HELLFLAME Interview (2021)

ANBSWERED BY COMMANDO WOLF

-How is the nation heir to one of the most ancient civilizations dealing with this pandemic? And more specifically how’s your daily life been affected by this global crisis?

It seems Hellas is the less-stricken country at the moment compared to the other Southern European countries like Italy, Spain or even France. According to the media it looks almost like another world. Coming to daily life, the quarantine measures are more or less the same like in most countries. This means restriction in going out and only for a reason. It looks more and more like an Orwellian dystopia or a scenario out from a sci-fi movie.

Concerning my personal daily life, it doesn`t affect me much really as I’m more of a recluse since many years now. Now, in absolute silence, I dedicate more time to my readings, a bit of writing, longer music listening sessions, etc. However, to be honest, there are some things I miss from the previous times. One of them is my weekly wanderings in the nearby mountains, hills, abandoned rural or similar places.

-Despite being formed only six years ago, Dreaful Relic is in no way to be misunderstood with a ‘modern’ band, not just because you guys have been stalwarts of the underground. There is an archaic aura that permeates all different aspects of your offering, it’s like being suspended in a timeless limbo. How did you manage to develop such an evocative vision and manifest it so perfectly?

I`m glad you see it this way. Yes, I believe so too. There is nothing "modern" in DREADFUL RELIC and for us this is an easy thing to do, because whatever we do comes directly from within and not from the factors, standards and norms of the nowadays’ scenes. So, the only thing that we had to was to be ourselves, nothing more, nothing less. Of course, as persons we are influenced both musically and lyrically by things that we grew up with and shaped us all these years. But all of them find their way to the band through our wolfish eyes and defiant nature.

DREADFUL RELIC was, is and will continue to be of a sonic manifestation of our inner fire. The voice of the past that rides through this age to sweep away like an iron fist what is stillborn. And that is what we call "Modern World"

-In an age where so many bands seem to be willing to saturate the market with countless releases, you seem to be going against the grain, with just a handful of brilliant quality releases. Was it a conscious decision? Would you say that achieving that primitive yet epic sound, which undoubtedly characterizes Dreadful Relic, is somehow down to not trying to rush things? What I’m getting at it that whereas many people may have a tendency to associate the a certain crudeness with a lack of effort, I , on the other hand, tend to appreciate the fact that achieving such splendour emanating from raw strength, unblemished in all its fierce primitiveness, may be harder than it sounds.

Exactly, it was a conscious decision. We will record something when we want and when we’re ready for it and won’t release stuff just for the sake of getting something released. We work totally outside of schedules, releasing dates and such things.

I think to get the sound we want it’s a really hard task. We will never be fully satisfied with the sound we get in every release. On the aftermath, there’s always something missing, something that we will try to achieve in the next release and so on. I think this will continue to happen as long as Dreadful Relic exists, simply because our ideal sound is now 30-40 years old, and it’s hard for the sound engineers to achieve that in a studio with modern equipment.

-Your four releases, whilst retaininh that unmistakable Dreadful Relic’s sound, surely do show some kind of progression, Looking back at them now, how would you describe each one of them? How difficult is it to have band members from another country, how does that impact the different processes of compositing, rehearsing, recording, performing live?

Each release is a monolith of its own, even though all of them are connected by a trail of blood and mystery. It’s like a journey in the desolate lands of archaic times. Once you pass a deep forest, there you find a barren land full of beasts, monsters or cunning tribes of blood sucking, flesh eating humanoids.

ARCHAIC CONJURATIONS was the beginning. The descent is symbolical of the discovery of the Atlantean sword and to ascend as a Tyrant, a usurper of thrones.

WARLORDS OF COSMIC SOVEREIGN was a gaze into the abyss of space and the evil that lurks there, inspired by Lovecraftian lore and the atmosphere of sci-fi films. An eschatological vision of the World's end as foretold in New England's scrolls.

COMBAT ALCHEMIST was the prelude of the debut album. Before unleashing our Sonic magic, we first performed a Lovecraftian incantation in the form of SAMAEL's Rite of Cthulhu.

HYBORIAN SORCERY was a proclamation of the Tyrant's reign. By magic, by fire or by the power of the sword.

Now as we speak, few can see the ill-omen, an ANCIENT OBSESSION approaching....

-Black Mythical Metal, I couldn’t come up with a better description myself. Was that concept present already at the time of forming the band? Was the band born of that very desire to summon that vision so aptly described by those three words, or rather Dreadful Relic urged the creation of such fitting word picture?

In the past (and still so), I really respect bands who invent their own term to describe their sound and concept, so much that such monikers became very important, almost like a second band name. Some good examples that come to my mind are MYTHOLOGICAL OCCULT METAL by ABSU or BLACK HATEFUL METAL by VELES.

BLACK MYTHICAL METAL is a moniker born almost at the same time with DREADFUL RELIC. Yes, the concept was present when I had in mind to summon DREADFUL RELIC, and even before that.

-Your refusal to conform to any semblance of modernity certainly wasn’t limited to purely audial preferences. The literary lore you reference can be seen as a romantic longing for times, myths and traditions lost in time. Masters of pulp horror and fantasy such as Lovecraft and Howard seem to be the backbone of of the universe in which Dreadful Relic dwell. How did you discover those writers and this literary genre? Without even mentioning their talent as writers and storytellers, their enduring success is a testament to that, what do you think is their symbolic function in regards to their modern audiences? I mean what the symbolic significance, if any, of their writings in our modern age?

Exactly as you say. Writers like Lovecraft, Howard and similar others had in their lifetime a hard time to adapt in their own environment or deal with the rampant modernity that despite the fact it started since the age of "enlightment" and later on with the industrialization and the rapid urbanization of the late 1800’s/early 1900’s, it was still in its early stages compared to what we see today which is at its peak. Their contempt for the modern man and its ways, their longing for kingdoms of old often found a way through their writings, either in poems, stories, etc.

The idea of a whole universe out of this earth were Gods are ready to punish mankind, the feeling of hopelessness, despair and the uncontrolled madness in the world of H. P. Lovecraft or the wandering avenger, the tyrant seeking a kingdom to rule or other dark heroes of R. E. Howard are for people with our worldview and way or outlook of life, not just a simple entertainment, but something far more than that. Not to mention the attraction to the mysterious, the esoteric and the mythical that goes far before we come across these writings.

To be honest, I don’t remember how exactly I discover them. Most likely I found out about Robert E Howard through the two Conan films and about Lovecraft I think through Metal music or articles in metal magazines.

-If you were to recommend your favourite works of the aforementioned writers, what would they be? Can fantasy and horror literature be ultimately seen in certain instances as a substitute for myth in this decadently idle epoch? Despite its popular scope this kind of literature, at its full potential, is more than capable to replenish the severe lack of traditional archetypes in our post modern culture, what do you think?

From Lovecraft, the whole CTHULHU MYTHOS works are of course mandatory. Personal favorites from the Prophet of Providence are At The Mountains of Madness and The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. Coming to Howard, CONAN, SOLOMON KANE and BRAN MAK MORN stories are definitely a must.

Apart from their works, there is a vast amount of articles, letters that is almost equally important as their main works. Personally, the articles of Lovecraft and his correspondence with various writers (including Howard) helped me to understand better the depth and the meaning of his works. A good example that came to my mind right now is how to spell CTHULHU and why, the atmosphere of his surrounding and the places he wrote his stories, the dark history of Rhode Island and Providence from 17th to 19th century, etc. All these things gave me a profound perspective. Since then, I have often the same feeling when I visit rural places with abandoned houses, walking on hills during later afternoon/early evening. Suddenly a whole new world stands before your eyes. The abyss is watching!

-Despite drawing your inspirations from apparently very different and wide ranging contexts, from ancient epics and mythology to modern literature, there’s no denial you managed to conjure a perfectly cohesive and organic vision for Dreadful Relic. It’s not just the binary combination of music and lyrics I’m talking about here, rather a reflection on the whole Dreadful Relic experience. An extreme care seems to have been taken into every aspects of each and every release without overdoing it. It’s almost as if the whole thing had been created with the purpose of transporting the listener to an unidentified parallel state suspended in a mythical timelessness where barbarism, sacrifice and sorcery are still tangibly vivid. Is this process of paying tribute to an immemorial past in all its various shapes and forms just an act of romanticism or a symbolic creative act of revolt?

I think both, but I`ll correct you a bit. It’s not done for some purpose. We simply transfer outwards things that rage inside us, both musically and lyrically. We did not choose to do this because of showing things we are not. The whole point is to give to it the shape it deserves in terms of music, lyrics and aesthetics, a longing to the archaic kingdoms of forgotten ages with the feeling of nostalgia and wrath. No, it’s not act of romanticism (if you take the word as its wrongly used today with a sentimental meaning) but an act of defiance and revolt, a proclamation of vengeance and wrath from the standpoint of values that are carried within our blood for ages. The cruel voice of the past that today is silenced under the ruins of the modern world and when it will be heard again it will be over the corpse of a rotten civilization and its followers.

To the musical side, it’s somehow rewarding when the listener feel the same. It proves that music often works as a spell that bewitches the listener. The same happened to us with the music we grew up with, especially with the second wave of Black Metal in the early 90s.

-You mentioned before that you are working on new material, what’s to be expected from the next release? Any anticipation you can give us, both music and lyric wise? Are Nuclear War Now and Darkness Attack going to be releasing it as it was the case with the last album?

Yes, as I`m writing these line now, our sophomor full-length of spells and curses is almost ready, both musically and lyrically. And when logistics allow, we will record it here in Athens. Darkness Attack (a salute to our ally, the warmonger Impurath) was not involved in any Dreadful Relic release (so far), but Nuclear War Now! will be again involved together of course with Frost and Fire Records.

Expect nothing but Black Mythical Metal, full of rust, blood and hunger. A malicious, venomous statement against this rotten world and the crumbling civilization of modern apelings, the utmost glorification of Archaic tyranny!

-Do you have any plans regarding playing live? What would be your ideal setting for that? And if you were given complete freedom to set the stage the way you want it, what would that involve?

Of course we have plans to play live and we will start working on that as soon as the conditions (covid19 restrictions on flights etc) allow. The ideal set would be the one that will portray perfectly the world of Dreadful Relic. Corpsepaint, blood, fire (torches and/or fire breathing) , black banners with our emblems, bullet belts, leather ornaments and things like that. You want to know our ideal stage? Something between Under The Sign of The Black Mark and WASP's debut album cover drenched in haze, something which is impossible to happen, but you get the picture.

-The cover artwork of your last album is simply spectacular. Thomas Holm’s style remains unique and absolutely recognizable even after all those years. How did you get in touch with him and how was it to work with the artist responsible for some of the most iconic album covers of Mercyful Fate and King Diamond?

We came in touch by pure luck, I guess. It was around 2015-2016 when we were searching for something that will be out of the ordinary BM cliche and at the same time be someone who will portray perfectly the ideas we had in mind. After some failed attempts to come in touch with some old artists, I thought to try my luck with Thomas Holm. So I found his contact in a Swedish website and I emailed him explaining what exactly we wanted. Of course I had no hope for an answer, and if I ever get one, the price would be really high for our available budget. Keep in mind that everything (studio recordings. pressing costs, etc) of Dreadful Relic are funded by Frost And Fire. Yosuke/NWN participated later in this.

To my surprise, Thomas answered and said that he checked our stuff, he liked the music and he is interested to hear our ideas and see if he could come up with whatever we want. So the cover of Hyborian Sorcery was made. It’s a painting on canvas and in my opinion it’s a real breathtaking masterpiece. The idea of the figure in the cover came by Thomas himself. One day in the subway, he did a sketch right there, took a photo with his cellphone and sent it to me. From that point we build everything around it.

Thomas Holm is a real artist in the true sense of the word and a master of his craft, not to mention that we co-operate perfectly. Needless to say that we will continue to work with him and we have already agreed to do the work for our next album, plus the single before it.

-Equitant from Absu drew you logo, his style fits perfectly the atmospheres cnjured by Dreadful Relic, and the result is quite amazing, stylish, unique and prefectly balanced. Why did you ask him as opposed to more obvious choices? If you were to pick your favourite(s) amongst the logos he did, which would it/they be and why?

Another man of great vision. I think we were lucky in this case too because it was just in time that Equitant, after a period of inactivity, begun to draw anew and thank the gods he had not lost his magic touch. We are worshipers of ABSU and all the things & projects related around them since the early 90s, plus the influence they had on the shaping of DREADFUL RELIC is enormous.

The first original DREADFUL RELIC logo was made by Hjarulv Henker, so for the 2nd logo we wanted something to resemble our musical origins, so the winged logo took flesh and bones by Equitant's hand.

As for my favorites of his works, I prefer his early stuff. From the logos: ABSU (the 1992 one), BLACK FUNERAL, EQUITANT/EQUIMANTHORN/PROSCIPTOR, ISSACHAR, GOATHRONE, ZEMIAL, AGATUS. And from his other works: Baphomet (1992), Dumuzi Apzu (1993), Knight (1993), Pazuzu (1993), The Emperor (1993), Goat II (1994), Of Celtic Fire We Are Born (1996).

-We can safely say that progress is really starting to show its true colours, in its deliberate attempt at canceling every aspects of cultural tradition, in its forceful endeavor at homogenizing entire swathes of population until they all resemnle a grey impersonal corporate product. The quest for ultimate liberation they so loudly praise is revealing the ultimate form of enslavement, an all encompassing moral castration preventing access to even the most basic form of discourse. Dystopian mindcontrol seems to be at the core of this age of dissolution. What kind of possible outcome, if any at all, do you see from all this? Would you agree that cancel culture is in fact following in the footsteps of old colonialist techniques or erasing one’s culture and languages to make any form of subjugation and assimilation easier?

Progress has already shown its colours many times in history. From the reign of terror in France and the birth of democracy through the guillotine, to the industrial revolution and the bolshevik uprise with the mass slaughters that occurred in Russia. Don’t get fooled, in all these cases it’s the same people behind that pull the strings, using armies of servants, bootlickers and watchdogs that most of the times they are more fanatic against us even from their masters.

About progress, from the most recent times, is there anything more progressive than the Weimar Republic era? Hearing this word automatically this period comes to my mind. It’s exactly the model of governing that is now global and we are standing in the totally opposite side. This world is becoming day by day more alien and hostile to us and there will be a time when we will come at the crossroads of rise and conquer or perish under the rotten heel of the swineherd driven by the great parasite of this world.

-Is there still space for myth in our times? Or has myth become an obstacle to the fullfilment of progress’s prophecy? Can an in depth exploration of our atavistic nature and origins provide the backbone for a resistant heresy in the face of this dystopian wave of iconoclastic cultural puritanism?

Absolutely yes! Because myths are timeless, they existed since the dawn of time and will go further, beyond and above time, despite the fact that we live in a total materialist age, where the rotten claws of decay have strengthened its ties around us tighter than ever. Modern man marches towards his doom and the worst is that he does nothing to prevent this, there’s not even a single spark of resistance, only a few people, scattered here and there can still listen to the voice of their blood.

Weep not for what is about to see and what is about to come. With us or without us, a circle will close and another will open. That’s so certain as the change of seasons or the coming of dawn after the deepest of the night.

-Let’s talk about Frost and Fire, would you like to introduce the label? There is no hiding the fact that Frost and Fire, just as well as Dreadful Relic, is a label totally dedicated to the most traditional, unblemished and anachronistic expressions of Black / Death Metal. Ultimately what’s the importance of keeping intact the crude, primitive essence of this subculture?

Frost And Fire Records was born at the same time with DREADFUL RELIC as a medium to produce and distribute DREADFUL RELIC releases and merchandise. During this process I decided to make some other releases too. What is more important in this digital age that wants to turn our Music into another consumerist spiritless product, is to show how it used to be done in the right way with limited mediums and done with passion, fanaticism and dedication. That’s why most of the new bands can`t even touch the spirit of these old releases. It’s very important, apart from the personal pleasure on working on something so great and special as these old releases, it’s also an honour to co-operate with these people who let you be in a way a part of their releases, that in my case most of the times I found out in my teenage years. Also in the true underground way, I do this in reasonable amount of copies and sell it in the best price possible for anyone that is truly dedicated and hungry for it, but for various reasons (economic, age, etc) is not able to find it yet.

-There is indeed an archival side to Frost and Fire, what I find particularly interesting, apart from the intrinsic quality of such obscure classic recordings, is the attention to detail when it comes to keeping the original aesthetics unadultered. Not only that, your releases offer comprehensive recordings and anthologies at very accessible prices, for those who didn’t manage for a reason or another to get the original items when they were originally released and can’t afford those extortionate collector prices dictated by Discogs. Is that way of doing things, that keeping with the old underground ethics made of genuine interest and affordable prices, a way to rekindle a scene almost completely lost in a limbo of gimmicky collectionism? Do you feel (as I do) that at least a portion of the young listeners discovering your releases will be able to get a glimpse into how the scene was back then?

That’s exactly the point. First and foremost I release stuff in the way I would like to see them myself, presented properly, both in musical as in aesthetical terms. For years now, I noticed that several of these old releases, when they were re-pressed, their audial and visual appearance was really atrocious in the eye and the ear, a pure sacrilege and disrespect from the labels, who seems that their aim was only to make money in the fastest way possible. Zero research, images from the internet in low quality, often wrong or missing track list, etc

The FROST AND FIRE releases, we (me and Hjarulv who is doing the artworks) work in the exactly opposite way from the above mentioned newcomers and wagon jumpers. And so far everything is going fine and the bands are patient enough to my often annoying and insisting messages to dig deeper and deeper in their archives.

-What can be expected next on Frost and Fire? Is there any releases you would dream of making available again? Are you going to release more NWN titles in cd format in the future?

As we speak (March 2021) my upcoming releases are BLACK CRUCIFIXION Demo 1992 CD, BLACK CRUCIFIXION Satanic Zeitgeist Live TAPE and FUNERAL NATION After The Battle CD.

Yes, we co-operate perfectly with Yosuke/NWN PROD. So it will be a pleasure to continue further making cd versions of selected releases of his. Coming in the next months: XANTOTOL Thus Spoke Zarathustra CD, THYABHORRENT compilation with all recordings CD, GOATPENIS demo CDs, NOMECLATURE DIABLERIE 888 TAPE etc.

As for my wish list of releases, there is plenty of stuff around that I would make without a second thought. Some bands are DIVINE EVE, ALASTIS, PROFANE GRACE, CRUCIFIER, UNGOD, ANCIENT RITES, ACHERON, CARPATHIAN FOREST, BLOODSTORM and much more!!! Their early material of course!

-Saying that Greece had a great scene in the past would be a massive understatement, surely one of the most distinctive, crucially inspiring geographically connoted scenes ever. Which are your favourite ever bands from your country? How would you ssay the scene is faring nowadays? What are your current favourites?

To be honest, I’m not the proper person to talk about the Greek scene of today. I rarely come across something that really catches my attention. Some current favorites are UNHOLY ARCHANGEL, GOATVOMIT, HIEROPHANT'S DESCENT and maybe a few more, bands that I know that consist of people who are true and honest in what they do.

Old favorites of course are plenty. ROTTING CHRIST (89-93), NECROMANTIA (90-97), VARATHRON (89-95), THOU ART LORD (93-96), ZEMIAL, AGATUS (93-97), EREVOS, NERGAL (92-95), LEMEGETHON, LEGION OF DOOM (94-95), FLAMES, etc.

-Thank you for taking the time to answer this interview, any last words?

It was an honour to be featured in the come-back issue of HELLFLAME after its awakening from its long slumber.

We raise our swords, axes and torches to thee for your support to DREADFUL RELIC and FROST AND FIRE RECORDS! Keep up your bloodstained work with AGNI'S EMBERS and other commitments. Let the Southern fires burn until the ancient drums are heard again!

Commando Wolf - March 2021

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