Bear 1817 Posted August 29, 2017 What is dungeon synth, you say? Dungeon synth is a form for ambient that draws heavily from black metal and dark ambient. But I'll stop there and just quote a wiki instead: Quote Dungeon synth is a genre of music characterized by its strong use of atmosphere and melody to create a sonic reality usually pertaining, in concept, to the fantastic or historical periods. The genre draws influence from the Dark Ambient music genre, while encompassing musical structures that are relatable to medieval and folk music. Many artists within the genre have been known to draw inspiration from a variety of other musical styles such as film music, video game music, and classical music. The genre emerged in the early 1990s from the (Norwegian) Black Metal scene and was "founded" by Artists like Varg Vikernes (Burzum), Mortiis (Emperor), Wongraven (Satyricon) with their side-projects and extended the tradition of many Black Metal bands having atmospheric intros and outros or in-between tracks on their albums. In this upcoming new genre, full albums were made of only this characteristic sound. Another huge impact was also given by the Austrian Black Metal scene with projects like Pazuzu & Die Verbannten Kinder Evas. Today the genre is a world of its own with many artists from all over the world, some still being connected to the world and aesthethics of Black Metal and some with a completely self-contained approach. Everyone knows I'm very much into black metal, and while the music itself doesn't resemble black metal, the atmosphere sure do and I can't think of a genre closer to black metal than this. Which is probably why I've become such a huge fan, and in recent year the genre have seen a massive revival with a shitload of new artists popping up everywhere. So I've really gotten into the genre beyond Mortiis, and grown familiar with lots of new and old artists. I don't expect this thread to be popular at all, but if you like 90's black metal and listen to that type of music for the atmosphere I am sure you'll find this very interesting and enjoyable too, tbh. And it's the perfect soundtrack for an evening of tabletop RPGs like Dungeons and Dragons and other fantasy games. Some of my favourite dungeon synth releases: Mortiis - The Song of a Long Forgotten Ghost Mortiis - Født til å herske Mortiis - Ånden som gjorde opprør Mortiis - Keiser av en dimension ukjent Mortiis - Crypt of the Wizard Wongraven - Fjelltronen Thangorodrim - Taur Nu Fuin Thangorodrim - Dagor Bragalloch Thangorodrim - Towers Of The Teeth Old Tower - Spectral Horizons Old Tower - The Rise Of The Specter Old Tower - Remembrance of the Lone Enclave This youtube channel uploads an incredible amount of dungeon synth, both old and new: The Dungeon Synth Archives 2 suji and ghost reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bear 1817 Posted September 14, 2017 Oh dear, fuck me sideways. This is just too good. Old school sounding dungeon synth in the way of early Mortiis. So good! 1 suji reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ghost 2687 Posted September 15, 2017 I will so be checking this out. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bear 1817 Posted October 4, 2017 Been getting into Jim Kirkwood lately and it's so good. It's not entirely dungeon synth, but with some releases he more than just touches upon the genre. He's put out something around 70 albums and EPs, so it's a lot to get familiar with. But the 4-5 releases I've heard so far are nothing short of sublime. I've seen his music being described as "electronic fantasy ambient" and that's a tag just as fitting as dungeon synth. I've also seen people call several of his releases dungeonwave, which is another fitting tab. It's really unique and the releases I've heard are perfect as background music when reading fantasy literature. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bear 1817 Posted December 15, 2017 Quote After Mortiis left Emperor, the Norwegian black metal band he was part of starting, in late 1992, he started Mortiis as a solo project, and released a number of solo records between 1993 and 1999. Reinvented as a proper band, Mortiis released The Smell of Rain in 2001. Followed by The Grudge in 2004, and the remix record Some Kind of Heroin in 2006. Disenfranchised with the brutality and hypocrisy of the record industry, Mortiis did not release a new album untill 2010, when the band self released the album ”Perfectly Defect” – as a limited edition CD, and as a free download thrugh their own website. The next record, The Great Deceiver, was completed around 2013, but did not see the light of day, until 2016 due mostly to events beyond the band´s control. Mortiis´ personal mental health being one of them. The Great Deceiver was finally released in March 2016. In the fall of 2016 work started on remixing The Great Deceiver. The result was “The Great Corrupter” and features over 20 reworks/remixes of material from The Great Deceiver, by artists as diverse as Godflesh, Die Krupps. In Slaughter Natives, Godflesh, Chris Vrenna, John Fryer, Prurient, Apoptygma Berzerk, PIG, and many more. Release date has been set to April 21st 2017. Mortiis has toured fairly consistently for the past 15 years, and has shared the stage with a variety of artists and bands spanning genres ranging from black metal, to punk to industrial and EBM. Some of the bands Mortiis has toured with are Danzig, Behemoth, Apoptygma Berzerk, Combichrist, Christian Death, Mushroomhead, The Genitorturers, Deathstars, etc. Mortiis has recently made a "return" to the Era 1 style of music, and starting in November with the "Cold Meat Industry" and "Messe des Morts" festivals, will perform a solo "2017 reinterpretation" of the 1994 album "Ånden som Gjorde Opprør". “I don’t just want to do the record as it was back in 1994, but rather excavate it from 1994 and drag it into the new light of the current world, while retaining the atmosphere of the original sound,” said Mortiis. Mortiis haven't played in Trondheim for over 15 years, but now he finally returns to do the amazing reworked "Ånden som gjorde opprør" show! Support : Svartsinn Svartsinn (Jan Roger Pettersen) is an artist from Trondheim, Norway. He makes music in the field of Scandinavian dark and obscure ambient and has done so since 1999. Over the years Svartsinn has made 4 full albums and a split album. The debut was released via Eibon Records in Italy, the 3 following ones via Cyclic Law in Canada and the split (with Northaunt) via Loki Foundation/PAS. He also has appearances on several compilations, movies, documentaries and theatre plays to show to and plays live frequently… Oh fuck me! I don't have much faith or high expectations to this, but as Mortiis is one of my favourite bands/artist I will go. Have to see what this is like. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bear 1817 Posted December 28, 2017 Fuck yes! Mortiis doesn't do much live, but this type of music doesn't exactly require such things either. Sounds excellent! I can't wait for this gig. By the way, he is doing concerts with Old Tower in Netherlands soon. Old Tower is, alongside Thangorodrim, the new gods of dungeon synth/ambient/whatever you want to call it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
crucifiction 754 Posted December 28, 2017 This. 1 1 Mamo and Bear reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bear 1817 Posted February 18, 2018 Saw Mortiis live yesterday and it was magnificent. I did not know what to expect from the gig, but the re-interpretation of Ånden som gjorde opprør was really good. He managed to capture that old school dungeon synth feeling with it, even though there was some differences from the original recording. It was nice, and it worked much better live than I would have imagined. Incredible atmosphere! 6/6 Thought Svartsinn did well to, though he does not belong in this thread. Was a big amount of people from other European countries at this gig to. Heard a lot of Germans. Which is cool. Going from Germany to Norway to experience Mortiis live at a small place like Good Omens. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bear 1817 Posted March 4, 2018 Old Tower can do no wrong. Magnificent once more. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bear 1817 Posted May 3, 2018 Pictures from one of the recent Old Tower concerts. Been reading around and apparently the gig was superb. And as you can see, full on black metal aesthetic. Which is something I like as dungeon synth in many ways are the closest you'll get to black metal without actually listening to black metal. Hope he comes here some day too. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bear 1817 Posted May 8, 2018 Daaaayum! That's some good, jolly dungeon synth. Quite original with its melodies and stuff. Will check out the other releases on his bandcamp later. Looking forward to that. 1 suji reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
suji 8317 Posted May 21, 2018 This is The Shit© right here I also love black metal in dungeon synth, it's my favorite part actually. 2 Bear and Manji 卍 reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Manji 卍 743 Posted May 21, 2018 You guys NEED to check this out: Dark Ages - Twilight of Europe. this outstanding dungeon synth album seems to suck all the oxygen of the room while take you to a trip through the history , since the dark ages.The black plague,rise of empires,war,death.all comes to mind. If you check the name of each song before listening to it, you realize how perfectly it fits. Definitely the most impressive dungeon synth album i ever heard. 1 Bear reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bear 1817 Posted May 21, 2018 Yeah, some good stuff being posted here now. Let me add this artist too called Mystic Towers. Really good, medieval dungeon synth. Beautiful! And people need to check out Jim Kirkwood asap. The genres differs a bit from album to album, but he stays within the realm of dungeon synth, ambient, dark ambient, berlin-school and electronic fantasy. There's a shitload of albums on youtube, and I recommend every single one that I've heard. Truly excellent, and he evokes a lot of different feelings and create plenty different atmospheres on the different albums. Top notch! 1 Manji 卍 reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bear 1817 Posted June 20, 2018 https://dunkelheitprod.bandcamp.com/album/et-bahkouv-k-tt In the old days of Aix La Chapelle (Aachen, Germany) and the whole Rhineland lived a creature which was descriped as an deformed calf with sharp fangs, that often lurks near fountains, streams, and sewers. In legend, the creature would ambush intoxicated men at night and latch onto their shoulders, forcing them to carry it around before attacking them. The name of the creature was spelled as "Bahkouv". So it is and was written... BAHKAUV is the materialization of old tales, myths, legends and stories arround the dark past of the place arround the place, that is rooted in a vulcan. A fog lays over the old and forgotten stories, but they are not lost. So the name BAHKAUV stand for a musical concept, which fit as Dungeon Synth, but even as an "historical sound voyage through old times and myths". Let the music tell the tales... This is beautiful and I am really enjoying it. I'm really getting a strong Asbjørnsen og Moe feeling from this. Asbjørnsen and Moe, for those unaware (everyone of you?), are the Norwegian answer to The Brothers Grimm. They went around and collected Norwegian Folktales. Very childfriendly folktales, unlike the Brothers Grimm's who were a lot darker. But a lot of the folktales are really good, and this music reminds me quite a lot of those classic folktales. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bear 1817 Posted December 15, 2018 Not quite dungeon synth, but because it's a Jim Kirkwood project it belongs in every single thread on the forum. A masterpiece as always from Jim Kirkwood, the man who just doesn't seem to know how to make anything bad. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lestat 2167 Posted December 15, 2018 (edited) Unfortunately, Witches Moon just called it quits today. I really quite liked his project as it wasn't all that conventional and explored many different sides of the genre. If you are really into this, the composer added one last copy from all his releases to his merchandise - so gone = gone. https://witchesmoon.bandcamp.com/merch edit: And today he announced his black metal new project "Feasting". Not sure about the change, he could have simply kept both names. https://feasting.bandcamp.com/releases Edited December 16, 2018 by Lestat Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bear 1817 Posted April 28, 2019 Finally a new full-length from Old Sorcery. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
suji 8317 Posted November 3, 2019 Spoopy chiptune dungeon synth is one of my favorite things about dungeon synth Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bear 1817 Posted November 3, 2019 That's a damn good EP if you ask me. Amazing atmospheric Castlevania vibes throughout. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bear 1817 Posted November 5, 2019 Quote “The music on this album was originally intended to be a re-recording of “Ånden som Gjorde Opprør”. It quickly turned into something much bigger, and very different from that. In my reality, this is a different record entirely.” This sounds superb, so I really can't wait for this. Really don't mind Mortiis going back to dungeon synth after its recent popularity, even though it can be seen as him just jumping on a trend. But I am very much fine with that. 1 suji reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
suji 8317 Posted January 1, 2020 can't wait for An Actual Japanese Person ™ to make japanese synth someday... https://shogunscastle.bandcamp.com/album/the-eight-noble-virtues-of-a-samurai Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bear 1817 Posted January 3, 2020 On 1/1/2020 at 11:47 PM, suji said: can't wait for An Actual Japanese Person ™ to make japanese synth someday... Yeah, but he's done a very good job tho. Superb release imo. Something quite different, but speaking of Japanese synth got me thinking of this. Was Mirai (Sigh) and Killjoy's (Necrophagia) synth band from back in the days. Not dungeon synth, but their own horror synth tribute to Goblin, Fabio Frizzi, and John Carpenter. 1 suji reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
suji 8317 Posted January 8, 2020 my prayers have been answered, here's some japanese dungeon synth!! that was quick!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
