/dungeon synth/

Anyone listen to any of the new Druadan Forest albums? I've only listened to Mirkwood from 1998, but apparently he started releasing dungeon synth again. Normally I'm skeptical of these old artists coming back to the genre now that it's gotten some popularity, but the guy from Druadan Forest has actually been making black metal the past 20 years, most notably as Vargrav, so I don't think he's coming back for a quick buck.

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I listened to that new DS track they put out. Not really a fan of the big epic movie soundtrack style DS tho. werewolfrecords.bandcamp.com/album/dismal-spells-from-the-dragonrealm?fbclid=IwAR1z3mnCGxWOCTW3OfNV32mvGGmNLec06EtVEmv4lKEyNJvBO2yDcq1s4jE

Gross

leave the hall poser

youtube.com/watch?v=OCtJ0b24Di4

>Not really a fan of the big epic movie soundtrack style DS
I see what you mean, and I'm inclined to agree. Seems to lose it's charm when it's less lo-fi and the songs are drawn out, sounds like it should be in a LOTR movie, not an old dungeon crawler game.

how can a genre with such a cool name be such shit

Yea Forums help. I can stop listening to dungeon synth. Especially the old school. It’s just so comfy

I mean using orchestral instruments and stuff is fine, I use them in my stuff too like strings and woodwind stuff. But theres a line between like epic DS and just writing fantasy movie scores.

What's the deal with that Diplodicus album? Why is everyone hyping it so much?

music is 6/10, but the gimmick sold it. I still don't understand it.

Why stop if you don't have to? There's so much of it out there, even the old school stuff that's actually good. I feel like there's something so authentic about dungeon synth, especially those older ones, something about a European nerd making medieval fantasy music in his room onto tape, knowing almost no one is going to listen to it, just really seems genuine to me. Can't get enough of it.

because you're too pea brained to treat music wholistically as an aural experience and understand the intangible aesthetic qualities you're invited to envelop yourself in and presumed to have a prior appreciation of to be into the music to begin with are just as legitimate, magical and important as the compositional elements which are more than competent for the purpose of the music

I'm pretty sure the guy who made it is one of the bigger DS label owners who literally made it as a throw away joke.

Are there any modern dungeon synth albums/artists that have legitimate ties to black metal anymore? So much of what I see on bandcamp feels untrve and far from what the genre should encompass and feel like. Sad to see it going the way of vaporwave.

all these gimmick attempts at "broadening the idea of dungeon synth" which aren't all bad to be honest attract a lot of attention, people like things with gimmicky marketing
most recent one I can remember was plant synth

I have to admit that a lot of the newer stuff misses that dark or depressive atmosphere that gave the old school releases such power

>Sad to see it going the way of vaporwave.
It isn't, there's plenty of shit amongst the plenty of good just by nature of this 10s DS scene being a bandcamp genre and the music being aesthetically focused, inviting a lot of gimps to co-opt it and make video game bit tunes with a dungeon synth label slapped on it
Plenty of DS labels also release BM or the other way round and all of it is still firmly rooted in those aesthetics even if not explicitly connected.
Plus it's inaccurate to say it has to have ties in the first place, it has always been self-contained and there's plenty that wasn't tied to a BM scene or even predates it in its country of origin
youtube.com/watch?v=ytNp0gikre0
youtube.com/watch?v=G48dK1HtFxI

you're too 2019-pilled to realize it sounds like a McDonald's approach to hauntology, and Pye Corner Audio did all of this better

I'll never understand this. Even the earliest Mortiis and Burzum was far from the super dark "black metal adjacent" stuff. Even if the first people to make it were BM guys their influences were still old school synth and RPGs, which is what most people now are still inspired by.

You're braindead if you think his garbage has anything to do with the dungeon synth sound and pseudshit like hauntology. This is pure soul.

Fogweaver is excellent.

Video game music for autists
Outdated musical tropes, it's good no media outlets take it seriously.

I would agree. I always enjoyed the mystical or quirky aspects of the albums the most. What I don't like about today's scene is the amount of dark ambient no effort releases (some that even cost money for digital only lel) and the fact that it feels like many things are done via MIDI in a DAW. The production styles can sometimes feel a bit too clean and the tracks a little rigid due to that. What I find most fascinating is the fact that we are able to look back on a canon of DS now with everything that comes with it. Certain tropes became a standard vocabulary and it's always exciting to see how people operate at the edges of the genre and how these tropes can be reinvented and reimagined. Posting my favorite mortiis track.
youtube.com/watch?v=iBvtIhky2dU

Pretty sure that Erang based his track on that original idea
youtube.com/watch?v=UoIPCg9DFy8

youtube.com/watch?v=DtOdjRzQF6o

It isn't an approach to hauntology in any meta-modernist sense you're looking for so this critique isn't valid, it's just hauntological by nature

ah yes, the arbitrary legitimation of music by pop media outlets and tastemakers no less is our only calculus for what is worth listening to

People that put out 20 minutes of static as a dark ambient EP are a joke, and are usually the ones trying to claim DS for dark wampyric genre that it really isn't or ever has been. It's nerds, making nerd music. That mortiis track sums that up perfectly.

>Welcome to the Midnight Ambience Podcast. What are your preferred pronouns?

Honestly though, why would you make music if you know it will never give you recognition as an individual, rather people will know you as part of a sound that never took off?
It's too slow moving and the melody doesn't do anything for me. I understand how black metal can excel at rhythm at texture, but this stuff must being made by only the most pussy Scandinavians.

God he is fucking insufferable, 20 year old with a prepubescent voice that can barely hold an intelligible conversation much less interview someone

Anybody got recs for some good nature soothing ambient stuff similar to this apoxupon.bandcamp.com/album/how-the-garden-grows

blacktapeforabluegirl.bandcamp.com/album/the-gesture-of-history

Not really dungeon synth, but I think you anons would appreciate this. Been listening to it for weeks now. Very haunting and epic.

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>all lower case song title

not even gonna fucking listen solely based on that

But... YOU just posted in all lowercase.

tfw only 11 dungeon synth thread posters on all of Yea Forums and half of them are shitting on us

The Europeans will wake up soon.

vocaroo.com/i/s07voHzqeUbF
Please rip my first ever dungeon synth song to shreds, Yea Forums.

put a fucking limiter or something on this or crank the master volume up goddamn, its like barely audible.

This shit is so fucking good.
New Neverlur when?

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Nameless King is pretty cool, not typical DS really more just dark fantasy imo, newer album is better tho

You're right, I was not paying attention to my master level.
vocaroo.com/i/s1EPC4x9cwEE

I seriously hope you guys are familiar with cmi, dead can dance and all the stuff from the 90s (aka DS without the gimmicks)

>he has never heard of black tape for a blue girl
Do yourself a favor and listen to that shit (the guy behind that project is a legend in the goth scene)

But the "gimmick" is what makes it comfy.

That's also what I like about it, there's no pretention, you just enjoy it for what it is, but on the other hand, I find it surprising that DS people on the internet seem unaware of the old dark ambient and "neoclassical" scene

I'm quite familiar with dead can dance...but cmi?

Cold meat industry, mortiis was signed on that label and they had many other acts doing the "let's play medieval music on shitty samplers" thing.

Ah, I see. Thanks for the explanation.
I have been enjoying Old Sorcery recently but as a neophyte to the genre I'm clueless as to whether it is actually any good.
youtube.com/watch?v=xzj-1WE3P9M&list=LLZ0AO31Ur3LYR2ISFda1G7A&index=28&t=0s

What album are you talking about? i can't find anything

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Digging the Fogweavers release but it's a bit stylistically all over the place. The end of Ten Alders has a bit of an AoE vibe.
The synth and the amount of wow & flutter (or just wow desu) on the Flail Snail release makes it sound more like minimalist bocuma than dungeon synth.
solid recs though.

CMI? The only CMI from the 90's I know is Cold Meat Industry, and I haven't listened through their entire backcatalog but I thought they were more dark ambient than dungeon synth.

No wonder, man looks straight up like nosferatu with a toupé

>why would you make music if you know it will never give you recognition as an individual
sad if this is your approach to music

If I want to listen to actual medieval and renaissance music, I put on Wolkenstein, Hildegard von Bingen, Dowland or the Ensemble für frühe Musik Augsburg. I don't see how dungeon synth has a 'gimmick' when the difference between a Mortiis release and Aion/The Serpent's Egg are pretty numerous.

youtube.com/watch?v=a-z7fNEsALA

If people understood where DS comes from, they would stop wondering what's the distinction between this genre and shitty fantasy movie soundtrack (and real medieval music) like earlier in this thread.

youtube.com/watch?v=S77ZwZpHTNg

Not really considered DS, but definitely has medieval tunes along with the whole "depressed nerd making music in his basement" feel. I think it's an underappreciated gem.

I don't really like anything else by Sopor Aeternus, but this demo is among my all-time favourites.

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But dungeon synth clearly takes inspiration from all those things so the distinction can be difficult. Especially the newer stuff

Everyone serious about it is self motivated rather than reluctantly joining the scene bandwagon to play identity politics

Yes, aestheticly, visually, it obviously takes inspiration from fantasy and medieval stuff, but from a musical point of view, it has more to do with dark ambient and even industrial than anything else.
DS compositions are usually primitive and that's the way it should be.

Nice try, I'm still going to opt to listen to nicely tuned static any day over this literal meme

You really don't know what dark ambient is then... Just listen to early desiderii marginis for example and you'll get my point.

Did people making DS go to college study orchestration and composition or do they just improvise medievalish sounding stuff without giving a fuck in your opinion?
I covered many DS tracks, and I can tell you I haven't seen any counterpoints and other "advanced" tricks yet.

I think everyone making it is white, in their 20s-30s, probably has a poor social life and wants to feel part of a pseudo-counter-cultural "movement" it doesn't really matter what musical background or training they have. I've been calling this swedish masturbation stuff post rock, neo folk, neoclassical darkwave.
I thought dark ambient was Coil or some other "musically shitty but texturally good" thing

The dungeon synth scene is full of extremely social people in relationships. Dungeon Siege and many interviews of artists prove that.

so is the BDSM community and furries and ICP
obviously the emphasis is on counter-cultural posturing

There isn't any. The scene is completely apolitical by nature of the genre.

trying to create an aesthetic that can't/won't be appropriated is a kind of counter-cultural posturing. I'm pretty sure the demographic makeup will give you a clue as to what the scene politics may be

>bringing politics on the table at any opportunity like the normie that you are

I'm not sure where the counter culture angle is coming from. It's like 500-1000 people making fantasy music. Nothing more and nothing less than that. You're reading a lot into it and I can't quite follow your train of thought.

a whole music scene can't be "apolitical" maybe it's some corny shit you say to each other. i'm not saying you should take a political stance, but claiming immunity to it is just as bad.
it's vaporwave for black metal fans. anyway have a nice rest of your thread i don't wanna take away your enjoyment

some one explain what this genre has to offer and why it's worth getting into when I can just listen to Tangerine Dream and other good normal electronic music.

Or maybe you can be mature and keep your personal beliefs about how to run a society (because apparently it's very important to have a strong opinion about it) and the music you listen separate.

Posting some more dungeon synth after all the talking. The Hole Dweller release was great.
youtube.com/watch?v=P5-n9gjq2F8
youtube.com/watch?v=2cvRe4LVhuM
youtube.com/watch?v=IqsfMu_K5Xs
youtube.com/watch?v=3QQPVPxFCAs

Dropping a couple albums i remember from the top of my head
Guild of Lore - Storm Haven
Arsule - Echos des Roches
Old Sorcery - Realms of magickal Sorrow
Aokighara stuff is pretty nice
First Kings - Water Birth
Ur Pale - Water Tombs & Crimson Horizons is prob my fav

Kinda cliché to say this but DS has a magical and atmospheric sensation than most ambient genres. It really isnt the best genre if you want to listen to complicated structures or patterns etc but what I appreciate most about DS is probably the diversity of atmospheres it can deliver.
Like take these examples
youtube.com/watch?v=Wp9pzKbENQk
youtube.com/watch?v=HaApvharjz4
youtube.com/watch?v=kuhrBLllQeg

After if you want some very specific atmosphere, you're kinda bound to find whatya want.
Take this chart and look for something you find interesting i.imgur.com/E1uFojx.jpg
i would recommend you starting with Secret Stairways and Old Sorcery imo and then go whenver you feel you wanna go

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this

and also

this

That malfet album was pretty good too, way overhyped though

it's just pure content with no rhetoric, guess it's magic

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>replying to a shitpost

what, this has nothing to do with motivation for what you consider "higher" recognition though, they're self motivated just for the sake of being a part of this niche scene because it's something they're into

right, it's authentic "by nature of the genre"

What are you talking about mate, if it's impossible for you to perceive involvement in music as anything other than an engineered move for self-image it says a lot about yourself but please keep bumping the thread

just helping you proselytize about this grassroots movement. i'm sure DS is by all means as valid a playground for selfless-expression as guitar music

I'm glad we agree

>nosferatu with a toupé
cute

say cute again and I'll fuck you in the ass

UwU

Hey, if my reply helped someone reading it, fine by me

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I thought it was really good. Especially the first track with the reptilian screeching as a rythmic filler. The other tracks was not as good but still i liked them. The gimmick was ok and not too far off.

I like when music is made like DS but not aligning with the fantasy and medieval rules. Its like when power electronics ain't about bondage, murder and hitler. Then maybe its not really DS and only S but I dont mind.

What else is there? Zoology series. That my little pony release.

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Haha. Yeah. Too political as CK said. What does gender delusions have to do with anything other than gender delusions? Block it and all the rest.

More like goth synth. I love it. Depressive and still some happy melodies.

vandalorum.bandcamp.com/

this is extremely cool imo, just dropped (theme is the huns but themes in DS mean almost nothing so whatever). Really varied sounds though.

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>listen through recs
>like Realms of Magickal Sorrow
>the daft cunt has made digital dl prohibitively expensive on bandcamp, and the tape's sold out
garavluthrecords.bandcamp.com/album/realms-of-magickal-sorrow
fuck sake.

oh phew it's at 5 euros here
oldsorcery.bandcamp.com/album/realms-of-magickal-sorrow

oldsorcery.bandcamp.com/album/realms-of-magickal-sorrow

here you go brainlet

>calls me a brainlet
>after I found the correct link
>doesn't even reply to me
want a gold fuckin star for that bud?

you didn't deserve the (you) and we posted simultaneously

>he treats (you)s as internet currency
okay wee man, I've got enough actual bank to get by ta

are you gonna post DS or do you need us to spoonfeed you more recs and hand you the right links

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Xasthur needs to end the folk project and come back to make an actual DS/ambient album. Despite being DSBM, his intros do have a certain medieval atmosphere to them.

youtube.com/watch?v=4BEKzD2yDQ4
youtube.com/watch?v=cXoFKrYioYM
youtube.com/watch?v=YaYgRst0unA

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I am looking at your list . Good list. Flailsnail was neat.

DS recs
TAAKESLOTTET -taakeslottet.bandcamp.com
FÅNTRATT - Faontratt.bandcamp.com
WAGNER ÖDEGÅRD - brugmanziah.bandcamp.com

Space DS recs
GZARA - hypersigiltapes.bandcamp.com
DROCHTUARACH - drochtuarach.bandcamp.com
S͟͡a̛͞t̷u̡̢͝͡r̶̵̢͢n̕E̴͜͢͟ - saturnev.bandcamp.com
RYMDBORG - rymdborg.bandcamp.com / slagruta.bandcamp.com
ELDER GATE & STONE SANCTUARIES - ravensbaneproductions.bandcamp.com

I'd prefer he actually come back to black metal and show all those USBM hipsters a thing or two, but you are right, he definitely could find a future in DS too.

Pussy sucked all the dark mana out of him. He can't channel his loner powers again in the same way.

What is the worst current dungeon synth project in your opinion, meme shit doesn't count

Aufhocker easily. The guy is so fucking shameless too. He's got like 29 albums and is constantly self-promoting everywhere I see him.

he's too busy getting laid 24/7 to do that shit now

>Aufhock𝖊r

Yeah I saw his stuff, haven't really listened to it though. Some guys can churn quality stuff out ala Erythrite Throne (imo) but 29 albums in like a year is guaranteed shit.

I can't stand Erang. So many albums and all are so uninspired and lifeless.

Saw it but didn't listen to it until yet. Very nice album. The horse stampede as the climax of the second track was great and Honoria's Ring had great transitions between the parts.

>Medieval
fucking based.
I want to play this again but
>12 CAD a month
yeah fucking right.
youtube.com/watch?v=lKvpo7Ma9JM

Vargs DS fucking sucked and I don't care what you think >:^(

I always get a kick out of the people with 3 bandcamp supporters hyping their album drops and shilling like anyone cares

>tfw you own Daudi Baldrs on vinyl

:(

Obviously dungeon synth isn’t completely free of political stances like anything, especially since it has its origins in black metal which often leans towards anti-Christian or white supremacist view (Varg is a big influence in the scene) but you’re claiming that the scene is trying to be counter cultural has no barrings. The vaporwave claim is even stupider. Vaporwave was clearly mocking capitalistic concepts. What does dungeon synth, especially the newer wave, have to really say? Other than “look medieval shit”

Daudi Baldrs is his best album next to Det Som Engang Var

>Daudi Baldrs is his best album next to Det Som Engang Var
>literally timpani ear rape

Modern artists wish they could create King's Field worship on this level of soul
youtube.com/watch?v=UoIPCg9DFy8

You can buy membership through in-game currency, but you have to grind out quite a bit to get it the first time and keep your membership for a while.

Han som Reiste is literally the greatest dungeon synth song of all time.
youtube.com/watch?v=dH4GwxePsIw

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It's okay, when she breaks up with him he'll come back to do the greatest DSBM album of all time.

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Thoughts?

youtube.com/watch?v=etEhznfi24w

it's too late. he's a coomer now

Vocaloid is trvekvlt
youtube.com/watch?v=ygRu2aExaQk

Thoughts on Mistigo Varggoth Darkestra? A side project from one of the guys in Nokturnal Mortum.

Attached: mistigovarggoth.jpg (450x599, 50K)

>untrve
bro even the stuff that is very tied to black metal is pretty goofy, lighten up lol

I am surprised hole dweller hasn't blown up more, same guy that does bellkeeeper and both projects are great
also thanks for the plug user

he is friends with at least one of the guys behind casket of dreams (who is making music again), and I know he does enjoy dungeon synth so.. anything is possible :^)

Which project is yours?

One of my favorites. The first track is grade A atmospheric. Too bad it’s not too popular.

I'm behind Iagon

Not him but I was wondering what your process with the first two releases was like. Do you have any previous experience in making music? How do you write your stuff and did you use a wavetable synth? Always interested in how people approach the genre from a creator's perspective

Ahh nice, congrats on the ancient meadow hookup and vinyl lol. I also have stuff in this thread but would rather keep it on the down low desu.

So which artists browse Yea Forums?
Tyrannus and who else?

All of my previous experience writing music was mostly just playing drums or guitar for some inconsequential punk and hardcore bands, I did start out playing piano at a young age though which I pretty much had to relearn.
As far as writing goes, I mostly started out with a melody in my head or a rhythm and just wrote around that. And no, I didn't use a wavetable synth, I'm kind of rarted when it comes to production, working on this and talking to some other people in the community has taught me a lot though.

Thanks user, have we talked before? I have a feeling I might know who you are if you were the one that posted earlier and that might narrow it down.

Not sure, I'm pretty inactive in the facebook groups and literally starting getting back into Yea Forums this week so I doubt it. My shit is like fresh meat though, within the last few months if that tells you anything.

Ah okay, very cool then. The facebook groups have been so bogged down with drama over like the past month it's crazy, looking forward to stuff normalizing whenever that happens since that's the only reason I reactivated.