Artist: Old Forsaken Realm
Title: Relics Of A Sunken Past
Type: Album
Label: Digital / Dale Of Shadows
This is the first release of this new project by one Nordic Sentinel, original unveiled in January but now given a physical release by Dale Of Shadows which brought it to my attention.
It is simply split into three parts and, immediately the sound that fillls my mind is beautiful, sombre and that old school epic sound, one chors changing everything as it opens up the sound, rises higher and your chest just seems to open with it. The main melody is suffused with a feel of age, of history blossoming out from a simple object held in your hand. Empires live in that object still and I am simply transfixed as the ghosts slowly raise faded heads and continue a dance that ended centuries ago. There is a grace and elegance to this; it feel as though it is played live but the surety of touch takes you away from such concerns. All that matters is the music and the world that you are now lost in. This is epic music; not in say the vast lands and adventures Atlantean Sword can conjure from a few choice chords, but in the sense of time and loss that Old Forsake Realm create from a similar depth of musicality and understanding of how it moves minds. Perhaps it edges towards the feel of Ghoest, but still walks a separate path and has nothing but its own voice.
Part II seems to delve deeper into the shadows for me. The music becomes more insular as though we pass through the actual ruins and catacombs. The music slowly turns and offers sight of lost treasures in the most bittersweet lilting melodies which rise and fade before another is offered. There is no escaping this journey; not because your are held against your will but because you are so captivated by the history you are guided through that you must know more. This is a world of lore freely offered with no veil between you and the emotion it evokes.
Part III almost takes a step back as the music offers to bring a little sunlight to this world of ghosts and past glories. Or perhaps we have crossed some threshold and we are now irretrievably in this lost realm, almost able to touch it. But the sadness remains in the music. You cannot escape the loss of the grandure and the achievements. There is a stately grace to the music that suggests that though perhaps there was a good reason for their downfall, perhaps anyway, there was also a pinnacle of glory and knowledge within these memories.
I am absolutely blown away by this debut; the feeling, the resonance, the imagery that this music creates in my mind is just superlative. It is heavy with the weight of aeons, and shimmers with grandeur lost and forgotten. Here you are just a soul discovering a treasure long hidden and yet filled with such beauty not exploring further is just… impossible.
Gizmo
Relics Of A Sunken Past | Old Forsaken Realm
LRDXN131 – Old Forsaken Realm – Relics Of A Sunken Past | Dale Of Shadows
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