IDYLLS OF THE LAST KING - Where the Gods Whisper Your Name Amongst Themselves
Jeez, what a little gem this one is! It lends as much to dungeon synth as it does dark ambient, film scores, and video game soundtracks. I swear I hear leanings of such diverse works as PC Diablo, Dune, and even Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Am I crazy? Well, diverse indeed the album is, from melodic trimphant marches, to blissful string ambience, to old-school CRPG pulses and backdrop, then descending to a dark rumbling machination, harrowingly cascading into a howling yet delicate din. My word choice is meant to imply that this is all over the place musically, haha, but yet, extremely cohesive; that there is no pause between tracks lends the cohesion stark gravity. Halfway through it breaks into somber, fast-paced piano, then pounding bass and reverb, wavering ambient, and returns to retro-sounding dungeon synth complete with a video game-esque bassline and tambourine percussion, and ends in a triumphant promenade closely akin to how it started. Seek this one out before it’s gone - it’s a hugely rewarding serene, propulsive, cinematic work that should not be missed.
Picked up another batch of CDs from Out of Season last week, including this one, which I'm spinning right now. I like the overall sense of fantasy and adventure it evokes but tend to prefer my DS more overtly electronic and synthy as opposed to artists using synths to emulate orchestral sounds, like this album often does (I feel the same about synths in film scores, actually). Still, lots of fun for what it is, a sonic journey of medieval proportions!
Thanks Josh! I didn’t know that release was actually an Out of Season one! I almost grabbed it a few months ago, but hesitated for the same reasons you describe: typically the more electronic, the better, especially if it borders on video game or Berlin school sound. But I’ve had my eye on Morketsvind a while! Hey, if you like The Journey, their newest album Book of Tales is on CD too, though right now only available at Garavluth direct. But Garavluth has a treasure trove of other releases to help balance out the shipping cost!
Very effective drifting, dreary, and slightly melancholic synth in the vein of Fogweaver or Keys to Oneiria. Came in a cool customer paper folder. I only wish it was longer than the twenty-three minutes therein! Keep an eye on the artist's Bandcamp page if you're interested in future work on CD; though he appears to make CDs of most of his material, the runs are extremely small at 5-10 copies only!
Out of Season's most recent CD release combines four of the prolific Coniferous Myst's works: "High Above the Timberlines of Jerall," "Winter MMXVIII," "Vast Mountain Castles," and "Queen of the Timberline Realms." If you've heard Coniferous Myst before, you know what you're getting: minimalist, lo-fi, yet heavy-handed keyboard synth, going back and forth between more subtle, calming pieces and rich draperies of organ/harpsicord-sounding, more droning-type excursions.
Carmilla’s Tears - Tears (Metal drone style, very short album, from the man who brought you the ethereal Piva and vampyric black metal / DS music of Medwegya.) https://walzerdellestreghe.bandcamp.com/album/tears
Forklift Operator - Warehouse #1 * Okay, a few words about this one. This is the sole album from this namesake, from 2020, first time on CD. Forklift Operator is from the same guy who brought us Hole Dweller, Spell of Unseeing, and Bellkeeper: Tim Rowland. I’m of the opinion that Rowland might be the King Midas of dungeon synth, because anything he touches is gold. Forklift Operator is weird, very weird, almost not DS at all, but I’m calling it DS indeed. It’s just different-sounding, almost like DS mixed with Asian/Eastern melodies and synthwave. Which makes sense because apparently it’s based around the Shenmue video game series. Check it out, and add this lavish-looking digipak to your collection! Oh, and a hugely unfortunate note on Tim Rowland: he said in a Bandcamp message that he’s permanently putting Hole Dweller to rest, to focus more on orchestral music, apparently. No word on Spell of Unseeing or Bellkeeper. https://dungeonsdeeprecords.bandcamp.com/album/warehouse-no-1
* Coming Soon * Haryon - Memories of Arda Draped in Shadows / Ekthelion - Dawn of the Vampyric Princes * Haryon and Draped in Shadows are two projects from the man behind Murgrind. Both of these albums are getting open preorders through Uralte Herrschaft Productions from 3/6 to 3/20! YouTube previews below.
* Future * Foglord - Celestial (Out of Season) Nocturnal Effigy - Moonlit Branches + Nights Sorrow (Out of Season) Weress - Au-Dela des Leiux Legendaires (Ancient King)
Josh, have you listened to your copy of Menestroll yet? I did this evening. A whimsical little gem for sure, thanks again for catching it! A great meld of less-layered Fief, a little Fogweaver, some CRPG melodies that wouldn’t be out of place in the Ultima series, and some 8-bit and 16-bit video game backdrops right there amongst everything. Good stuff!!
By the way, I forget if you said you procured copies of the two Gelure albums from Northern Silence a bit ago. If you did not, I cannot recommend either of those enough. I’ve never been more absolutely serious!! I daresay that those albums, specifically Candlelight Tomes, are among the very best in my quickly-growing and massive collection!!!
Oh, one more thing: the Inexistence CD is going on sale tomorrow. Will post the link here when it comes out my friend.
And yes, I'm enjoying Menestroll very much. I love stumbling upon little nuggets like that. It's mind-boggling that many of these DS releases are produced in such limited quantities. When Quartet started doing Italian film scores in limited editions of 300, I thought that was extreme, but these DS CDs (when we're lucky enough to get them) are often limited to 20 or even 10 copies! Crazy, but these days, c'est la vie.
Medieval/folk-brightened wintry synth. Much more expressive and jaunty than the most recent album “Fjallets Gyllene Slott,” though I prefer that 2020 release to this one for its more isolationist vibe. “Hymner…” is still excellent in its own right, however!
From mastermind Tim Rowland; wondrously evocative, otherworldly, and marvellous. Like Hole Dweller, Asian/Eastern melodicism, and synthwave all wrapped up into one.
Italian act Forlorn Kingdom has announced that their 2019 debut album "Northern Spirits Call From Afar," as well as two of their demos, "Ancient Winter's Domain" and "Alpine Black Magick," have been released on Dutch label New Era Productions, both as a 3-CD set and separately! This comes as a surprise because aside from artist-made copies, none of Forlorn Kingdom's material has been released on CD, plus I had thought FK had decided to stop releasing music. Take advantage of these items, because Forlorn Kingdom's brand of ethereal, transcendent dungeon synth is beautiful and shouldn't be missed!
2006 release from the legendary and long-running Austrian act. This particular release is all ambient / dungeon synth, which I believe to be the best facet of Uruk-Hai. Other albums diverge to atmospheric metal, viking/black metal, electronica, and folk, but Uruk-Hai's pure DS works are where he really strikes aural gold. Reference points are the delicate beauty of "Lay of Leithian" and triumphant yet harrowing "Gates of Summer." Also included is a vocal cover of Enya's "May It Be" sung by Viking/folk singer Hildr Valkyrie.
Top-notch work from this Spanish musician; unlike some of his other blended black metal and dungeon synth works, this is solely the latter. Elffor at his best!
DRUADAN FOREST - Dismal Spells from the Dragonrealm Part I
Probably the best straight dungeon synth release from this Finnish artist, who also loves to dabble in black metal with DS overtones (also quite good) and more recently with his new album, space ambient (which is effing excellent!). Four tracks totalling over 71 minutes, this requires proportional attention, but is very entrancing and entralling throughout. There’s as many moments of solace as there are jubilance, often woven into the same track as part of a carrying melody. Personal favorite is the track “Enthralled By Majestic Winter’s Eternity.” Well, this was released in 2019…where’s Part II?
Elffor - Arkaik II Apparent sequel album to the first splendid "Arkaik" release from mid-last year. This one sounds like a worthy successor! https://elffor.bandcamp.com/album/arkaik-ii
Forgotten Pathways - Shrouded in Mystery Re-release of the artist's first demo from 1998! Sounds every bit as old-school as I imagine; harkens equally to dark, smoky ambient, dungeon noise, and primordial dungeon synth. https://dunkelheitprod.bandcamp.com/album/shrouded-in-mystery
Forgotten Pathways - Shrouded in Mystery Re-release of the artist's first demo from 1998! Sounds every bit as old-school as I imagine; harkens equally to dark, smoky ambient, dungeon noise, and primordial dungeon synth. https://dunkelheitprod.bandcamp.com/album/shrouded-in-mystery
New Druadan Forest album "Portals" available at Hells Headbangers. More space ambient than DS, though. A bit too meditative for my taste, but that dark blue disc looks really cool.
