Under_Starmere wrote:
Not that I necessarily hold to either perspective as the truth, but they're possible ways of looking at the nature of Mortiis' work. I'd be interested to hear what comes across as particularly spiritual to you about Mortiis as opposed to other artists in the field. Is it the extended, epic-length tracks, or rather the misty, solemn wistfulness of his orchestrations? Or is it merely a gestalt of a number of factors?
I think it's even more elusive than that. That's one of the things that's actually most fascinated me about Mortiis; it couldn't get more simplistic and straightforward, and yet there is strange, vague impression of something utterly beyond the music, as if the melodies somehow summoned up a foggy window through which we can barely glimpse the lost realms of Faerie from our most ancient myths and folkloric beliefs. I apologize if that comes across as a bit overdramatic and cheesy, but really it's the only way to describe the feelings I get from it. It gives me faith, for brief moments, that the 'collective unconscious' is something
far stranger and more mystical than merely a subconscious Zeitgeist, as silly as that sounds.
Under_Starmere wrote:
Any other artists you'd like to single out as being awful so that we don't waste our time on them?
I thought Cernunnos' Woods was fairly laughable, but maybe that's just me.
Unfortunately, I tend to be 'open-minded' to a fault. With Pazazu, I still feel as if I haven't given it a fair effort in attempting to understand, and so I wouldn't go out of my way to say "avoid it." The only real reason I'm so adamant against Uruk-hai is that the staggering amount of releases is offensive to me; I think it shows a terrible lack of consideration to the music. However, I won't say to disregard anything on the list. I even think Cernunnos Woods is pretty interesting; I'd agree that it's laughable, but I think that makes it sort of fun; it's so laughable because of how much the guy is obviously into it, despite it clearly not working. I don't pretend to completely understand some very strange and experimental works, so I find that it's much easier for me to point to the great albums than caution against the 'mediocre' ones. All the ones without asterisks in the list I'd say have the
potential to seem like a waste of time. The Forgotten Pathways work can be tedious, but I think that's mostly because of the 'bonus song,' which causes it to overstay its welcome a bit. I'd suggest you just end it before that song, since it's essentially the same as the first "Darkend In Caverns Deep."
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It sort of surprised me that Pazuzu was so bad considering how incredible Summoning is. Also surprising to me is why Summoning never created any pure dungeon synth albums, seeing as so much of their music is pure DS if you simply take away the some of the more metal elements. Would've been awesome if they'd done a DS-dedicated side project or something. But Summoning's albums have enough of that spirit in them already, it might just be redundant.
Well, they did have one non-metal album, which was only an EP, unfortunately, but you'll see that I snuck that onto the list
. "Lost Tales," it's called. I do wish greatly that Summoning would abandon the black metal stuff, but I wouldn't want to sound ungrateful, as they're one of my absolute favorites as well. Also, Protector was part of the first Grabesmond work, "In Schwindendem Licht," and to my ears it has quite a bit of the Summoning sound, but without the vocals, percussion, or guitars, quite clearly DS I think. Now since I'm on the subject of Summoning, do you guys think that Die Verbannten Kinder Evas would be considered dungeon synth? I always felt it was far more neo-classical. Same with Dargaard.
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About Ildjarn, I agree with you that his stuff doesn't really have the proper feeling, or even really the proper style points. But as the list seemed to have some margin for vagary, I thought I might pose the question. I don't really like those albums very much, to be honest.
In my experience Ildjarn requires both a bit of getting used to as well as a very specific state of mind when you go to listen to it, a sort of mood when you want to escape from all human contact and retreat into the wilderness.
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Dark Ages...judging by my recollection, totally not. Dark Ages I remember being more just some form of 'black ambient.' It has its merits, I guess, but isn't particularly good as ambient work and definitely doesn't seem to have the necessary elements for dungeon synth.
I might be biased for how much I love Dark Ages (and also Hate Forest - Temple Forest, which I believe is connected because of Roman Saenko), however I think "Chronicles of the Plague" does count. It's not 100%, of course, since it tends to be aiming more for authentic medieval than fantasy, however I would still say quite a bit of it deviates from the traditional idea of those times, and it seems to me to be very romantic and spiritual about what should've been sheer horror and degradation, which I feel is an interesting trait of this kind of music when it comes to the perception of the medieval and decay.
Now I think the major argument one could make against Dark Ages (as well as Hate Forest) being dungeon synth is that it's too repetitive, however I think such consciously minimalist repetition has been an often-explored part of this genre since "A Song of a Long Forgotten Ghost."
Here's an example that I think is very nice:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCMp9qxOO_0Quote:
Thou Shalt Suffer I actually haven't listened to beyond their death metal material, so I couldn't say. Been meaning to give that a listen, though.
It's most likely not dungeon synth, and rather attempted classical music played with a synthesizer, however I would recommend it as 'interesting.'
Scorntyrant wrote:
Thinking about the topic a bit more, I think my increasing aversion to the Dungeon sound is tied to my growing distaste for the more fantastic leanings of Black Metal as a whole. In the same way that I really dont like the folky BM stuff and over time gravitated towards the whole "bestial BM" alternative as a polar opposite, my itch for electronic soundtrack music has turned towards the imagined 3rd reich soundscapes of Arditi, Puissance, Der Blutharsch, Toroidh etc. Summoning is the only fantasy-based band I ever come back to these days, and much of that because "Oath Bound" sounds like an amazing Martial-industrial album. Maybe I just dont connect with my inner child any more, or maybe that inner child is so hung up on future dystopias a la Warhammer 40,000 and its attendant 1984 tropes that I dont "get" escapism any more.
I'm very happy that you're open-minded to this, but based on what you just said, I really don't think dungeon synth is for you. I think you saw it as an inferior form within these genres you do enjoy, because it's been so long without a specific genre home of its own. You thought it was trying to be one of these genres you do like, however dungeon synth is the PURE expression of the 'fantastic leanings of black metal.' If you have a distaste for that then you could never 'get' this kind of music, just like I will likely never 'get' Profanatica or even most death metal.
Please don't take this as a criticism against you. We all come from very different places and obviously appreciate different kinds music, and I think it would be quite easy to misunderstand dungeon synth, since it has yet to be able to stand on its own without propping itself up on the shoulders of very different genres.
Under_Starmere, I'd suggest you try Munruthel's "Jav, Nav & Prav." The artist was involved in "Midnight Fullmoon," and I think it is very similar in tone and a great example of DS. A standout track for me is "Fern Flowering."
Another thing I wanted to discuss, but didn't really find a moment on the blog, is how do you guys feel about incense? For me, incense is absolutely mandatory when listening to dungeon synth, since it's all about atmosphere, and incense is quite effective at setting a contemplative mood. However, I burn it quite regularly and so I suspect my perception of it being 'necessary' is quite biased. If you guys don't burn incense, I'd say try it out with your favorite DS album and see if it gives you a deeper experience of the music.