I plan to polymerise your flesh and bone… With fire and void to best serve me!
Our metal lady of this month of May will definitely burn your hearts. She is an English singer, keyboardist, actress, and model, combining her stunning looks, undeniable charisma and a powerful voice to provide us with a unique sensorial experience. Better known as the vocalist and keyboardist for London, England-based Symphonic Deathcore outfit She Must Burn, she might be one of the most talented classically trained vocalists and performing artists of the current metal scene worldwide, always showcasing her deep passion for heavy music and for all things dark. Her name is Portia Valis Volkova (born Portia Victoria Graham-Jones), or simply Valis Volkova, and once you get to know more about her and her music, you’ll certainly get addicted to her Stygian and hypnotizing universe.
Born on September 22, 1993 in Liverpool, the hometown of The Beatles and a port city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England, Valis trained as an opera singer at The Royal Northern College of Music from the age of 12, later joining the Liverpool Philharmonic Youth Company, where she appeared on BBC Songs of Praise and Aled Jones MBE’s New Horizons album, released in 2005. After finishing her studies at the RNCM, she trained in musical theatre at The Elliott-Clarke Performing Arts, where she developed her acting and dance skills. She diversified her knowledge by studying popular music performance and music business at BIMM University in 2021. Valis excels in creating her own backing vocals and layered choral harmonies, blending classical and popular vocal techniques to shape her distinctive sound. She thrives on collaboration, offering guest vocals and songwriting services for artists spanning rock, metal, synth wave, and goth genres.
Known for her solo performances worldwide, Valis then joined Symphonic Deathcore sensation She Must Burn back in 2017. She Must Burn had been formed a few years before that, back in 2014, having released the EPs Under the Shadows (2014) and She Must Burn (2015), plus the full-length album Grimoire (2017), before the addition of Valis to their lineup. Delivering a lethal blast of Deathcore, Symphonic, Gothic, and Black Metal that invokes names like Cradle of Filth, Bleeding Through and Make Them Suffer, the band currently formed of Valis on vocals and keyboards alongside vocalist Kyle Lamb, guitarists James Threadwell and Jack Higgs, bassist Frankie Keating, and drummer Steve Padley released back in 2022 their sophomore opus Umbra Mortis, available on BandCamp and on Spotify, earning a nomination for “album of the year” and securing a spot in the Top 50 metal albums of 2022 by Metal Hammer UK readers.
The paradox between Kyle’s harsh growls and Valis’ clean vocals really stands out in the music by She Must Burn, bringing a more than welcome balance to their music and, therefore, adding extra layers to their core sound, turning the band into a must-listen for fans of the violence of Deathcore with the finesse of classical and symphonic music, as you can enjoy in the stunning videos for the songs Incantation, Misery Eternal, Eulogy, and Of Blood & Bone, plus you can also watch an Interview with She Must Burn for Rockflesh at Tech Fest 2023 to know more about Valis and the band backstage. A band that Valis was part of is called Dead Dolls, also known as Glamorous Ghouls, UK’s original rock and metal-goes-vintage vocal duo formed of Valis and Katja Macabre until 2024. “This project is in addition to She Must Burn and is a completely separate project. I’m a firm believer that we all need multiple channels to stream our creativity in different ways,” commented Valis, who joined the project back in 2022. Unfortunately we won’t see Valis singing together with Katja anymore, but back in 2022 they released two excellent videos for the songs I’m Not Okay, by My Chemical Romance, and Misery Business by Paramore, which will certainly warm up your darkened hearts and souls.
Valis is also an accomplished actress, working regularly in theatre, TV and film, performing on stages all over the world including Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Adelaide Cabaret Festival and The Hippodrome in London’s West End, and having already made cameo appearances in television and film, including seasons 5 and 6 of HBO’s Game of Thrones, season 2 of Hulu’s The Great, and the 2022 indie thriller film Graphic Desires. Furthermore, she was only 17 years old when she played the role of Ariel in a touring production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest back in 2011, saying that Ariel has always been a “dream role” of hers since she was a little girl, and she’s also featured in the music videos for the songs The Hand is Quicker Than The Eye, by Inferno; Loops, by Amber States; So Automatic, by Jupiter In Velvet; Fun Gun, by Chemia; and Dirty Little Secret, by Massive Wagons.
Not only that, she was also featured in the stage play of The Swell Mob, playing Madame Vestris, at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival in in 2019 in South Australia; and in Magic Mike Live, playing ‘closer performer’ at The Hippodrome in Leicester Square, in London, UK, from October 2018 to October 2019. She also won the public vote and the title “Miss Popularity – London” after competing in Miss England 2019, fundraising for Beauty With A Purpose, and placed 3rd runner up in Miss Cheshire 2019 (a regional heat for Miss Great Britain), despite living in London at the time, and can be found in several magazines including the cover of Olympus Magazine (UK) in May and in December 2015, Liverpool Echo (UK) in April 2015, Scratch (UK) in November 2013, and Casting Magazine Paris (France) in September 2013.
Lastly, Valis was also crowdsourcing a few years ago to fund an alien horror movie called The Spawning, to be filmed in Liverpool (and later released in 2017), teaming up with her partner, Simon Riley. Simon, who’s from St Helens, wrote and directed the movie, while Valis produced and had a small role in it. “We want to create a genuinely frightening and original full-length horror feature film,” commented Valis during the crowdfunding campaign. “Everyone on the team is a huge horror fan, but few of us can remember a recent horror film that actually left us wanting to hide under our bed covers at night with the lights on! We want to change that and make a film that really gets under your skin and leaves you terrified and shaken to the core.” I still have to find a way to watch the movie, but one thing is certain even before doing that, and that’s the undeniable talent of a woman who’s not only an amazing musician, but also a great performer and artist, always sharing her passion for heavy music and the dark arts with us fans and, therefore, making the world a much better and more exciting place to live.
Valis Volkova’s Official Facebook page
Valis Volkova’s Official Instagram
She Must Burn’s Official Facebook page
She Must Burn’s Official Instagram
She Must Burn’s Official YouTube channel
““I’m a firm believer that we all need multiple channels to stream our creativity in different ways.” – Valis Volkova
THE HEADBANGING MOOSE 