The name SCALD should ring a bell if you’re into Epic Doom Metal, as this Russian band has become a legend of the genre over the years. Founded in Jaroslawl in 1993, the band recorded a demo a year later when they had their final five-piece line-up together. This tape, titled “North Winds”, got positive resonance in the Russian Metal underground and ultimately led to a record deal with the Moscow based label MetalAgen. SCALD entered the studio in 1996 to record their first album “Will Of Gods Is A Great Power”, which was released a year later only on tape. The album became quite iconic over the years, receiving a kind of cult status and some re-releases with the slightly changed name “Will Of The Gods Is Great Power”. And this happened with great justice, as SCALD really had a unique sound with their epic blend of Doom Metal and Viking Metal. Imagine a mix of early CANDLEMASS and BATHORY in times of “Blood Fire Death” and “Hammerheart” and you have an idea of how SCALD sounded thirty years ago. The story of the band ended abruptly on the day singer Maxim “Agyl” Adrianov was found dead at the railway tracks with a fatal head injury, aged just 24. The remaining members dissolved the band immediately, as they thought they couldn’t continue SCALD without their charismatic vocalist. Yet they reunited in 2019 with Felipe Plaza Kutzbach from DESTRÖYER 666 on vocals, initially only to play a show, but they kept going and recorded a 7” and an album. Something that completely passed me by until I started my research for this review. Seven years after their reunion, SCALD dug up some old songs that were written after the recordings of “Will Of Gods Is A Great Power”. They entered the studio to record them, this time with Alexey “Hrafn” Goryachev on vocals and the results are now available as an EP fittingly named “Relics”. It is no surprise that the three old songs ‘Master Of Tundra’, ‘Ravens’ and ‘Flame’ are quite close to the old songs musically. Yet they can’t completely keep up with the iconic songs from the album. One reason might be the fact that the production is more up to date (without being modern, of course) and misses the charming imperfection of “Will Of Gods Is A Great Power”. And despite him being a really good singer, the voice of Hrafn misses the charisma of Agyl. Nevertheless we still have some fine Epic Doom Metal that should please genre lovers. As an extra, SCALD also re-recorded a song from РОСС, the classic Metal band Agyl started in 1988 prior to SCALD. ‘Sokol’ is presented here in two versions. Asides from the original version with Russian lyrics, it was also recorded as ‘Falcon’ with English lyrics. One might debate if that was necessary, but that doesn’t harm the song itself, as ‘Sokol’ is a fine mid-tempo Metal song with a touch of Folk. In sum, “Relics” is a really nice catch for those who love SCALD, but if you aren’t familiar with them you’d better go for “Will Of Gods Is A Great Power” first. In case you want to find out more, check www.facebook.com/scaldepicdoom or www.facebook.com/cruzdelsurmusic