Black Metal

Recorded and released in 2014, Dreadful Relic’s “Archaic Conjurations” demo established the sonic and thematic axes about which the band has expanded and evolved over the last decade. The specter of ancient civilizations lost to time haunts their music. Cities once teeming with people, tethered to their own relative sense of modernity, reduced to ash and dust. This is the fate of all men—for all their megalomaniacal lust they are ultimately nothing, their works obliterated in the darkness cast by time’s long shadow. Nowhere is this phenomenon more readily apparent than in Dreadful Relic’s homeland of Greece, its ancient ruins and monuments like the last crackling embers and ashen remnants where the fire of western civilization once blazed brightest, harkening back to a time when the veil between reality and magic was thin, translucent, and permeable. Dreadful Relic approach these concepts metaphorically, drawing heavily upon the mythopoeic works of Robert E. Howard, references to which abound in the band’s lyrics.

Black Metal

Less than a year after “Archaic Conjurations,” Dreadful Relic delivered their first vinyl release—an eruption of all the potential stored in the demo. Recorded after the summer solstice in 2015 and self-released later that year, the “Warlords of the Cosmic Sovereign” MLP showcased the band’s esoteric proclivities and potent songwriting, drawing inspiration from Hellhammer/Celtic Frost, Samael, and other progenitors of the black metal genre. Each side contains an atmospheric intro followed by a bludgeoning original composition. Additionally, the MLP closes with a cover of “In the Shrines of the Kingly Dead” by Treblinka/Tiamat, a song perfectly suited for Dreadful Relic in both style and substance.

Black Metal

“Was der Morast verschlang” is the 4th album and the lyrical themes are about the ugly face of the swamp … Grey mist rises from black waters!