INTRODUCTION
Dungeon synth is plagued with generic descriptions such as “dungeons and dragons music” or “background listening” for sword and sorcery based video gaming. Though there is an abundance of intersecting possibilities in what the genre has explored, there is a general conception that all those involved in dungeon synth are either from the black metal subculture or affiliated with it, that is not always the case. Boosted no doubt by the pre-eminence of Youtube channels such as The Dungeon Synth Archives, accessing a wealth of materials could not be easier.
Whilst the recent rise in popularity in the subgenre online has shown there are many that tread into the realm of self-parody or just simply sound too plain, uninspired or formulaic to stand out and be special, this is often a universal and recurrent case within many forms of music. This article seeks to highlight that there are various actors within the genre who despite being associated with a certain “orthodoxy” are prone to experimentation and chemistry within other forms. This article also seeks to refute the notion that keeping to a consistent aesthetic and structural framework is a “regression”, and affirms the idea that subtle development and experimentation within the “tradition” of a style is what develops, enhances its essential characteristics.
NEOCLASSICAL AND POST INDUSTRIAL ORIGINS
The neoclassical canvas that dungeon synth uses; that of orchestral instruments played through an electronic medium can be traced to Dead Can Dance around the time of In The Realm Of A Dying Sun and The Serpent’s Egg. Here the post-punk and new wave approach of their earlier material is more or less fully eschewed. Similarly, SPK’s Zamia Lehmanni: Songs Of Byzantine Flowers withdraws entirely from the harsh industrial noise of their earlier material in favour of a hybrid of neoclassical orchestration, tribal and martial rhythms and field recordings. The synth/orchestral stylings featured on Laibach’s Opus Dei and Let It Be can are possible reference points, though due to their more “pop” orientation might be seen as purely coincidental. English duo In The Nursery, whose output since the late 1980’s also eschewed new-wave origins may are a fine example, as exhibited from albums such as 1987’s Stormhorse onwards.
It is no coincidence that black metal artists, for want of exploring and stimulating the mystical potential of music, saw a kindred spirit in the expressions of various avenues of electronic music. It is still yet to be substantiated whether any of these artists who pioneered dungeon synth took or claimed a direct influence from Jim Kirkwood. A prolific English musician with an extensive body of fantasy themed, medievalist electronic music which he started releasing at the beginning of the 1990’s, his works are rich in analogue sound, and have coincidental similarities with the explorations various metal musicians made in that decade.
DEFINITIONS AND CLOSE LINKS WITH BLACK METAL
Widely considered to be an “offshoot” of black metal, dungeon synth is a subgenre that to paraphrase Varg Vikernes, serves to “stimulate the fantasy of mortals”. Aesthetically and thematically it further explores the romantic, mythological and fantasy based themes that his project Burzum explored on instrumentals such as “Han Som Reiste”, “Rundgang um die transzendentale Säule der Singularität” and “Tomhet”. This becomes more pronounced on his prison era works such as Daudi Baldrs and Hlidskjalf. It is here that ambient, folk and medievalist approaches are embraced more fully.
Though Mortiis did not “invent” dungeon synth, the early solo work of the former Emperor bassist cemented the style as a foundation to be aspired to by others. Consistent with the orchestral maneuvers of In The Nightside Eclipse, albums such as Født til å Herske, Ånden Som Gjorde Opprør and Keiser av en Dimensjon Ukjent are largely instrumental, cinematic ventures with a neoclassical approach to composition.
Sigurd Wongraven of Satyricon, who released excellent early efforts such as Dark Medieval Times and The Shadowthrone, focused on a melodic, folk and synth inflected take on the Norwegian black metal sound. His solo album Fjelltronen released as Wongraven is an extension of the ideas that surface on Satyricon instrumentals “Min hylestt til vinterland” and “I en svart kiste”, extended onto a full canvas of dark folk and medieval ambient synths.
It is fitting to mention Sigurd’s close collaborations with Fenriz of Darkthrone. None of his collective material can be strictly within the “dungeon synth” category, save for the Darkthrone track “Snø og Granskog”, and Isengard tracks “In The Halls and Chambers of Stardust the Crystallic Heavens Open” and “Bergtrollets gravferd”. His space ambient/progressive electronic project Neptune Towers also has a lot in common with the synth influences on black metal.
This compliments the mention of Burzum’s instrumental pieces, which on their early albums have plenty in common with the work of Klaus Schulze, Vangelis and Jean Michel Jarre. Going back to Mayhem’s early days, on Deathcrush it is easy to forget that prominent Berlin School musician Conrad Schnitzler allowed them to use his instrumental piece “Silvester Anfang” as an introduction.
OLD SCHOOL DUNGEON SYNTH- THE 1990’s WAVE
If we then move attention to other countries which had their own fledgling black metal scene, Poland is another good example. A leading example is Lord Wind, the main project of Robert Fudali best known for his work with Graveland. Though not strictly “dungeon synth”, the ambient, electronic and folk base of their work weaves itself around a neoclassical medievalist approach, and a grandiose bombast that evokes the film scores of Basil Poledouris. This also seems to have influenced other acts in Poland, whose work can can have an equal footing in these subgenres, but whose work has clear tropes and similarities familiar within dungeon synth. This includes but is not limited to artists with neofolk elements such as Wojnar and Kraina Bez Wiatru.
With further consideration towards 1990’s black metal the work of Die Verbannten Kinder Evas, a side project of Summoning is one of the most unique early acts to exhibit clear traits of a “dungeon synth” type sound, but overlapping more overtly than others with neoclassical darkwave and recalling the likes of Dead Can Dance. More openly experimenting with a medievalist “song form”, their s/t debut and Come Heavy Sleep are perhaps the most clear illustrations of a black metal band abandoning one element of their sound and filtering it into another avenue. Not unlike the Lord Wind debut Forgotten Songs, hearing Die Verbannten Kinder Evas evokes that uncanny familiarity; knowing that the composers have abandoned metal technique, but in theory and practice still embrace its romantic sense of valour and mysticism.
OTHER PROJECTS, ODDITIES & EXPERIMENTATION
These qualities can also be found in German projects such as Depressive Silence and Solanum. Amongst some of the most highly regarded works of “old school” dungeon synth, we see the former work in a more medievalist style, the latter in a way that is more ethereal, spacial, with small traces of influence from Berlin School electronica. Secret Stairways, the solo project of the late Matthew Davis works within a sound that has much in common with his 90’s contemporaries. On Enchantment Of The Ring and Turning Point, tracks are brief, simple pop-like structures that engage and immerse, but don’t stay around for too long. Greece’s Lamentation and France’s Drunemeton worked from the same sound source, experimenting more with the use of the piano, branding their takes on the style into dark, lo-fi nocturnes.
Danish duo Essoupi’s 1999 release Aktiv dødshjælp captures a quite unique, juxtaposed approach. It has all of the melancholy synth of the style and a profundly distant, roomy production; yet re-channels black metal’s influence with drums and whispered vocals. Though it is musically and thematically perhaps not fully part of the “canon” of dungeon synth, it is testimony to the possibilities of how the style can be experimented with tonally and artistically.
Much can be said about early dungeon synth; whether we call it an “old school” or a “first wave” is down to the listener. It can certainly be agreed that for the most part that it is a field of music that fuses neoclassical, electronic and ambient through a quite primitive, lo-fi means. Whilst at times it is cheesy and “nerdy” to the extreme, the music engages and draws in the same escapist sensibilities one would expect from listeners to black metal. A question that some might also ask is where does this “older” sound bridge itself towards more “contemporary” approaches to the style?
Whilst they do not embrace the aesthetic of “high-fantasy” that defines dungeon synth, works like these clearly exhibit many of the sound templates that would become commonplace in dungeon synth. If we are to consider the “progressive electronic” element that ebbs and flows within dungeon synth then we must consider the Berlin school, particularly Klaus Schulze’s 1977 masterpiece Mirage. An icy, dark, wintery suite of two lengthy pieces, it is electronic music that precedes and inspires the style that can be heard in the ambient tracks of Burzum and the proto-dungeon synth of Jim Kirkwood, filtered through to a more contemporary style that has been rendered foundational in more recent waves of the style’s popularity.
“NEW” DUNGEON SYNTH
In more recent years, music by Old Tower from the Netherlands mixes Mortiis-esque orchestration with the dark ambient textures of Lustmord and Endvra, whereas Finland’s Old Sorcery explores similarly vintage tropes of the style whilst at times more fully branching out into the oscillations and sequencing that one would expect from Jim Kirkwood and mid 1970’s Tangerine Dream. Other newer artists such as Thangorodrim seem intent on a homage to the sound as it was in the 1990’s, whilst Hedge Wizard are an excellent refinement of the medievalist MIDI sounds of Burzum circa Daudi Baldrs and Hlidskjalf. Jötgrimm, Aindulmedir and Arthuros have an approach that emphasise astral, spacial, ethereal synths and pads awash with echo and reverb, a theme that expands of the more lengthy synth pieces from Burzum’s earlier albums.
Acts such as Kobold use the “blocky” sounding lo-fi waveform and frequency aesthetics of vintage arcade games the horror synth approach of synthwave acts Perturbator, Carpenter Brut and Power Glove to create dark, gloomy medievalist soundscapes in a manner that evokes Fabio Frizzi discovering 90’s dungeon synth. To write an entire thesis length piece on the various strands of dungeon synth would be over-exhaustive, but this once again further outlines how different elements can be utilized. For a style of music that uses nostalgic dreams of a romantic past as its portal of expression the “lo-fi dungeon synth” variety is interesting as not only does it engage this; it also explicitly engages modern music’s addiction to its own past by using video games and soundtracks of the 1980’s as a source of direct reference and revisionist inspiration.
One of the first acts to break new ground and push new definitions of experimentation in dungeon synth, a good example is Finland’s Jaaportit. Earlier material is a traditional, naturalistic yet dreamy and original take on the style. Subsequent albums further depart from this, turning gradually into full-blown prog rock and post-rock stylings. “Post-dungeon synth” is a questionable term to use, especially for an artist who has fully departed from the ideas that hold the genre together.
But it is an indicator of artists pursuing subjective goals out of individual intent, and we should not forget the transition of Mortiis into full blown EBM on The Smell Of Rain in the early 2000’s. But when artists don’t fully eschew this tradition, it can be also used to cultivate stylistic changes that allow new “schools” to emerge. To the point of parody, “dino synth” and “comfy synth” have emerged, in a manner not unlike the endlessly self-replicating tropes of contemporary “vapourwave” music. These “subgenres within a subgenre” could be talked about further, but that would surely need a seperate article.
When given a wider context, and on analyzing some of the more adventurous components of 1990’s black metal, it becomes quite clear that a well rounded assessment of the dungeon synth canon debunks a widely held hipster consensus. A consensus which states that traditional European black metal is by default a formulaic cookie cutter, devoid of any need or desire to explore beyond the most stereotyped tropes. For those who crave the need to break out of these “trappings” and be different, the litmus test of “progress” is often viewed through the lens of what I shall call Norway’s “post-second wave” artists such as Ved Buens Ende, Fluerety, In The Woods, Ulver and Solefald.
This creates a void where musical experimentation for its own sake is justified to divorce the thematic content of the genre away from the traditionalist, folkloric, romanticist and fantastical literary themes which are a definitive of the genre. When looked at retrospectively, experimentation was already present in many artists, and dungeon synth was one of many outreaches of that. And whilst dungeon synth may seem quite rigid in its use of themes to an outsider or an untrained ear, it is still prone to experimentation in the way that black metal has been through the years. If we are to view black metal as an expression of these themes, then it would be necessary to state that dungeon synth is a kindred spirit which carries its original flame. To answer the question posed in the title of the article; whilst dungeon synth is undoubtedly a subgenre and an outgrowth of black metal, it has certainly grown and matured in a way that it has become a musical form and language of its own.
https://www.indymetalvault.com/2017/11/21/a-beginners-guide-to-dungeon-synth/
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