In 2021 I stumbled upon Frozen Grimoire by Kyvon. I think at the time the Bandcamp page had a picture of a very young artist and I was amazed since I remembered what I was doing at that age and it wasnt making frozen winter synth. Kyvon has made many things since then and expanded their role in the GLDS as well as started an archival venture in reissuing new age material on tape for DS fans. The music of Kyvon is simple, cold and eternally distant. Listening to this music is akin to watching something from afar since despite it being intimate there are layers of separation. Depths of Ardae continues Kyvon’s emotional tragedy which can be thought of a play that we are invited and welcomed to watch though the presentation was not intended for us rather some esoteric catharsis.
I don’t know many things about Curta’n Wall. None us truly do. In fact, all I know about this artist is wild looking album covers with knights and album design that looks like it was done in Microsoft Word. Additionally, I am aware this music is very very very popular with people. It is not hard to see why as even the first few tracks from the second album of this artist lets loose a few dozen fire hoses of different genres to drench the listener. The result is a merry jubilation of folk metal, dungeon synth, black metal, and everything in between. The joy of Curta’n Wall is knowing you belong despite being weird and out of place. YR GWYDDBWYLL is a party and everyone is invited.
Page is probably a side project of someone I know and have talked to through email. I’m sure of it. That or Page is a popular video game inspired DS artist who I was unaware of for most of this year. Both could also be true. What is fascinating about Page and their debut, The Way Home, is the ease at which the music is made. A wonderfully designed record which splits the difference between Cusco inspired new age, traditional dungeon synth, and CRPG menu music. Add to this one of the best album art of the last century with its late night NES illuminating a dark room sort of aesthetic, and one has a record that you want just by looking at its cover.
I have talked much about this project and this artist that I feel like I am overstaying my welcome just hanging around. In short, Herbarium: A Musical Guide to the Mystical Garden of Middle-Earth and Stranger Places – Vol. VI is around the middle of an unnumbered series of records dedicated to the flora of middle earth. In alphabetical order, Ithildin is crafting entries to go in a giant library by the time it finishes. It would be one thing for an artist to do it and coast through making similar sounding music until it finishes. It is quite another for the series to veer into things like black metal and sorrowful vocal melodies in the middle of a series. Ithildin, joined by guests proposes that this series is not just a race to the end but a delicate crafting of a world with every intention on taking their time and doing it right.
Willow Tea has always worked on things in their own way and through many project names. The Barrowfolk is an imaginary soundtrack to a 1970’s TV documentary on the lives of two preserved bog bodies in Denmark. These two ‘celebrities” serve as inspiration and this record and project is a telling of their lives through song. This esoteric folk way of storytelling is apart of the near limitless world of Willow Tea and the capacity to think imagine and create. This might not be dungeon synth and in fact I really don’t know what it is outside of being eternally intriguing and completely the work of the artist.
I love finding things with a few supporters since it feels like stumbling into music made specifically for “my wife and our future children.” Celastael is a Spanish artist who has work reaching back into 2017. In fact, you can still order tapes and CDs of previous records. Magic & Yearning is an intimate record dedicated around the previously mentioned inspirations. With delicate and regal piano, Celastael feels like a concert for a few but it would be perfectly fine if no one showed up. The fact these things exist without the greater knowledge of many shows the vibrancy of this genre and outlet for artists. Obviously its better if more people listen so I’m glad I am here to find a chair.
Hewer of Caves has always been on a journey. From the first time I heard 2021’s Cutting of the Calyx to seeing them on the Fiadh tribute to New Age, this artist always seems to be off doing things. A Dance of the Sun and Moon is a compilation of sorts but really can be thought of as an epitaph for a project which might not be after this release. The potential weight of a final record is fitting for music which is both joyful and eternally sorrowful. If one goes back through Hewer of Caves discography, they will find a litany of genres like folk, new age, and all varieties of dungeon synth all made under the banner of a project which seems to have done the thing it was meant to do. I enjoy retrospectives like this including the addition of a 2008 GarageBand / Audacity (?) composition which is reminiscent of what I feel many people tried to do with their own work. A Dance of Sun and Moon is not only a celebration of the artist but at home creation as a whole and this holographic tape could be thought of a monument to imagination.
I know Grimdor from the hot sauce recipe I included in the Chimney Rocks Recipe Zine. I am aware this artist also does dungeon synth. I swear. Entmoot is “the name for a meeting of the Ents of Fangorn Forest, said to be a rare occasion in the later days of the Third Age.” With this foundation of dorkery, Grimdor presents a brief Tolkien inspired world but perpetually cast in fog and shadows. The fact this release is less than 10 minute and has sold out of its 50 copies is telling of an artist who has an audience ready for raw interpretations of fantasy and not because of their hot sauce recipes.
Back in 2022, Romanian artist Borgo Pass released two demos of “nocturnal dungeon synth.” The first runs for Demo I and Haunting the Vatran Forest were set at 13 and 20 copies with a second run around the same number. Awaken the Shadows of Wallachia collects both demos in a release by the wonderful and dependable Realm and Ritual. This release might be coming at a perfect time as the air is cooling and the time is right for haunted and reflective dungeon synth by candlelight.
Heimat Der Katastrophe, the Italian label specializing in synth, RPGs, and all manner of tangential genres, has always been dedicated to art. This label always seems to find not only amazing music but amazing music everyone was unaware of. Shadows of the Underworld Vol.1 is a compilation of work by Us based artist Dan J. Schulte. In the late 90’s and through the 2000’s this artist made synth adjacnet music over a vareity of aesthetics. HDK collects all of the RPG inspired works for a two volume tape (already sold out sorry y’all) which finally gives a visual celebration for an artist who has been working in the shadows for decades.
“This EP is a multi-track recording with no mastering. Live recorded under the full moon of XIX.VIII. MMXXIV among the ancient standing stones.” Hell yeah, let’s go. This one track 17 minute EP lies at the heart of dungeon synth. Raw, noisy, dark, and a complete mystery since I have never heard of this artist before. What is known is the thing which is presented which is a chilly offering of wet leaves, grave soil and passages of noise / drone. Death Quest is a mystery and so is their debut Ancestral Sword but we are all here under the full moon with them.
Fenmoss lives inside an imaginary world. From the Bandcamp to name, the entire world on “the border between the Westmerland and Duskmarch,” is festooned with heardlry and characters. Imaginary worlds have always intrigued me and dungeon synth set inside of those worlds always feels like an organic place to create. Tales from The Fishwife is a whimsical whole hearted album full of goodwill and joy which could be the setting of some grand adventure or just a cozy place to pass the days fishing.