?
The Viking: Never. We always thought if we brought this stuff – we also have some fake weapons. There has never been a problem. We went to Miami last year to play the 70,000 Tons of Metal Festival cruise – I was curious if at the US border somebody would complain about our helmets and stuff, no problem ever. I will tell you the next time if we have any problems, though.
Dead Rhetoric: How important has the support from family, friends, and significant others in relationships been to your musical pursuits? Is it a delicate balancing act to provide enough energy and time for everything to work properly?
The Viking: Yes. You should ask my wife though, as she would tell you a different story. We have tremendous support from our families and our relatives. It’s a lot of time not being at home, a lot of time being on the road with this band. When you are at home, you end up spending a lot of time these days in front of a computer screen, or in the studio. Without that support, you would have to fight for every minute that you need for the band. We are very lucky and happy to have this support – but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t fights! (laughs). When you have to say that there is another tour coming up, and I won’t be home for four weeks.
Dead Rhetoric: Do you consider social media a blessing and a curse for Warkings?
The Viking: If I speak for the band, it’s both. Because of social media, a lot of people get to know the band quicker than back in the old days. Now you can put something out on social media and everybody, everywhere in the world can see it. Twenty-five to thirty years ago, that wasn’t possible. You had the magazines, and maybe MTV, and that’s all died now. It’s a curse because you have to constantly concentrate on that thing. If you don’t do anything from a week, you are old as fuck. If you ask me personally, I hate it. I am on the phone though for a good amount of time during the day. As a band and as a musician, you have to do it and it’s a good chance to reach a lot of people. It’s a curse because you have to do it all the time.
Dead Rhetoric: What do you think is an aspect or two that is difficult for the average person who is into Warkings to understand regarding certain decisions that have to be made in the course of your music and business relationships?
The Viking: To be honest, we are lucky that we weren’t in the position that a lot of the fans have not liked. Sometimes fans ask you why there is no more Queen of the Damned, and we had one song with the singer from Lord of the Lost, so they want another one. What happened? Sometimes it’s boring, business stuff. Queen of the Damned, she’s very successful with her own stuff and what she’s doing (with Ad Infinitum). Scheduling, you know. There wasn’t any more time to do the stuff together. We have never had to make a bad decision where fans come up to us and say, ‘why did you do this?’ Never really. Warkings is Warkings – we deliver a great show, and we invite the people to keep coming to our shows. Step into our world, and we try to keep all that business stuff where it belongs – to the business.
Dead Rhetoric: What’s next on the agenda for Warkings over the next twelve months once the record comes out? Any bucket list items or bigger goals you would like to achieve by the end of this album promotional cycle?
The Viking: The big bucket list item is I want to headline Wembley Stadium in London, but I don’t think that will ever happen. The fun thing and the good thing about Warkings is as a musician, you have this bucket list stuff you want to do. In Europe, Wacken is the biggest heavy metal festival, the holy ground for every metal musician, you want to play there. We did this in our first year, and now we are coming back this summer for the third time – we will play the main stage at Wacken. We are playing a couple of other festivals this summer for the first time. My personal biggest bucket list item is we will be playing the same festival and the same stage as King Diamond this year. I am a big King Diamond fan, as is our guitarist The Crusader. We are like, yeah – finally.
We did the 70,000 Tons of Metal cruise which was a bucket list thing. We want to come over to the US so bad – we have a lot of people asking us that. All the plans we made disappeared with the pandemic. We have the summer festivals in Europe this year, we will tour next year in February and March in Europe with Visions of Atlantis, a co-headlining tour together called Pirates and Kings. I talked with Michele, the singer, and we want to bring this tour over to the US, so that’s in the planning stages. I’ve been to Miami and played on a ship, but we want to play in your country. Maybe near the end of 2026, early 2027, we can make that work out. We get offers from around the world – Japan, and a couple of days ago we got an offer from South America. We have some ideas for touring Europe with other bands.