Possessed — Exploration: The Lost Doom Session Finally Unearthed

The Lost Doom Session Finally Unearthed — the Vault Deep Dive on Possessed — Exploration (2007).

The Story

Some records exist in whispers for decades before a label finally does right by them. Possessed's material fits that mold — a heavy, occult-leaning rock recording that circulated among collectors long before it saw a proper legitimate home. Rise Above Relics, the archival wing of Lee Dorrian's Rise Above operation, built its reputation on exactly this kind of rescue: obscure heavy rock and proto-doom artifacts that time nearly swallowed. When this arrived under the Relics banner in 2007, it moved a piece of underground history from the tape-trading shadows into a documented, playable object for the faithful.

The Sound

This is heavy rock rendered in the grain of an earlier era — thick, unhurried, drenched in the low-end weight that would later be codified as doom. The guitars carry a fuzzed, organ-shadowed menace, riffs that lean rather than sprint, and vocals delivered with a haunted, theatrical seriousness that fits the occult undercurrent. There's an unpolished honesty here that no modern production could fake: the room breathes, the dynamics rise and fall naturally, and the atmosphere hangs heavy throughout. It's the sound of a band chasing mood over precision, which is precisely why collectors of the form treasure it.

The Sessions

The recording captures a working band in its own moment rather than a studio confection. What survives points to analog tape, live-feeling takes, and the kind of modest setup that gives these lost heavy-rock documents their character — instruments bleeding into one another, minimal overdubbing, decisions made in the room. Relics releases of this stripe typically involve careful transfer and restoration from surviving source tapes, treated with respect for the original tone rather than scrubbed clean. That approach preserves the hiss and warmth that define the period, letting the performance stand as it was rather than as a remaster might wish it.

The Legacy

Rise Above Relics matters because it treats the underground's forgotten corners as history worth keeping. By issuing Exploration on CD in 2007, the label handed a new generation of doom and heavy-rock devotees access to a record most had only read about. That's the quiet, essential work of archival releases: they turn rumor into canon. For collectors, this copy represents a documented chapter in the label's mission to preserve proto-doom's roots, and a reminder that the genre's foundations were laid by bands whose names never reached the marquee — but whose sound echoes forward.

What the pressing tells us

The part most listings skip. This is how we grade and how you can tell copies apart:

• UK press CD issued by Rise Above Relics, United Kingdom.
• Cataloged as an Import for buyers outside the UK market.
• Relics imprint specializes in archival proto-doom and heavy rock reissues.
• This copy grades Near Mint (NM or M-), disc and packaging.

Session file

• Recorded as a period heavy-rock session, captured on analog tape.
• Issued via Rise Above Relics, Lee Dorrian's archival imprint.
• Restored and transferred from surviving source material for release.
• Live-feeling takes with minimal overdubbing define the recording.
• Released on CD in 2007 in the United Kingdom.

Vault Trivia

1. Which label imprint issued this archival release?

1. Rise Above Relics
2. Peaceville Recollections
3. Svart Records
4. Nuclear Blast Vault

Reveal the answer

Rise Above Relics — Rise Above Relics is Lee Dorrian's archival wing devoted to rescuing lost heavy rock.

2. Lee Dorrian, behind the parent label, is best known as vocalist for which band?

1. Cathedral
2. Electric Wizard
3. Witchfinder General
4. Angel Witch

Reveal the answer

Cathedral — Dorrian fronted Cathedral after leaving Napalm Death, then founded Rise Above Records.

3. Rise Above Records was founded in which decade?

1. 1980s
2. 1990s
3. 2000s
4. 1970s

Reveal the answer

1990s — Dorrian launched Rise Above in 1988, though its major growth came through the 1990s.

4. The Relics sub-label focuses primarily on what kind of material?

1. Archival lost heavy rock and proto-doom
2. New signings and demos
3. Live bootleg recordings
4. Electronic and krautrock reissues

Reveal the answer

Archival lost heavy rock and proto-doom — Relics exists to unearth and document obscure vintage heavy-rock recordings for collectors.

5. In what physical format did this 2007 UK edition originally appear?

1. CD
2. 12-inch vinyl LP
3. Cassette
4. 7-inch single

Reveal the answer

CD — This edition surfaced as a CD import pressing through the Relics imprint in 2007.

Come down to the vault and dig into the corners history nearly forgot.

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