Kaiaphas


Valério Costa, known by his stage names, Kaiaphas and Lord Kaiaphas, is a black metal vocalist, drummer, lyricist and songwriter. He is mostly known for his works while in the Norwegian black metal band Ancient. His current projects are Thokkian Vortex and Minimal Criminal. His name is taken after Caiaphas, the high priest during the Sanhedrin trial of Jesus.

Biography

Born in Rio de Janeiro, Kaiaphas moved to Washington D.C., U.S. at six years old where he grew up. Most of his family members were musically inclined. His grandmother, on his father’s side, Nadir de Figueiredo, was a very famous soprano opera singer. It was not surprising that Kaiaphas would develop a strong passion for music. Throughout his teenage and adolescent years, Kaiaphas played drums and sang in several rock and metal bands, recorded several demo tapes, and played lots of gigs.
Kaiaphas began his professional music career when he joined the Norwegian black metal band Ancient in 1995. The band's leader, Aphazel, was impressed by the work Kaiaphas had made with his prior American black metal bands - Grand Belial's Key and Thokk, so, therefore, Kaiaphas replaced Ancient's previous member, Grimm. At this time, he changed his name to Lord Kaiaphas and began performing solely as a vocalist/frontman.
During his time with Ancient, he recorded two full-length albums for the well-known American metal label, Metal Blade Records. These albums were The Cainian Chronicle and Mad Grandiose Bloodfiends. Kaiaphas also appeared in three music videos from Ancient, Lilith’s Embrace, Willothewisp, and Um Sonho Psycodelico. In 1997 the band went on a European tour with Bal Sagoth and Dark Funeral. Later that year, Mordgrimm Records released the Of Rape and Vampirism CD from Kaiaphas' former project, Thokk. The material from this CD came from their A Trance for the ever-toiling Witch demo which was recorded in 1995. In 1998, he went on an Ancient mini tour in America as well as another European tour alongside Belphegor and Behemoth. Shortly after this tour, Kaiaphas left Ancient.
In 1996, Kaiaphas discovered psychedelic goa trance, and by 1999 he had become a trance DJ.
In the fall of 1998, Kaiaphas moved to New Orleans, where he later formed a tribal gothic rock psychedelic rock band, called Oroboros, with his friend, Nicholas Syracuse. Oroboros played at the Burning Man Festival in 1999 and 2001. In this band, Kaiaphas played the drums, doumbek, djembe, and did some Tuvan/Mongolian style throat-singing. Their live shows consisted of tribal body paint, firedancing and fire breathing. Some of their tracks were later included in the soundtrack of the Canadian independent film, Monolithia. The band broke up in 2001.
In 2002, Kaiaphas moved to Brazil, where the trance scene was growing rapidly.
In 2003, Kaiaphas created a project of electronic body music called KAIAPHAS, with his friend, Victor Salles and female singer, T.A.T.I. In the beginning of 2006, the line-up had changed. Kaiaphas invited guitarist Lienhard, and new singer Lady Omega into the band. A year before meeting Kaiaphas, Lady Omega had sung on one of the songs from Ancient's Night Visit CD, released in 2004. Coincidentally, Kaiaphas had also made a guest appearance on that same album in the track, Rape the Children of Abel. He also performed as a special guest in a few of Ancient's gigs in Greece in the European mid-2003. While in Greece, Kaiaphas recorded some guest vocals on a few tracks from the Greek black metal band, Crossover, which ended up in their 2004 CD, Dogma.
In 2003, Kaiaphas started a minimal/progressive psy-trance project called Minimal Criminal, under the alias "Zhyin" with Bruno Echoes. As of 2014, Minimal Criminal is Valerio Zhyin and its music often has a dark atmosphere and almost all of the tracks have stories or concepts behind them. The tracks also generally contain bizarre and obscure samples taken from films or other sources which further enhance the ideas behind the music.
In 2005, Minimal Criminal released their debut track "Reefer and Barbeque", a collaboration with established Swedish artist Krumelur, on the Intelligent Manipulation compilation CD. Various tracks have been released in a variety of compilation albums by many labels. In 2016, a second full-length album, Valerian Tales and the Zeuhllander EP, were released by Quantum Digits Recordings. In 2017, another full-length album, Alien Anthology, was released by Soulectro Music.
In 2006, Kaiaphas started his black metal solo project, Thokkian Vortex. The music from this project was influenced by the early works from Scandinavian black metal bands such as Darkthrone, Emperor, Dark Funeral, and Limbonic Art. There are also elements of classical/orchestral and dark ambient music. A split CD with the Hungarian band Aetheritus Obscuritas was released in 2007. The debut full-length album of Thokkian Vortex was released in 2014.

Discography

Missionary Position

Ancient