FALKENBACH

Falkenbach means "Runnel of (the) Falcons".
Vratyas Vakyas is from Germany, but he lived in Iceland for a while as a child.

In 2006, Skaldic Art Productions released a tribute album entitled ...An Homage To Falkenbach; ''Tribute: Part I'' and ''Tribute: Part II'' with "Tribute" written like the Falkenbach logo. Limited to 500 copies each. Skaldic Art Productions is the label of Vratyas Vakyas. Bands on the tribute include Eluveitie, Folkearth, Vinterriket and others.

Vratyas Vakyas roughly means ''the searching wanderer''. In fact, Vratyas Vakyas is not a name. "Vratyas" and "Vakyas" are two proper names, whose origin can be found in the "Vatan", which is not a religion, but more a form of philosophy connected to Ásatrú. Vratyas and Vakyas are the first two ''steps'' in Vatan, and can be compared to Christian ''ranks'' such as Priest or Bishop.

Most of Falkenbach lyrics were written in English, but some were written in Norræna (old Icelandic), Latin, and Old German.

In 1989, Vratyas Vakyas recorded his first three-track demo tape, "Havamal", limited to 9 copies. After that, Vratyas played in a band called Crimson Gates, with which he recorded 2 unreleased demos. The band had two live performances, and split up in 1994. In 1995, recording of the debut album "Fireblade" began, but due to equipment malfunctions, recording was ceased a shortly before the mixing process. "Fireblade" was never released, although a lot of the tracks from these sessions have been re-recorded and used on the "Heralding - The Fireblade" album.

Falkenbach recorded a total of 9 demos. Nothing is known about 2 of them, and the tracklist of 3 remains unclear as most were limited to 9 copies.
1. Havamal 1989
2. Demo 1 (1991-1993) * (as Crimson Gates?)
3. Demo 2 (1991-1994) * (as Crimson Gates?)
4. Laeknishendr 1995
5. Promo ''95
6. ...Skinn Av Sverdhi Sol Valtiva...1996
7. Ásynja (1996?) *