One of the most famous collaborations ever in the history of the electronic dance music scene is the ‘Gouryella’ project. This act is a collaboration between Ferry Corsten and Tijs Verwest (a.k.a. DJ Tiësto). The meaning of the word ‘Gouryella’ is ‘heaven’ in Aborigine, so it’s the heaven for the Aboriginals. After the success of the first release as ‘Gouryella’, Ferry and Tijs decided to team up again for another track under this alias. This resulted in another smashing trance anthem, which is still mentioned by many people as one of the most well known trance classics ever!

The second ‘Gouryella’ track was titled ‘Walhalla’. The meaning behind ‘Walhalla’ is something that has to do with heaven as well. ‘Walhalla’ is the heaven for the Vikings and this was the home of Odin, the main God. All the good warriors and war heroes came to this place. The word comes from the Norwegian / Scandinavian word ‘Valhall’.

After the first promo mail out on ‘Tsunami’ (which was a 1 sided 12” vinyl), the retail vinyl was released on September 25 1999. Besides an instrumental version, there was also a vocal version available of ‘Walhalla’. Songwriter Matt Cantik took care of the writing part for the vocals. The name of the lady who did the vocals is Rachel Spier, who is a Dutch singer. Her vocals have been used for the radio edit of ‘Walhalla’ as well. The second ‘Gouryella’ track became an international success again and it entered the UK single chart at a number 27 position back in the end of 1999.

A few weeks after the release of ‘Walhalla’, ‘Tsunami’ released a special limited edition double vinyl, which contained some nice remixes of the track. And you can also find an extra (short) bonus track on the vinyl, which is called ‘In Walhalla’.

There are a few remixes available of ‘Walhalla’. Two of them are done by Dutchman Armin van Buuren, who did some very nice trance remixes of it under his ‘Rising Star’ alias. Lee Mullins and Mike Truman did 2 different remixes of ‘Walhalla’ as well under their ‘Hybrid’ alias, which are both in a break style.

The sales of ‘Walhalla’ on ‘Tsunami’ went very well, because Ferry and Tijs both received a special golden sales award for the track.

If all four of gouryella's productions were played together, this tune is probably the one that would stand out as the one least like the others. Whereas Tenshi and Gouryella have melodic, almost classical riffs and hard drum beats, the original mix of Walhalla takes a softer feel - something exaggarated in the breakdown with a very sleepy organ playing out the main riff. Armin's Rising Star Mix emphasises this point and goes even further, making the whole tune softer and more relaxed. All in all, a fine production.