One Night in Carcosa

Straight from Finland is Dawn of Relic, an epic and atmospheric black metal band that is highly reminiscent of albums like In the Nightside Eclipse by Emperor, Aurora Borealis by Dark Forest and mixed with the weird elements in Enslaved's Isa. One Night in Carcosa is a decent outing combining the elements of spacey and astral sounding keys and synths with the harshness of blackened rasps and pounding drums.

I happened to find this CD cheap in a bargain bin and bought it without previous knowledge and I'm glad I did. This is black metal that I can get into; there aren't overwhelming blast beats, there isn't a shitty minimalistic production where the vocals are barely heard and the guitars are only barely there... but instead we have a finely crafted epic album with great production and mixing, with neither drums or guitars or vocals being too high in the mix and everything is even. Their are actual riffs, something that I like to hear in a black metal release, played with speed and tightness layered perfectly with fast double bass only adding the to the epic atmosphere. Grutle Kjellson does a great job on vocals.. wait that's not him!? The harsh raspy vocals that Dawn of Relic uses is a very similar style, very articulated and powerful, as well as being not annoying. The rest of the instrument and orchestration elements is all done very properly and very well most importantly. The guitars display fast riffing, with lightly melodic lead work mixed with an almost nonexistent bass, though not exactly mattering in black metal; only showing itself in the slower parts of songs. The drumming is very Enslaved-like, with heavy pounding drums and plenty of epic rolling thunder-like fills and beats.

Fimbulvetr is a fast and short opener that gets right to the point with a great rumbling drum beat that is so like something off Enslaved's Isa it's eerie! When Aldenbaron Is Visible is another fast starter and continuing with the epic theme and atmosphere, the orchestration kicks in and is just fucking cool; something the likes of Bathory and Emperor started and is now continued in the manor and style of Dawn of Relic; it's very nature like almost, as if I was walking in a vast forest with Frodo and Sam and Aragorn behind me. Dawn of Relic is Lovecraftian themed but it's not far off from sounding like bands that are Tolkein based.

Kadath Opened is a kickass 12 minute sprawling epic with the fast blackened style that Dawn of Relic continue with for the first 5 minutes or so and then kicks in the slow and almost LOTR soundtrack based sound, with the rumbling drums and the highlighting of the vocals. After this is kicks back into gear with more fast harshness mixed wonderfully with the orchestrations for an epic experience. Welkins Gat is continued with the astral and spacey sound with more fast guitar riffing and a melodic sound that is once again reminding me of Enslaved.

Dawn of Relic is a great discovery for me, this is black metal that I can easily get into with a nice production and sense of purpose with the epic atmosphere. There isn't much to complain about really, the songs are memorable but somewhat lacking in variety, it's a good thing this is a relatively short release but Dawn of Relic seem to make it work on One Night in Carcosa. This is a good release but not exactly the most memorable thing in the world, but still highly recommended for any fans of Emperor, Enslaved, Dark Forest and astral sounding epic black metal; this debut is probably right up your alley.

Dawn of Relic’s One Night in Carcosa is an interesting little album that never quite takes off. The main reason for this is the inclusion of various distinctly Finnish elements (bouncy, catchy Maiden-isms a la CoB) that don’t quite gel with the overall sound.

The album is pleasant enough to listen to. The music is highly melodic black/death, with high, rasping vocals and lots of keyboards and acoustic passages. The production is very soft and warm, when coupled with the atmospheric keyboards it creates a wonderfully dark mood. Not an evil kind of dark, though- more of a starry-summer-night kind of dark. The lyrics deal mainly with themes from the works of H.P. Lovecraft, and are decently written for the most part, although they’re significantly more “evil” than the music and seem just a tad out of place.

Where it falls flat is… the Finnish-ness. Parts of this album are very catchy and upbeat, and as such totally out of place. For instance, The Last Dance of Sarnath sounds like a reject from Hatebreeder. It’s totally derivative and insipid, and doesn’t belong at all.

This is a pleasant and atmospheric listen, hampered by stylistic incongruity and somewhat uninspired composition. Get it if you want some nice background music. Highlights: When Aldebaran is Visible, Kadath Opened 1-3, Welkins Gat.