My first experiences with this artist came through buying and burbling Altar of the Necropolis by Orcus in 2020. It was Fall of 2020 and I hadn’t been to work in months due to the pandemic. To pass the time, I got back into writing and tried to compose short blurbs for everything I was listening to. A little while later, I got into the habit of buying tapes and Vicious Mockery, despite them being based in the UK, had reasonable shipping. One album in particular, Villein’s Splendor Solis, was comforting and regal in a time of chaos and unease. A little while later, I became entranced by L A N D S R A A D, a Berlin school based space synth project based around each book of the Dune series by Frank Herbert. Most recently, I became interested in the Silent Protagonist project which reveres the soundtracks of turn based, (and open world 3D) JPRGs. It took me the longest time to realize this was all the same person and in fact the most recent puzzle piece I only learned few months ago. I was talking with this soft spoken artist who I had just met in person for the first time at my first Northeast Dungeon Siege in 2023. Orcus was not playing that weekend rather just over from the UK to hang out in a dive bar in the United States to see live dungeon synth. Most of the conversation was me being silently surprised I didn’t make all of these early connections and me being dumbfounded. Now having all of the information, I am amazed that each of these projects were unified in their devotion to world building and the pursuit of adventure within their medium.
Altar of the Necropolis, the debut from the Orcus project, began as a soundtrack to homebrewed Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) campaign. I just learned this bit from the press release by Realm and Ritual though I should have seen the tracklist structured like a campaign which would span three or four sessions with a long rest after finale. Rite of the Sickened Hand, released in 2021, was based around a second adventure in the world with the Bandcamp even urging the listener that the “cult of the red dragon have seized control of an ancient dark artifact,” as if it was flavor text on the cover of an adventure module. Return to Necropolis is the thematic homecoming to this world after a brief period foray into pulp fiction based albums for the label Heimat Der Katastrophe. In a classic DM fashion, Orcus wouldn’t reveal the true plot of the album partly to allow listeners to make their own stories but probably not to spoil anything for the current players. The newest album this project, and creator, has seemingly an endless well of inspiration and story-craft which yields a continual array of albums throughout the years.
It is fitting to hear these influences and directions on Return to Necropolis. Though the style is very much dungeon synth with a hard fantasy backing, the music is everything from dark dungeon music which sounds like it could have been on a demo from the 90’s to raucous boss music which sounds like it is rendered in 16 bits and had a giant monster flashing before a massive attack. Songs like “An Offering, A Sacrifice,” have a classic medieval trot like a group of sell-sword journeying into the mountains while the closing track track “Wizened Mages Hut (Bubble Blade Remix)” is nothing short of the closing credits to a cult movie that are rolling at the end of a VHS tape you got from the video store. Though the sound on the record is pulled from the variety of influences, much like the creators musical career, there is an underpinning of adventure which runs through the entire work. Whether at a table rolling dice or by yourself in a dark room with only a television providing light, the spirit of overcoming fictional adversaries with a party of companions is the core thesis to this work.
Part of my reason for writing about dungeon synth and doing interviews is not only to amplify things I think are great but also the chance to ask questions and learn things I never knew before. I don’t think I would have gotten Return to Necropolis‘s art reference to the 1997 movie The End of Evangelion. The art, done by Ventasia Artwork, feelks symbolic of Orcu’s pluralism when it comes to things they enjoy. I don’t think I would have gotten to see the maps that the creator was hand drawing for the current D&D campaign had I not asked for in a casual second hand manner. Dungeon synth, for me is an ongoing adventure which I continue to learn new things which has seemingly never gotten stale since people continue to try new things and draw from a variety of inspirations. Orcus, despite me being seemingly aware of their existence for more than 5 years, continues to impress and surprise me. Nothing can be dead if it continues to grow.
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Return to Necropolis comes out on 4/25/2025 through Realm and Ritual. For now, enjoy an early stream by the creator and label. Also enjoy an interview with the creator where I ask questions I mostly wanted to know and jot down in my notes. Also see upcoming US Tour dates from the artist which again, is something I don’t think I would have said when talking about dungeon synth five years ago.
Dvngeoninvasion ov thee Nation Tour
w/Orcus, Flickers From the Fen, Amn, Silencio Permanente
May 3rd – 5th Texas Dungeon Siege in Austin, TX
May 6th – Newport, KY (CIN) ———- w/ Apoxupon
May 7th – Washington, DC ———- w/ Vaelastrasz
May 8th – Boston, MA ———- w/ Sombre Arcane
May 9th – Brooklyn, NY ———- w/ Chipped Topaz
May 10th – Detroit, MI ———- w/ Elyvilon, Cloister Shadows
May 11th – Chicago, IL ———- w/ Apoxupon
May 12th – Minneapolis, MN ———- w/ Paths of the Eternal
May 13th – Kansas City, MO ——-w/ Apoxupon
May 14th – Denver, CO ———- w/ Apoxupon
May 16th – Seattle, WA ———- w/ Fugitive Wizard
May 17th – Portland, OR ———- w/ Bergtatt
Check out the Live Dungeon Synth Events Neocities Page for ticket and stream info
Interview
KAP: I asked you last time I saw you if anything within the last year you just did would seem feasible 5 years ago and your answer was absolutely fucking not. What do you think has changed with dungeon synth to make it so popular and alluring to people?
Orcus: The pandemic certainly saw a huge shift in the amount of people actively engaging with the DS scene, I think people being stuck at home and needing some kind of escapism made it a great place for people to lose themselves, that coupled with the NEDS live streams really gave people a good look at what live DS could look like. When the world opened back up and we could engage physically with those we’d gotten to know online in lockdown it really cemented the idea of live DS as a real thing that has become just as much about the community as it is about the music. People are really seeing what for the most part is a lovely community of passionate people meeting in person with a common goal of pushing DS past the point of just being a bedroom hobby. I think Sombre Arcane have a lot to be proud of in that regard with them really leading the way in making DS a live thing.
How did the label Vicious Mockery start?
So I first really got in to DS around 2017 and at that time there were no dedicated DS labels operating in the UK which made affordable shipping non existent. Once the pandemic hit in 2020 like almost everyone else I found myself with plenty of free time. Me and a friend always had this idea of a DS label called Vicious Mockery because it’s the name of a bard cantrip in D&D 5E so it seemed like an appropriate name choice. I had recently released the first Orcus album which Realm and Ritual had kindly agreed to release on cassette but I also had the first Villein album finished around the same time so I felt like this would be the one to test the waters and release on tape ourselves instead of pestering SG to release more of my stuff. We ran the label until 2024 and I’m really proud of everything we released and all the friends we made in that time, being a dedicated anti fascist label was and still is very important to us. I hope to one day continue in some way either under a new name or pick up where we left off, unfortunately physical distance from my good friend made it too difficult to continue. Luckily labels like Sokol Keep and Cosmic Ocean still very much carry the torch for inclusive dungeon synth in the UK.
I have so many projects that sometimes even i have a hard time keeping track. My main focus tends to lean toward Orcus and L A N D S R A A D but i do have other projects I’m very proud of. Villein, Silent Protagonist, Frith, and Wych Elm are ones that I have and will return to. I really enjoy having a distinct sound and style for each individual project, I have found in being in bands in my youth that my care and attention does start to deplete when working on one singular project so i find working on one thing then shifting sounds and tools very refreshing. I also take a lot of influence from various forms of media and that plays a big part in what inspires a certain project’s sound and artwork.
Tell me about your world and where the music from Orcus comes from.
When i first started making DS it was essentially just soundtracking our home D&D game and i didn’t really give it much thought other than that, i really didn’t even have any intention of releasing it but when we were all stuck at home with nothing to do i decided to take the leap and publish it on Bandcamp. I’m so glad it did. Our D&D game is all in our own homebrew setting, it’s nothing new, just a pretty run of the mill high fantasy setting but we decided to go that route so that me and another player kind of take turns DM’ing. I’ll run a campaign set in that world and create a new nation/continent/island and that’s where it will take place for my campaign. Once my campaign finishes my friend will take over and run his own campaign in the same world but somewhere new that he will create and then we work together to tie all these new places together into our world. Essentially we world build as we go, we’ve got a pretty big world full of islands and nations with their own laws and policies now. It also makes it really run to revisit these other places in later campaigns. We keep a big red folder that’s full of all of our notes and maps of these islands. I’ve also run a few 5E modules with friends that have also been a lot of fun. The game is still running, we are actually just about to start a new campaign that my friend is running set on the edge of a super jungle filled with valuable resources. I have no idea what class I’ll play but I’m really looking forward to being a player again. So yeah, there’s definitely plenty more stories I can draw from for future Orcus records. I do like to make crude maps for our campaigns. I’m not the best at visual art but I’m getting better at them as time goes on.
I’ve always wanted to work with Realm and Ritual again, we’ve become good friends over the past 5 years both online and irl. Working on “Heroes of the Last Glare” and “Berserker” for HDK were great experiences and I’m really happy with those records but they were both working to a brief either by HDK or the publisher for the Berserker book. Getting to go back to my own home game as the inspiration it only feels natural that Realm and Ritual released the tape. It really feels like home.
I try not to divulge too much lore and plot in these records just to give the music a little breathing room to do it’s own thing. But essentially the plot is that the evil necromancer defeated by the party in “Altar of Necropolis” has returned after years of hiding and regaining strength. The party’s job is to re enter Necropolis (the necromancers underground lair) and vanquish whatever evil lurks within. Many undead things for the most part, some shambling mounds and always a gelatinous cube for good measure.
In your press kit you mention manga / anime as being a large influence along with dungeon and dragons.
I really got into anime as a teen. It started when I was listening to the band Maximum the Hormone a lot and they did the second theme song to Death Note, anime was still pretty difficult to get hold of back then but I managed to get a box set which I swiftly binged watched and immediately wanted more. I think there are so many stories in manga and anime that should be regarded among the fantasy genre just as highly as many novels. I’ve been pretty vocal about my love for Berserk in the past, me and my good friend Grim Father did a Berserk themed split called “Interstice” in 2022 shortly after the author Kentaro Miura passed away. Berserk to me really is the best fantasy series of all time in any medium, I just love everything about it, the plot, artwork, character development and world all pull at exactly all the things I love about fantasy. I’m also a huge horror and sci-fi fan and I find that manga and anime both have tons of great stories in all of these genres, there really is something for everyone.
You mentioned anime and video games as being a large influence can I get a recommendation list as a DS fan?
Berserk is obviously going to be my top choice for any DS fan. The 1997 anime is a really great place to start but ends abruptly at arguably the most important part of the manga so further reading is greatly encouraged to get the full story. The soundtrack by Susumu Hirasawa is also super inspiring. Vagabond by Takehiko Inoue is another manga that sort of gives the same vibe as Berserk although with the fantasy elements taken out. It’s a fictional retelling of the life of Miyamoto Musashi, a well renowned swordsman from the 16th century. It’s gritty and violent but also tells an almost poetic tale of Miyamoto’s life. Neon Genesis Evangelion has absolutely no connection to dungeon synth in any way. It’s big robots piloted by emotionally unstable teenagers fighting these giant “angels” and it’s my favorite anime of all time. I can’t really describe the plot without writing paragraphs but it’s well worth sitting through. It’s tough for me to recommend video games because there are so many that i love. I spend a lot of time playing Final Fantasy and could easily recommend any of them (yes even XIII) but here’s a quick list of the games that are really important to me: Halo 1-3, Final Fantasy, Ys VIII Lacrimosa of Dana, Death Stranding, Parasite Eve, Shenmue, Jet Set Radio, and Grandia.
It would have to be Old-School Essentials, I know that’s your thing. I’m playing a short bow wielding Halfling.
Map Gallery
As a hilarious afterthought, Orcus also included some maps from their current 5e Campaign. I messaged them asking who drew the maps and they responded with “I did.” These maps look like they belong on the inside of a fantasy novel and it partially hilarious as they were included as an after thought. I asked for more and could not get more pictures in time as the campaign folder was with a friend. Part of my reason for including this factoid is that there are moments of greatness which lie inside folders left with other people. Most of dungeon synth, in my experience has come with meeting extraordinary people doing their own things without much encouragements or reason. There is an extraordinary amount of energy and craft which are put into products that probably never intended to see a commercial release, they are just well drawn maps because the moment called for it. I feel that for anyone who has played D&D or any other long form social long form game is being with a group of people who put so much effort into make believe that extraordinary things are made. Orcus, for me, is the musical equivalent to a great DM who puts all of the effort into a game of make believe that is so well crafted it feels tangible when experienced.
