Origin: Italy
Formed: 1996
Genre: Black Metal (early), Atmospheric Dark Metal (later evolution)
Status: Active
Label: Independent
Themes: Darkness, duality, sleep paralysis, visions, spiritual confrontation
The Narrow Bed stands as one of the most significant and mythic works in Valkiria’s early history—originally released as a demo on October 5th, 1997, and later re‑recorded in 2022. It is the first demo ever created under the Valkiria name, and also the last to be reinterpreted, closing a creative circle that began in 1996. Recorded at Ercole Longobardi’s studio, the original cassette captured the raw, instinctive force of a young project still deeply rooted in the second‑wave black metal tradition.
The title track, The Narrow Bed, is autobiographical. Valkus has openly stated that the song was born from a direct spiritual confrontation:
he invoked the demon and challenged it—“If you exist, then God exists. I fear neither.”
This moment of defiance, tension, and metaphysical clarity shaped the entire conceptual core of the demo. The track embodies chaos, violence, and the existential courage of facing the unknown without retreat.
The second and third songs—Death Until Sleep and the title track itself—are deeply connected to Valkus’s personal experiences with sleep paralysis, episodes during which he encountered multiple entities and perceived the threshold between life and death. For him, the narrow bed is literally the “death bed,” the liminal space where consciousness dissolves and the body becomes a vessel for visions. Death Until Sleep continues this theme, portraying sleep paralysis as a symbolic death, a doorway to the beyond.
The final track, My Blind Moon, is based on a nocturnal vision Valkus experienced: a perfectly clear sky, devoid of clouds, except for two small veils covering the “eyes” of the moon. This surreal, symbolic image became the emotional closure of the demo—mysterious, quiet, and filled with the sense of an unseen presence watching from above.
When re‑recording the demo in 2022, Valkus declared that the new version finally reflects the structure he originally conceived in 1996:
a violent, chaotic first half followed by a slower, introspective descent—two lines, two visions carried forward together.
This duality defines the essence of The Narrow Bed: confrontation and surrender, terror and revelation, death and awakening.
Side A
Side B
Type: Demo
Release date: October 5th, 1997
Format: Cassette
Recording: Recorded at Ercole Longobardi’s studio on October 5th, 1997
Re‑recorded: 2022