“During the time of the Lamps, before the First Age, Melkor first dug the great Pits of Utumno deep beneath the mountains of the North. The fortress was constructed here in the Iron Mountains (over one thousand miles from the later location of Angband) where the light of the lamps did not reach.” I am really glad both of these artists teamed up to make something since I would have written about them separately anyway. Both the Spanish artist Frostgard and US based Grimdor are champions in their own right and both continue to make music dedicated to the world of Tolkien. It only seems natural that they would come together for a split dedicated to some deep First Age lore. While most of you probably didn’t get the taped demo that was made in an edition of 15, Out of Season Records will soon have this in copies more than the number 15. Even if one isn’t interested in physical media, The Fortress of Utumno is powerful enough to take the listener anywhere they want to go, which is really a trip to the fortress of Melkor.
I did not hear about Vermis until NEDS 2025 when I heard it mentioned in conversation three times over the course of the weekend. Vermis is a book by the artist Plastiboo which details a fictional cRPG. It is a high concept deep aesthetic piece which was inspired by dungeon synth and has amassed its own popularity and video essays and has gone so far as to inspire other people to participate in the genre. The official soundtrack for this artpiece is a dark ambient collaboration between Plastiboo and Rhadaghast. What I enjoy, outside of it just being an art forward product, is the mood and setting of the music that starts at dungeon synth but eventually makes its own home somewhere where it makes the most sense. Vermis, both as a concept and as a musical product, is an inspiration for other people to make dungeon synth which is intriguing as a new point of entry and creation for people. Perhaps we will see a world where Vermis inspires and creates an entirely new subset of dungeon synth.
I have to make it a point to keep up with Gilgareth as this German duo has a boundless imagination for what dungeon synth sounds like and less than care in the world for doing things devoted to tradition. This means an album full of… checks notes… synthwave, adventure synth, and space disco which is intended (I guess) to set off a dance party across the kingdom. If you follow Gilgareth on any sort of social media, they are usually posting highly designed and elaborate promotional pieces. Zwei Schwerter (Two of Swords? Two Swords?) follows a brief EP which was sort of announcing the arrival of a new full length. I will always dance with the jesters of Gilgareth as they seem to have the best wine and always know where the best parties are located.
Tags: ambient, comfy synth, dungeon synth, forest synth, new age, lofi, Virginia. Welcome to 2025. What Was Said In The Woods is the work of D.D. also known to many as Foglord. This work, along with the debut, was not promoted heavily (if at all) and I only found out about both through other people talking about it. The dreamlike atmosphere of the work combined with the casualness of its creator makes this work feel like you just stumbled on something amazing and you need to share it with everyone you know. What Was Said In The Woods was featured in my Raw Ambient Article for 2024 and this artist continues to champion music which sounds like it was left in a forest for a century and now is home to fey creatures. Memories and Memorials of the Deepwood is another surprise release for me and I thank the community for keeping me up to date.
The Known Spheres is technically being released during the weekend of Texas Dungeon Siege. Amn, a UK based act, is playing not only in Texas that weekend but also doing an extended US tour with Orcus, Flickers From The Fen, and Silencio Permanente. The Known Spheres is a celebratory release which precedes one of the more important live events of the year in an already packed year of important events. Even outside of the historic events happening in dungeon synth at the month, The Known Spheres is a stellar release which combines dark dungeon synth with the atmosphere of a kosmische record leading to something that would be akin to a dungeon in space.
“For our good friend, Moss Knight.” I have always enjoyed the close knit quality of micro communities. A New Little Friend… is an album dedicated to Moss Knight in celebration of what is assumed to be the birth of a child. The “Various Friends” is a collection of dungeon synth artists who all contributed new music in celebration of the event. The artists are mostly based on the Melkor’s Discord community but also are a part of a wider net of good hearted DS artists who seem to just want to do good things. It is fun to see a compilation with a roster of great artists that are actively working but took time to celebrate a real life event which makes this very intimate record feel even more heartwarming. Listening to A New Little Friend… feels like walking into a room filled with everyone you know ready to shake your hand.
Speaking of Moss Knight. One of the tags on this Bandcamp is “vernal synth” which is related to the Vernal Equinox. Much like winter synth, there is something atmospheric about spring synth as almost the polar (ha) opposite of winter synth. Where isolation and bleak solitude are the signposts for winter synth, the themes of spring offer hope and renewal which peak out of the swatches of coldness. Songs For Spring is not entirely cheerful without any regard to reality. There still exists melancholy in the world of Moss Knight yet instead of surrendering oneself to the despondency there are promises that things will get better as the cold will be vanquished and the new life will once break through the frost.
Both Pond Worship II and Pond Worship III were released in March of 2025. Both releases are around 60 minutes with two 15 minute tracks on each side of the tape which might or might not come with the mason jar of weed that is in the background of the picture. I only make mention to this fact as around 120 minutes of stoned pond worship feels like the perfect vacation mindset one can strive for. While this whole presentation could be a silly nature synth farce, Pond Worship allows itself to be weird and opens itself to meditation of the esoteric with the track titles seeming like an afterthought to something much more unknowable. With deep reverence to space ambient and gentle noise, Pond Worship II and Pond Worship III transform what seems like a fanciful picnic to a journey which might require a trip sitter and an entire day to recover.
Tower of The Unseen came to me through a random email I got from the Belgium based artist Octave VV. The email linked a pixel video which played the full release Prince of Dawn ⸸ Knight of Dusk with dreamy pixel animations. The project’s music and animation were all done by the creator and Tower of the Unseen is an …unseen gem just doing strange things and emailing people out of the blue to share their work. I later found an extremely competent website displaying all of the work and I hope more people make static webpages in the age of terrible internet. I enjoy this sort of thing as I do not think I would have seen this had it not been for the creator’s instance. Dedicated to weird fiction and indie video games, this whole project seems to be steered by one person who just wants to make cool things.
Way back in the year of 2024, I wrote about Zireael’s debut Brokilon. Even for the first release, I was struck by a sense of professionalism when it came to not only the music but the design of the tapes and presentation of the artist label Arcane Chapel. Upon Her Blade… is the full length release by Zireael which presents an immersive fantasy ambient record dedicated to the world of The Witcher. While throwing oneself into a world is part and parcel of this genre, Zireael is not interested in complete escapism from reality rather engaging with the lore of established worlds without having to launder problematic influences (see Bandcamp page). Upon Her Blade… is an engaging record with a creator and label which is as interested in crafting imaginary stories as they are about not staying silent about real world bullshit.
Unsheathed Glory is an artist which I continued to encounter as the opening act to Dungeon Sieges. First at GLDS and then NEDS 2025, this artist has seemed to continue to grow with each encounter. Now with the latest release from Weregnome Records and mellow artwork from Thaumaturge Artworks, Beneath Sun & Soil feels like the perfect introduction not only to this particular artist but also for people who are looking for thematic dungeon synth dedicated to whole cloth fantasy worlds. From the Bandcamp lore to the song titles which cast the listener into far flung areas of another universe, Unsheathed Glory crafts dreamlike tableus which much like the album cover glow in moody luminescence.
I wrote about Radiant Scroll last year with the release of Dusk Wayfarer’s Autumn Sunsets. Dawn Wayfarer (probably the same artist) returns with the continuation of the project. Both Dawn Wayfarer and Radiant Scroll operate on the border of existence as an entity that is not intentionally hidden but unannounced to the general public. The creator (or creators) apart of this venture choose to just make music and leave it for anyone to find. This sort of model for music making allows things like the “vernal synth” dedication to fully blossom without the need for personal praise or attribution. Spring Sunrises is just a record in tribute to Spring that exists on an esoteric Bandcamp page and that is all we need.
Let us get weird. I haven written about Personal Uschi Records before to the point I could be a part of their fan club. There are few labels that are not only this daring but successful in their presentation of haunted synth. The cursed island of Naat is a split between Canadian spectral electronics act Ugurgkuliktavikt and German Dark Ambient act WinDGeisT. Together the two weave a tapestry of otherworldly music combined with typography which feels alien and dislocated. The cursed island of Naat is inspired by the works of Clark Ashton Smith and H.P. Lovecraft and I can think of a few acts which nail the unease of weird fiction.