Valerio Zhyin was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. At the age of 6, he went to live in Washington D.C., U.S.A. Soon after that, music became a main passion in his life.
It was not long before Zhyin took an interest in the drums. Ever since his mother bought him his first real drum kit, he started playing in one band after another, making several demo recordings and playing in dozens of shows.
Zhyin began his professional music career when he joined the Norwegian black metal band, Ancient in 1995. At this time, he was known by the name Kaiaphas and began performing as a vocalist/frontman. Drumming duties then became strictly for studio recordings. Thus, a drummer was always hired for live shows.
With this band, he recorded 2 full-length albums which sold over 40,000 copies worldwide. These were The Cainian Chronicle (96) and Mad Grandiose Bloodfiends (97) on Metal Blade records. An extensive European tour would follow the release of each album with over 22 shows.
Lined up, Zhyin also appeared in 3 videos - Lilith's embrace (96), Willothewisp (97), and Um sonho psycodelico (99). He left the band soon after the 98 tour.
In 1999, Zhyin moved to New Orleans, where he started a tribal/gothic psychedelic rock band called Oroboros. They recorded 2 demos and did many shows. Three of them were at the Burning man festival in 99 and 2001. Zhyin played the drums, doumbek, djembe, and did some throat-singing as well. The live shows also featured tribal body paint and firedancing/breathing.
Already in 1996, Zhyin discovered goa trance, and ever since, his passion for electronic music grew more and more, until he decided to become a dj in 1999. Together with his bandmates and friends, Zhyin threw the first psy-trance parties in New Orleans. Although these small parties were successful, the dream of starting a psy trance scene there was impossible.
In 2001, Zhyin moved to Brazil, where the trance scene is ever-growing.
In 2002, he started producing electronic music by himself and in 2003; he started a project called Minimal Criminal with Bruno Echoes. Soon after, Zhyin created a side project of dark ebm/futurepop called Kaiaphas.