DREADFUL RELIC Ancient Obsession LP BLACK [VINYL 12"]

ANTI-GOTH 784

• 400 made on black vinyl
• 190 gram heavy vinyl
• 3mm jacket with UV Gloss varnish
• 12" insert

+BLACK MYTHICAL METAL+

(Description by J. Campbell)

With their “Archeomania” demo, released two years ago, Dreadful Relic offered a glimpse of what would ultimately coalesce into their triumphant new album, “Ancient Obsession.” While the band’s lineup has changed since their 2018 debut album, “Hyborian Sorcery,” the band’s sound and philosophy remain unaltered and deeply entwined. Musically, Dreadful Relic continue to be faithful adherents to first wave black metal pioneers, especially Hellhammer/Celtic Frost and early Bathory. These bands represent the time when black metal was at its most primitive and potent—a newly emergent genre animated by a militant ethos. But Dreadful Relic avoids the hollow mimicry one usually expects from bands professing their reverence for that era. The songs on “Ancient Obsession” are highly composed with perfectly aligned riffs, aggressive drumming performed with militaristic precision, cut through by violent guitar solos and impassioned vocals. The production is clear and powerful, providing definition and substance to the composition and instrumentation. While Dreadful Relic took a similar stylistic approach on their previous releases, this new album improves upon their earlier work, both musically and lyrically. And it is through the union of sound and concept that the band’s brilliance is revealed. Like the music, Dreadful Relic’s lyrics conjure a primeval vision of the world of man, when the lines between sorcery and warfare, and life and death, were—like the division between gods and men—blurred, diaphanous, and permeable. To that end, Dreadful Relic’s lyrics invoke ancient heathen lore and cosmology, as well as the valor and heroism of the warriors who inhabit Robert E. Howard’s primordial landscapes and the hallucinatory nightmares of H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos. These are hardly novel sources of inspiration in metal, of course. But unlike many bands for which such concepts are mere cosplay fantasy fodder, Dreadful Relic employ these themes and symbols with intention. The lyrics on “Ancient Obsession” are poetic and allegorical, reflecting the noble posture of the traditional man amid the crush of modernity that threatens to degrade and extinguish virtuous, time-honored cultures and replace them with vulgar simulacra. Though steeped in metaphor, Dreadful Relic’s message might be properly interpreted as a call to arms in an age of spiritual warfare. Cover painting by Thomas Holm (Mercyful Fate: Melissa, Don’t break the oath etc. King Diamond: Abigail, Them, Fatal Portrait etc.)