Entry 1025 - Iapetus - The Body Cosmic

Style: Epic melodic death metal

Primary Emotions/Themes: Overwhelmingly powerful music, this is the pinnacle of melodic death metal

Thoughts: I hate writing for albums like this one. I don't know where to start, I don't know where to finish. I know what I want to say but I don't know how to say it effectively. This is one of those summaries that I have started half a dozen times and ended up scrapping because I simply cannot get the correct words out. So we're gonna try again, this time simply letting the words flow and whatever happens happens. 

Iapetus play melodic death metal. You could throw some descriptors in there like epic, cosmic, or whatever, but at it's very core this is melodic death metal... or melodeath - whatever you want to call this. The songs are filled with hooks and take a ton of twists and turns. In terms of the instrumentation and approach used here there is not truly much new that they offer to the field... but that's not why this album is in my collection.

I normally stay away from the more melodic side of metal, especially power and death metal. For whatever reason my tastes have evolved more towards the blackened portion of the metal spectrum, so death metal will normally be cast to the wayside unless it is something truly special... and that is exactly what we have here. 

The album starts out with a ten minute title track that is entirely instrumental. Starting out with a long song such as that is a bold statement in the first place, but to make it instrumental is even more daring. The music has to be engaging... it has to respect my time... it has to justify it's length. 

The Body Cosmic does all of this, in fact it does it so well that this album has become my measuring stick for nearly all other melodic metal in the last five to ten years. The band has found a way to combine melody and write riffs in such an intricate and engaging way that I still am having trouble finding words to express how deeply this album has affected me. 

The riffs, for lack of a better term, are majestic. The band has found ways to create extreme music and combine it with an equal amount of beauty. This combination has been attempted more than once in the past, but for the life of me I can't think of a better execution than this. I constantly feel like I'm staring into the night sky and I'm overwhelmed by the very essence of the notes that are hitting my ears. 

I Contain Multitudes perfectly balances acoustic instrumentals with the melodic death metal. It is truly a representation of the yin and yang, both the extreme and peace living in perfect harmony... without one the other cannot exist. 

This is seen further in For Creatures Such As We and its immense opening riff. The band has absolutely mastered the art of balance and harnessing melodies to express this. The pinnacle of this though is where the band starts leading up to the final songs of the album. Both Hadean Heart and Moonwatcher encapsulate what the band is capable of. When the vocal swell happens in Hadean Heart I get goosebumps, even after listening to this song nearly one hundred times as of this writing... it's that good. 

Iapetus have created an album that not only got me to break out of my ways, it did so to the point where I will prefer this album over almost anything else you put it up against. It's so well crated, so well composed, and taps into the awe of the universe in such a way that I cannot ignore it. Masterpiece. 

Entry 1024 - Emyn Muil - Afar Angathfark

Style: Epic black metal married with dungeon synth

Primary Emotions/Themes: Epic black metal in the style of Summoning

Thoughts: Black metal is my favorite musical genre. It's so diverse and full of interesting ideas. It can be as difficult to listen to as nails going across a chalk board, it can be as majestic as the aurora borealis in the night sky. It can be as depressing and as dismal as someone who has hit rock bottom. It can be as spiteful and as full of hatred as lucifer showed when he was cast out of heaven. It can be all these things and so much more... yet it all is still somehow black metal.

On the epic end of the black metal spectrum we have Emyn Muil. Whereas the first two albums were outright Summoning worship, this one begins to diverge ever so slightly from that formula. The dungeon synth is still here, the slow to mid paced black metal is still here... but along side it there is a larger reliance of ambience and majestic atmospheres. 

This is not purely an excessive in epic grimness, there are moments where the album feels truly majestic... like the night sky opening up after an extended period of being over cast. It's not a challenging listen by any means. In fact this may be an album to get someone into bands that utilize harsh vocals, as they are not used in the more overt context as most black metal can be.

Alongside the slight change in tone there is a much larger reliance on female vocals in the album, both sung and chanted. This gives the album a bit more of an ethereal feel than the previous two ever had. In fact the album may very well be at its best when the metal and melodies are stripped away and its only ambience with female vocals as the focal point. These moments offer a beautiful contrast to the more militaristic pace of the majority of the album.

While most of the album is outright Summoning worship, I do enjoy that Emyn is branching out just a tiny bit on this album. It allows the project to have a bit of it's own identity rather than relying on one forged by one of the greats of the genre. Looking forward to what is coming next.

Entry 1023 - Chip Chan Kick

Style: Video game music

Primary Emotions/Themes: A hidden gem found deep in the recesses of video game history

Thoughts: The fact that this release exists is a minor miracle in and of itself. The whole story is too long to tell here, but there has been a patent troll who has claimed the rights to this and other releases over the past few years... and is very aggressive about it. 

On top of the inherit legal difficulties finding this release in the first place must have taken quite a bit of digging through the annals of video game history. This never was released outside of Japan, on a console that lasted only a short while. 

The PC-FX not only was short lived, it also did not sell well - only a few hundred thousand units were ever moved. While the system was made a home for visual novels there were a few other games that stood out - Chip Chan Kick being foremost among those. 

The game itself is... odd. You play as the two girls on the screen and you beat inanimate objects that are misbehaving into submission. It's an oddball game... but what makes it is the soundtrack. Not only does this music channel the very best time in video games, it's some of the best written and executed VGM in my entire collection.

The PC-FX system was CD based so we automatically get higher quality music than the more compressed cartridge based systems around the same time. The instruments here are full bodied and really steal the show. The melodies have that unapologetic video game quality to them... high energy, catchy as hell, and they match the pace of the game perfectly.

I really miss music like this. I miss when video game music sounded like video game music. Fortunately there are people and labels out there who dig deep through the bowels of history to unearth this stuff and bring it to the light of modern day. This release right here is one of the many reasons why I love video game music.

Entry 1022 - Emyn Muil - Elenlon Ancalima

Style: Epic black metal with strong dungeon synth influences 

Primary Emotions/Themes: A tribute to the best to ever do it

Thoughts: Behold the master, behold the blade that he forges. None can create weapons of finer quality or stature. Many have tried and many have failed. Even those who have the the direct tutelage are unable to replicate the grandeur of his art. 

There are those however that pay tribute. Those who can stand in his shadow, yet still contribute mastery on their own scale... even though it be inferior to the masters work. The student named Emyn Muil is one such prodigy.

It's a bold move to start an album with a fourteen minute song... well technically it's the second song but the first song is nothing more than an intro for the album. Immediately the influences of Emyn Muil are evident, they all point to one thing: Summoning. 

All of the signatures of that legendary band are here: the slow marching speed of the drums, the epic guitars that lay the foundation for the melodies, and of course - the grandiose keyboard that are the very essence of the music. 

None of this is groundbreaking, but it doesn't need to be. Summoning hasn't released much in the last ten years so any thing that is competent in this style is a welcome addition to the lexicon. Not only is this competent, it is an album that I've found myself intentionally seeking out when I want black metal infused with dungeon synth.

It's not just the fact that the band has long songs though, it's that the music demands long songs to be effective. The way that the music progresses is dependent on laying down layer after layer of melodies. That takes time to do effectively. Too fast and the effect is lost, too slow and the music starts to wear out it's welcome. Emyn Muil has found that delicate balance on the knifes edge, the songs are allowed time to breathe yet they do not drag. 

Some music is destined to be legendary. That is the case of the Summoning discography. Other music is meant to carry on the legacy of those legendary bands, that is the case of Emyn Muil. Imitation is the greatest form of flattery, and in the case of Elenlon Ancalima this holds true.

Entry 1021 - Depressive Silence - IV: A Spell Enraged

Style: Classic dungeon synth, black metal?

Primary Emotions/Themes: An experimental journey

Thoughts: There are points in my music journey where I think that I grab too many things from an artist. Just one too many releases, and I end up trimming the fat later on in my musical journey. That very well may happen with the fourth entry into the Depressive Silence discography. 

Each of the previous entries in the Depressive Silence discography have been chaotic, but ultimately enjoyable in some way or another. With IV however, that charm and quirkiness is taken a bit too far astray. 

This is immediately evident Dark Soul, the band has seemingly abandoned the dungeon synth of the first three entries. In it's place we have a poor attempt at rock inspired black metal. The riffs are... lacking, the vocals are distorted and don't follow the music well. It seems haphazard at best. It's not even the kind of poorly executed black metal that is enjoyable, this is just straight out bad.

Fortunately the second track Lost in My Dreams brings back the project's signature sound with a thirteen minute epic. This follows very much the same foundation that Mourning set out. It's an ever flowing collection of melodies that blend effortlessly into each other. The melodies repeat over and over again, yet never become boring or overstay their welcome. Despite the repetition there is quite a bit of progression to the song... it's slow and subtle but if you listen to the beginning and then the end it's immediately evident that the song played a few subtle tricks on the listener to get to that point.

Depressive Silence is a fascinating project. They seemed to have so many ideas in such a short amount of time. It's hard to believe that all of these releases came out just within a few years of each other. While IV may be my least favorite of the bunch, it still has something to contribute to the early entries in the dungeon synth genre. It's place in history is cemented.

Entry 1020 - Depressive Silence - III: Mourning

Style: Dungeon synth, dark dungeon music

Primary Emotions/Themes: The most cohesive and focused work of this dynamic duo

Thoughts: If there is one criticism to be levied upon Depressive Silence it's that they are a bit haphazard in their creating of songs. It could be better suited for them to create ten to fifteen shorter songs than the longer songs that they create. The results could be seen as a bit mixed and overlong. All of that criticism goes out the window however with the third entry into their short discography: Mourning.

Where the music in I and II show a lack of focus sometimes, III shows the band really getting all of their ideas penned down within a singular track. They are leaning more into the atmosphere that they explored briefly in II and are creating more cohesive songs on top of that. The resultant album is what many people consider the highlight of their discography.

These five songs are again a bit shorter than the first two entries, and that is perhaps their greatest strength. They still progress from theme to theme like the first two albums do, but the manner in which they do so is so much more fluid than the first two albums could even dream of achieving. 

These melodies fit together. These songs are actually songs, journeys, compositions... you name it. They are cohesive and they are well executed. All of the lack of polish (and some of the rawness of the music as well) is gone here.... for better or worse.

Here's the thing. I love the first two entries into the discography, they are passionate and mistake ridden and they are sometimes a bit difficult to listen to. All of that is a plus for me. I love music that comes straight from a place of love. I feel that just a tad bit of that is lost here, but in it's place we have some truly wonderful dark dungeon music. 

Like all things the music must evolve. This is the evolution that Depressive Silence chose. The wonderful thing is though that I have those earlier albums on vinyl as well... so if I want a more raw and eccentric listen I'll put those on. If I want the more focused version of the project this is the entry that hits the turntable. Freedom of choice is a wonderful thing.

Entry 1019 - Depressive Silence - II: The Darkened Empires

Style: Dungeon synth, dark dungeon music

Primary Emotions/Themes: Epic retelling of lost tales and forgotten lands

Thoughts: I don't know if there has ever been a point in recorded history where it is a better time to be a fan of dungeon synth. Within the last few years we have gotten nearly every. single. important release repressed onto vinyl. Mortiis' back catalogue is now fully available (except Stargate... still waiting on that one). Some of Jim Kirkwood's early material is available on wax. Maybe most of all though, Depressive Silence entire catalogue is on vinyl. 

I'll be the first to admit that I'm late coming to the Depressive Silence discography. That however does not mean that I appreciate it any less than the other classics in the field. In many ways I feel like going through these albums more recently has given me a renewed interest and love of the 90's dungeon synth artists.

The second entry into their discography explores a bit more diverse sound than the first entry did. Instead of three longer songs that explore different melodies in short bursts, the band here makes an effort for a more cohesive listening experience within the individual songs themselves.  

While I was a solidly more melodic effort, there are points on II where the duo decides to explore a bit more ambient approach on a couple of the songs. Black Visions especially brings in field recordings and beautiful melodies throughout the first half to create an extremely atmospheric experience. The second half of the song devolves into random melodic noodling much like I does, but that first half is one of the clear highlights of the album.

Depressive Silence is a wonderful project to be exploring some thirty years after it was first released. These two artists created something that was excessively rare back then, and today is seen as some of the most influential music for the entire genre.

Entry 1018 - Depressive Silence - I

Style: Dungeon synth, dark dungeon music

Primary Emotions/Themes: Epic landscapes and tales of ancient times demand music that represent and extol their values... this is that music

Thoughts: The first time I heard the genre now known as dungeon synth I thought it was more like a super long intro to a black metal album. I don't know it I truly enjoyed it or not, I do remember laughing more than once at how long the songs were without much "substance." This mostly revolved around Mortiis and  Wongraven at the time, it wasn't until much later that I found out about the wonderful project known as Depressive Silence.

Depressive Silence for lack of a better term are some of the OG's. They were doing this shit way before any of it was cool, and they did a damn good job of it. What is billed here as their first album is actually a split that they did with The Mightiest. In fact Ral and B.S. were both in The Mightiest at the time of the split. 

Unlike the Mightiest there is no black metal (outside of a few vocal lines) anywhere in these three epic tracks. This is pure keyboard driven music, and it embodies everything that I love about dungeon synth to this very day. 

Long, overly drawn out compositions that don't really know when to end? Yes, that is defiantly the case here. Simple melodies that are repeated over and over again? Present and accounted for. Mistakes in the keyboard playing that make the music sound a bit more rough? That's here too. 

In any normal environment these would all be detractors to music, but in dungeon synth they are some of the main draws for me. I love how honest and raw the music feels. I love how hap hazard and thrown together it sounds. I love the fact that it sounds like it was recorded in someones basement on a cheap keyboard they got in the 80's. I love all of this, and more. 

I read an article recently on how music these days is sounding more and more similar. Things are over produced and popular music is intentionally less and less offensive to the ears in any way shape or form. Now more than ever songs are being written to make money, and the art is secondary. 

Dungeon synth is the antithesis of all of this. It is written because the people writing the music love it. It is written with a deep passion and is played with mistakes. It feels human, it feels organic and raw. It has as little processing in it as possible. This is what real music is.

Entry 1017 - Celestial Sword - Dawn of the Crimson Moon

Style: Black metal, dungeon synth

Primary Emotions/Themes: The violence of the night takes over as the blood moon engulfs the land

Thoughts: Some genre's of music are intimately linked to each other. Dungeon synth and black metal are two such genres. It can be argued that the dungeon synth genre was birthed out of the second wave of black metal in the early 90's (it can also be argued that it came out of Berlin school music as well, but that's not important here). Celestial Sword pays homage to both of these genres at once with their second album Dawn of the Crimson Moon.

Dawn of the Crimson Moon mixes raw (sometimes painfully so) black metal with dungeon synth in more a symbiosis than the two styles being distinct from each other.  Of course there are points where one genre will dominate over the other, but I don't think that this release is what it is without the two genres being married to each other the way that they are here.

This is best exemplified in the first three tracks of the album where the songs are ordered to showcase the gamut of the entire release. Dungeon synth creates a fitting introduction to the album. Slow, dark and brooding is the melodies that come out of my speakers. This transitions into a dungeon synth piece that is accompanied by some guitars, a merger of the two style present on the album if you will. Finally the band explodes into ear piercing black metal. The production is painfully primitive and the vocals especially demand attention. This is all wrapped up as the dungeon synth takes over once again at the end of An Endless Death Beneath the Corridors of Wallachia on the fourth track. 

This is the cycle of the music for Celestial Sword, one style bleeds into the next effortlessly and by the end of it several rounds have been made of each genre and just about any combination of the two that can be imagined. Dawn of the Crimson Moon isn't a fantastic album, but it does flow well and it scratches a certain itch that few albums in my collection can.

Entry 1016 - Fogweaver - Vedurnan

Style: Dungeon synth

Primary Emotions/Themes: A perfect representation of everything that I love about dungeon synth

Thoughts: Waves roll in from the east. I stare out towards the western horizon, the waves pushing me ever further towards that western front. I know not where I travel to, I only know that I must travel Further West than West itself.

Two notes. Two notes is all that encompasses nearly all of the opening track Further West than West. These two notes combined with waves lapping up against the shoreline and silence is all that is present in this song, and it's one of the strongest tracks on the album. 

The fact that Fogweaver can create such a beautiful sound with such minimalism is a skill that is beyond me. I find myself drawn in by this simple elegance every time I start this album... the prefect introduction to the story that Vedurnan tells through its music.

While the rest of the album is distinctively more traditional in it's approach, and certainly less obscured than Magelight is, the end result here is a competent and highly enjoyable dungeon synth album. The melodies are repetitious yet catchy as they should be. The sound design is on point - it all sounds like it was created by synthetic means, yet it has a distinctly organic sound quality to it at the same time. The songs never overstay their welcome, and know exactly how long to be and when to progress. The melodies often have counter melodies that grow and evolve with the music, making the repetition a great strength rather than something that I grow tired of easily.

Fogweaver has several more albums outside of Vedurnan and Magelight, I hope that they too find their way into the vinyl record medium sometime in the future. Going through these two albums has been an absolute joy to discover, and I long for more.

Entry 1015 - Fogweaver - Magelight

Style: Dungeon synth

Primary Emotions/Themes: Lost beneath the stars, the vastness of the universe overtakes me

Thoughts: The more I get into dungeon synth the more I find myself enthralled with the possibilities the genre brings. There are so many different aspects to the genre that I keep finding, and yet there always seems to be more. One such moment came recently with the discovery of the wonderful project Fogweaver.

Fogweaver is an apt name for this project, the music feels like it is enshrouded in a sea of fog. The melodies are simple and bright, offering small specs of light in the obscured soundscape before me. 

Even as they dot the horizon the delay that is put on the instrumentals makes the music seem more distant and obscured than it truly is. The simple melodies create a swirl of sounds that engulf me. This is the perfect music to put on right as the clouds are rolling in and the blanket of resulting fog engulfs the landscape. 

In many ways the music present here reminds me a lot of the music of Akira Yamaoka's work with Silent Hill, simply without the horror aspects. That semi translucent quality that is present in Silent Hill is also present here, but this is a much brighter and less terrifying interpretation of the sound. 

Fogweaver has garnered my attention with this album. I fully intend to explore more of their discography, and I certainly hope that the quality remains as high as the standard that is set in Magelight.

Entry 1014 - Alkilith - HIdden Beneath the Veil of Stars

Style: Dungeon synth, ambient

Primary Emotions/Themes: A collection of shanty's as we sail across the vast oceans, rivers and seas

Thoughts: Dungeon synth is a weird genre. I can almost tell instantly when a piece of music is within said genre, however the amount of variety and creativity found within this singular genre is immense. On one end you'll have an album about sitting down for cookies with grandma, another will be speaking about the demons that live at the depths of the earth. Yet another will have songs dedicated to dinosaurs... and then you have Hidden Beneath the Veil of Stars... a dungeon synth album about faring on the open sea.

The irony of a genre called dungeon synth writing music about seafaring is not lost on me. Dungeon implies solitude and being left to rot... seafaring is anything but. It is freedom from the land, it is exploring the great oceans and the hidden dangers they bring. It is about the beauty of the night sky on a still lake. It is so many things, but being in a dark dungeon is not one of them.

Alkilith has created a unique album within the genre. I'm sure that there are other albums about faring on the open sea, but I'm not aware of them as of this writing - so my statement stays. The music itself is as simple as you would expect from dungeon synth. It has a slow progression of notes not too unlike the waves batting against the side of a boat as it traverses the water.

Where the album truly differentiates itself though is the sound design. The melodies are rather typical for dungeon synth, but the instruments are not. They have this phased effect to them that gives the music a ripple feeling, like its coming towards and away from us at the same time. This is present in all of the instruments, and it leans heavily into the nautical theme of the album. 

Hidden Beneath the Veil of Stars is a hidden gem. I see this album on sale at a lot of distro's but it's never out of stock. For a pressing of 100 units that's a damn shame. This album deserves more attention, and I hope this small entry can help give Alkilith the attention they deserve.

Entry 1013 - Hotel Pools - Palmscapes

Style: Synthwave, chillwave

Primary Emotions/Themes: Like turning on a radio in 1985 and driving down the beach in a convertible, the ocean breeze in your face

Thoughts: The old arcade game Outrun has one of the most iconic imagery to any game out there. The vision of two faceless people with hair blowing in the wind while driving down endless roads in a convertible is so iconic. That vision is exactly the one that I get when listening to Hotel Pools' Palmscapes.

The music on Palmscapes is in no hurry to get anywhere, it is here purely for the experience - the journey is more important than the destination as it were. The drums hover around 90-120 bpm and this creates an almost lazy feel to the music. Not lazy in execution mind you, simply a relaxed feel like it has nothing better to do and it's content to bask in the moment.

The synths are drenched in reverb and the melodies are very much in line with the pace that the drums have set. Simple synth leads played over a funky baseline, all slowed down just a bit more than you would expect for synthwave... but it works so incredibly well. 

Hotel Pools have created some great albums in the past and are still pushing out their art today. Many of their albums sound similar, that's the primary reason why I haven't delved more into their discography. Even so, the two albums that I do have get spun on a pretty regular basis, especially when I need to clear my mind and take a mental trip like the characters from Outrun; Driving to no where in particular, but enjoying the hell out of every minute.

Entry 1012 - Hotel Pools - Still

Style: Synthwave with a touch of vaporwave

Primary Emotions/Themes: A chilled out adventure through electric palm trees

Thoughts: Sometimes I like to close my eyes and let music take me away. Not many albums in my collection can truly move me to another state of mind, but somehow Hotel Pools manages to do this every time with their album Still. 

The first track, Blue, is not a good indication of the quality of the music on this record. The track is a bit lost and seems like it's trying to find itself. The delay and reverb that the band use so effectively are not used well here and really it's not a great way to start he album.

As soon as Fields starts up though the album shows it's true colors. My head is bobbing back and fourth and I'm in this strange half way point between being completely disembodied and in a completely grounded state grooving to the fantastic beats and melodies. 

The more the album goes on the more it takes me to the place of peace and calm. This is synthwave mixed with a tiny bit of vaporwave to create a huge atmosphere that moves my mind away from the chaos and turbulence of every day life. In this sense the album is aptly titled, for my mind is Still.

Entry 1011 - Hollow Knight - Gods and Nightmares

Style: Video game music

Primary Emotions/Themes: A more overt and lively take on the Hollow Knight soundtrack

Thoughts: Hollow Knight stands out as one of the better games to come out of the indie scene in the last decade. A large part of that is the excellent soundtrack, and how it captures the wonders of exploring Hollownest and the dangers found within. 

The game included several free DLC's, with potentially the most substantial being the Gods and Nightmares. This part of the game revolved around a carnival that came into Dirtmouth, and set up camp. The denziens of this carnival are strange and mysterious, perhaps none more so than the ringmaster Grimm. 

While the content in the game is exciting to play through the music is not nearly as much to my liking as the base game. Much of what is on display here is more orchestral in nature. It has a much greater emphasis on being dramatic and even uses electric guitars at some points. 

While this is all not entirely a bad thing inherently, it goes against the initial reasons I loved the base game's soundtrack so much. There's not subtlety here, no sense of exploration, it's all in your face, it's all meant to be overt.  

In practice it sounds more like a Castlevania soundtrack than it does an expansion to Hollow knight. While Castelvania has amazing music, it is not what I want out of a game such as this... it's a damn shame, because the game itself is quite excellent in all other facets.

Entry 1010 - HKE & t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者 - Gateway アセンション

Style: Beat driven ambient

Primary Emotions/Themes: The fires of creation captured in audio form

Thoughts: Do you feel that? The pulse of the earth. The heartbeat of the planet. 

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

Crash. Crash. Crash. Crash. 

Is that a heartbeat or a hammer and an anvil? It's too muted, I cannot discern what it is anymore. All I know is that it is striking, again. And again. And again. And again. From Dust we are born.

My world is being forced... created... birthed. As forms slowly begin to form in front of me life begins to take hold. The rhythm of the planet becomes more complex, the music of life takes on more forms. New melodies, new joy, new sorrow, new experiences. They are exploding all around me. A Spiral of life whirls around me.

As the world has taken on it's physical form Light Patterns begin to form into solid objects. Objects are now distinct from one another, melodies float around me as if they are trying to tell me something. The world is breathing, living... the birth of a new world is upon us.

The patterns laid out by the Telepath differ much from the creative forces of the other. These are laid out in characters that we cannot read or understand, we are meant to experience them on a primitive level... the music of life is meant to speak for itself.

In reality this is the most beat driven that the Telepath has ever been in their career, this is prior to the period where their sound became more defined by the slower more drawn out styles of creation. Here there is life and activity. The world explodes in packets of music, and it is a wonderful thing to witness.

Regardless of what side of the Gateway is observed, there is a chronicle of great musical prowess on display here. Both artists have created some of the best music of their prolific careers, and these records have immortalized that for all to hear. These are the tales of creation.

Entry 1009 - Highway Blossoms - Dusk

Style: Video game music

Primary Emotions/Themes: Small glimpses of joy on a road trip through the desert

Thoughts: A beat up old car. Two women searching for lost treasure. A small slice of life adventure that we are fortunate enough to witness.

Dusk is a quaint little soundtrack that follows the adventures of Amber and Marina as they go through the American southwest deserts in search of long lost treasure. The soundtrack naturally has a western fell to it, relying heavily on guitars and harmonica. 

The way that the instruments are used here though ranges quite a bit. Some tracks are nearly ambient in the way that the guitar strums, others feel more like a typical track that you would find in any video game soundtrack, but the overwhelming majority here is done in the western style.

This reliance on the guitar helps the soundtrack forge it's own identity. This same identity is forged in the fact that so little of the soundtrack is overt... much of the music is subtle. When these two elements combine they make the very best music on the soundtrack. 

Not everything on the soundtrack is as good as the near ambient sections, but the more token video game sections are competent at what they do and they fit with the game when they are present. If there was  singular reason to pick this album up though, it is for the more subtle guitar driven tracks. Those alone are worth the price of admission.

Entry 1008 - High Plains - Cinderland

Style: Ambient, modern classical

Primary Emotions/Themes: Sitting in a room, my head buried in my hands, the world crashing down around me

Thoughts: I stand at a precipice. A place where light divides itself from dark. A place where life and death intermingle, one indistinguishable from the other. I stand here knowing I must proceed, but fear has overcome me.

A tiny seed of doubt lingers in my mind. What lies beyond this mortal coil? One more step and I will find out, yet I hesitate. Small whisps of life swirl around me, the gentle tendrils of death beckon me forward. Their sweet tones luring me to take that final, definitive step. Yet I hesitate. 

I find my mind slowly emptying, I find myself losing what make me... me. I find myself floating away into the ether, my hesitance is no longer of any concern to the world around me. It has made the move for me. I no longer feel my arms or my legs, soon I will not feel anything at all... I am returning from whence I came... into nothingness.

The soft notes of life swirl around me as my body begins to become reabsorbed into the universe. The ambience of death embraces my contentiousness and lures me into an eternal sleep. The two of them claim me, and my essence back into itself. They hath made me, now they reclaim what gifts were so freely given so that they may be bestowed upon another. 

This is Cinderland, and these are the notes of the High Planes. The final things that mortals hear prior to moving from one world to the next. This is the chronicle of those that pass on.

Entry 1007 - Hero

Style: Orchestral soundtrack

Primary Emotions/Themes: An epic tale that is destined for tragedy

Thoughts: I've tried to write the introduction to this summary at least a dozen times at this point. It's hard for me to truly put into words just how beautiful and striking this soundtrack is. Not only does it speak to me on a deep emotional level through its music, but having seen the movie the visual aspect is just as important in my recollection of this amazing piece of art as the music is.

Jet Li is an actor that I never truly took seriously. He would be a side kick or even the main actor in a movie. He would play the token Asian dude... or at least that was my perception of him... that was, before this... before Hero.

Hero is a different kind of movie. It is as much art as it is action, it is as much beauty as it is tragedy. Sacrifice, loyalty, and death are the main themes that the movie tackles. The music reflects this intimately. Every note played by the cello weeps across the strings. Every utterance of the choir steels the heart of the men and women of this movie as they prepare to give their life for a cause greater than themselves. The individual is not nearly as important as the greater goal, or the greater good.

Most of the soundtrack revolves around a singular melody. It's modulated through many instruments over the course of these two LP's, the primary of which is the cello. One of the most striking uses of the melody is when it is taken on by a female voice in Gone with Leaves. The gentle yet nearly distraught voice of a single female gently wails the notes of the melody as tanggu (Chinese drums) create the backing. Eventually a violin joins to act as a counter melody to the voice creating a nearly otherworldly experience by the end of the track. 

I can't recount how many times I've listened to this soundtrack between the record and the CD. This movie is one of the greatest that I have ever watched and I long to revisit it time and time again. Listening to it again now I long to revisit ancient China and hear the recounting of Nameless as he takes down the most powerful warriors in all of the land, only for a chance to get close to the Emperor.

Entry 1006 - Hermit Knight - Of Frost and Woe

Style: Dungeon synth, winter synth

Primary Emotions/Themes: Freezing to death in a forest that has given up to the harshness of winter

Thoughts: Why does sad music speak to me so much? It's not that I hate happy music, in fact I'm quite fond of it. It's just that sad music has a much deeper and more profound effect on me than happy music ever has. Joy is temporary, sorrow is a more permanent state.

Of Frost and Woe is one of the most subtly depressing albums I own. There are glimpses of hope throughout the entire album, but they are fleeting. The first track or two gives the listener melodies that live in the land between the major and minor keys... sometimes they are just barely happy, but then they teeter on being sad. 

The synths are so delicate on these tracks that it feels so fragile that the whole thing could crumble apart at any moment. By the time the Great Frost comes the music has taken a subtle but important turn, the hope is slowly leaving. The notes are now longer and more mournful... life is becoming more difficult. 

It's only when The Unforgiving Land comes that we see the harsh truth... a truth that there is no hope. The truth that the end is near, it is only a matter of time before it comes to claim us. Try as we may to survive, the winter is too long and too unforgiving for us to... we are beginning to fade.

Hermit Knight is one of the most powerful musical writers in all of dungeon synth. Between this and Once I can't think of a duo of records that are so well composed and evoke such strong feelings. I truly hope that more of their discography gets pressed, this project is special.

Entry 1005 - Heaven Will Be Mine

Style: VGM, heavily distorted techno

Primary Emotions/Themes: The very fabric of life is being torn asunder right in front of my eyes

Thoughts: There are few albums that capture the state of a shattered mind as well as this one does. The music contained within this record is a collection of songs that take typical techno beats and rhythms and distort the ever living hell out of it. Combine this with an atmosphere that wishes above everything else to be tranquil and you have an album that is utterly unique.

Oxygen Ocean is the first proper song on the album, and it contains everything that I love about Heaven Will Be Mine. It starts off slow with a techno beat, but something feels just a little off... the beat feels just a little distorted and disturbed. It continues to build and a clean yet simple melody joins the beat. The melody again feels like something is slightly off... like we are only seeing a portion of the sound. A darkness is looming under the surface.

As the song progresses we get small glimpses here and there of that very darkness that lies beneath. Sometimes, just sometimes the full distortion comes out. The beat will sound completely off for a split second, and then it will contain itself once again. It's not until nearly the end when all the melody is stripped away before we hear the true beat... a mass of distorted sounds that have no rhyme or reason to them. They are truly unhinged. Then just as quickly as it came, they are stripped away only left by a pathetic melody before the song ends.

This is the way of Heaven Will Be Mine. A massive beast of an album that is contained by the smallest of threads. Sometimes these confines fade and the beast within is let out. These moments are truly frightening, yet they remain some of my favorites on the album. 

This Jekyll and Hyde dichotomy is something that I have heard in other albums before, but none do it as well as this... at least not that I'm aware of. This is one of the few video game soundtracks that I have in my collection that works exceptionally well as an album on its own. It is not required to play the game to truly enjoy this music for what it is, the music is more than capable of petitioning the listener on its own merits.

Entry 1004 - Heart of the Woods - Snowfall

Style: Video game music

Primary Emotions/Themes: Small worlds contained entirely within a single crystal formation of a snow flake, falling effortlessly to the ground and then fading from existence simply by landing

Thoughts: I love forgetting about good music and then discovering it again. It's been well over a year since I last listened to this record and I had forgotten just how special the music in here is. This is the second album that is contained int he double LP for Heart of the Woods. Moonlight was a beautiful collection of songs that reflected on the life of two young women, and Snowfall is very much the same.

The major difference with Snowfall is the tone that the music takes. Much of the album feels like it has a deep resounding sense of loss. It has a mournful tone that recalls a better life in the past, longing for something that has been lost and never to return. 

It's this sense of longing that makes Snowfall such a compelling listen. It's not something I can put on casually, but when I do put it on I find myself taken into a deep sense of reflection about my life and the way that I've been living. Are there any regrets that I have? Is there something that I should be doing that I no longer am? Are there any friends that I haven't spoken to in a long time? 

The way that Snowfall accomplishes this profound state of reflection in me is two fold. One it creates melodies that are deeply melancholy and plays them on instruments such as bells and violin. They bring a sense of both darkness and light in one instance. This is combined with reverb that brings about an ethereal sound to the music when needed. It's not always there, but it's used enough to make the music truly profound when needed.

Now not all of the music is like this. There are light hearted tracks scattered throughout the soundtrack as well, but for the overwhelming majority of the music I'm brough into a state of deep mediation and reflection. Phenomenal music.

Entry 1003 - Heart of the Woods - Moonlight

Style: Video game music

Primary Emotions/Themes: A cozy soundtrack that somehow reminds me that everything will be ok, despite how horrid the world is.

Thoughts: I absolutely love when two genres that I love come together. I've made it no secret of my love for dungeon synth, and I certainly have my fair share of video game music as well. While most of the time I will comment on how much dungeon synth mimics the sounds of video game music, with Moonlight we have just the opposite. Video game music that is very closely aligned with the sounds and textures of dungeon synth.

Heart of the Woods is a visual novel that follows two young women that fall in love. The story is simple yet so heartwarming that I've read through the story more than one occasion. The music in Moonlight is equally as simple and charming. 

Most of Moonlight revolves around a simple melody that is first played on something that sounds like a music box. This melody is found throughout numerous leitmotifs throughout the entire soundtrack. In these melodies the music forges it's identity. It takes on many forms, but the core is still there.

The resemblance to dungeon synth comes in these very same melodies. Dungeon synth revolves around slow repeating melodies, and that is exactly what the main themes of Moonlight do - albeit just a bit more active than a majority of dungeon synth. 

When I first heard this soundtrack I didn't make the connection with one of my favorite genres. However now upon relistening for this blog I find myself having a new appreciation for the music that I never had in the past. It's small revelations like this that make the effort of writing nearly an endless amount truly worth the effort.

Entry 1002 - Headstone Brigade - Victory and Defeat

Style: Vocal driven folk music with a healthy tinge of goth

Primary Emotions/Themes: A quirky album that has some unfortunate edits

Thoughts: I bought this record for one song. The Flooded Mausoleum is an incredible epic. It teeters on ambient for most of its nine minute duration. It is a slow, brooding, and dark depiction of an adventurer going through an unknown mausoleum, seeking out something... something not of this world. It is the most visual of the songs on Victory and Defeat and is a direction I would love to see the band explore some more. Easily my favorite part of the album. It was edited down to 1 minute from ten for the record. 

This is the unfortunate state of records sometimes. They have limited time on their sides and decisions like this must be made... however I feel like this in particular was misleading. The track is still listed on the track list, and there is no information regarding that the song had been edited. If I had known that this record would have been an easy pass. 

It's not that the rest of the album is bad per see, it's just different. It largely consists of songs that sound like circus tunes and are generally not something I would seek out on my own. That one song though was enough for me to overcome the rest of the record and make the leap. 

It's a damn shame that the decisions were made regarding the track list on the record, and I wish that there were a few more tracks like The Flooded Mausoleum, but alas there are not. This record will likely not be part of my collection much longer, but live and learn.

Entry 1001 - Hamnskifte - Fodzlepijnan

Style: Dark folk, neo-folk

Primary Emotions/Themes: A mournful farewell to those lost so many years ago.

Thoughts: I have a soft spot for albums that start with an accordion. Well rather, an accordion that is not being used for polka or poppy folk songs... but rather albums that start with an accordion that explore the more sorrowful side of the instrument. 

It's not very often that this happens, but when it does I'm nearly instantly drawn in. The accordion is known for being a peppy and a bit of an oddball instrument, similar to bagpipes. However it can be used to make incredibly soulful music. Music that reflects on life, or rather those who were living and now have passed on. It has the ability to channel some of the most sorrow filled notes out of all the instruments I'm aware of, and that is exactly how Fodzlepijnan begins.

The accordion is not a major part of the sound on Fodzlepijnan. It's more of an ancillary addition. The guitar is the main driver of the actual songs on the album. They teeter on the line of electric and acoustic instrumentation, sometimes sounding like they have distortion when they do not and sometimes sounding acoustic when they are not truly in that realm either. 

In many ways the slow soulful strumming of the guitar reminds me of the boundaries between life and death. Much like people about to pass over, the guitar seems to exist both in the realm of the acoustic and the distorted when it plays. It's a surreal effect and one of my favorite parts of the album.

Between the guitar and the accordion the album has an incredibly dark feel to it. Continuing on the metaphor of transition periods, the album feels like the twilight before dusk. Moments of fleeting light before the darkness takes hold... and from the sound of this album it is going to be a long night.

Entry 1000 - Elffor - Dra Sad III - Beneath the Uplands of Doom

Style: Epic dungeon synth

Primary Emotions/Themes: The war has been won, now we await the years of peace. 

Thoughts: All tales must come to an end. So now must the tale of Dra Sad.

The first entry into this series was focused on huge soundscapes that drew visions of years past. The second entry focused more on complex melodic arrangements while still retaining the epic feel. Now the third entry aims to conclude the trilogy with the strength of a thousand men and  an everlasting kingdom.

The music on Dra Sad III is a bit of a combination of the first two releases along with it's own stylings. The music is as epic as the first entry, yet contains a bit more of an active melodic edge like the second entry. Where the third blooms into it's own though is the addition of the folk elements. 

A flute playing a lead melody, an old man speaks of years past while sitting around a fire while a harp plays, small moments amongst the huge swaths of endless melodies. Dra Sad III has a much heavier reliance on vocals than either of the first two entries as well. Be they deep spoken words, or a Nazgul type shriek in the distance, the vocals - while sparse - provide an additional layer to the music that was not nearly as present in the first two records.

Dra Sad is among the best music in my collection. It is some of the finest modern dungeon synth out there and it rivals even the classics such as Depressive Silence and Mortiis. Elffor has become one of the standard bearers for the genre in modern times.

Entry 999 - Elffor - Dra Sad II

Style: Epic dungeon synth

Primary Emotions/Themes: The ancients call out to me, the beckon me to join.

Thoughts: Trumpets and choirs beckon fourth the life of Dra Sad II. Soon thereafter timpani's resound in the air to call forth the march. Slowly we are called fourth to the lands of Elffor, where the ancients roam and the knowledge of yore is yet upon us.

I make it no secret that I enjoy Elffor's take on dungeon synth more than most of the genre. The way that they are able to create epic soundscapes for long periods of time without sounding stagnant is a rare quality. Dra Sad II builds on the concepts of the first one and moves the series in a slightly more melodic direction.

Unlike the first Dra Sad, this album focus' heavily on the melody of every moment of the album. The soundscapes are still there, however they are now driven by a more active melody that is championed by multiple instruments. One could be a gallery of horns, the very next moment is could be a pipe organ, the next it could be a combination of instruments intertwining to create a massive wall of sound.

This reliance on melody makes Dra Sad II much more involved than the first entry into the trilogy. In many ways it's more engaging for the active listener, especially when there is a melody and counter melody going on at once. Each of the four songs has a slightly different take on this formula, but they all share the reliance on melody.

Dra Sad II is possibly the best entry into the trilogy. The first album introduced just how epic this series of albums was going to be, and the second now expands on it in every way shape and form. This is what the elite in the genre look like.

Entry 998 - Elffor - Dra Sad I

Style: Epic dungeon synth

Primary Emotions/Themes: To war! We march to war!

Thoughts: I knew that getting into Elffor would be a problem. After hearing Arkaik earlier this year I knew I had to look into more of their discography. The inclusion of the Dra Sad trilogy to my collection is nothing short of an exceptional addition to my collection. This is among some of the best dungeon synth I have ever heard.

The thing that sets Elffor's music apart from much of their peers is the scope of the music. It's not just dungeon synth, this is EPIC dungeon synth. The music stretches far beyond the mere reaches of my speakers, it traverses lands that have never yet ben explored, it recounts tales long forgotten, and brings back memories that were lost to time.

The execution of this music is simple, but it's through this simplicity that the music reveals it's true character. It's easy to let eons of lost memories wash over me as the music whisks me away with its gigantic soundscapes. It lets me recount the great struggles of war as the battle horns rally the troops for an assault. It is all of these things, and more.

This is the first of the trilogy, and it acts as a phenomenal introduction to all things Dra Sad. This is the gateway into another realm, I stand upon the precipice... and I choose to wander in.

Entry 997 - Glasberg - Urklang des Blutes

Style: Ambient, dungeon synth

Primary Emotions/Themes: Scrying through the palantir, the visions it brings are not for the feint of heart.

Thoughts: Glasberg's take on dungeon synth leans heavily into the dark ambient genre. Not only does it have slow brooding passages, but the overall tone and feel could easily be placed within the dark ambient genre - were it not for the use of specific instruments and a heavy reliance on melody and meter.

Each of the songs feels like I am listening to the music through some type of mist or obfuscation. The production applied to the music is distorted, obscured, withdrawn. There are moments however where the music becomes crystal clear and the richness of it's glory can be heard bright as day. It's like coming into a clearing in a thick and ancient forest, a relief as it were.

The songs themselves have a simple nature to them. They don't demand much of the listener, however they do have that constant obscurity to them. I'm consistently wondering if I'm missing some details because of the production. 

Urklang des Blutes will not be on heavy rotation for me, however I am not going to discard the record by the wayside either. It fulfills a specific need that my collection has and it will be befitting on the fall and winter months. Now if you will excuse me I need to go back to scrying to see what other treasures this album may hold.

Entry 996 - Glasberg vs. Pyre:Numen - Nebelvolk

Style: Dark ambient

Primary Emotions/Themes: Traversing a dark sea at night

Thoughts: I'm usually pretty torn on split releases. Most of the time they leave me a bad taste in my mouth. The music on one side of the split does not match that of the other, or I only ever end up spinning one side because the music is superior.

Fortunately none of that applies to Nebelvolk. The entire album feels like one harmonious composition. Pyre reflects the darkness of the shore at night, while Glasberg feels more like a turbulence of the open sea. 

The music contained in Nebelvolk is subtle, so much so that I often forgot that music was playing when listening to this album casually. After several failed attempts I finally bit the bullet and listened all the way through with no distractions.... and what a wonderful decision that was.

The music that is hidden deep beneath the layers of silence is rewarding to say the least. Both artists excel at the dark ambient art by weaving minimalistic melodies with textures and soundscapes that lend the album a feeling like being at sea. 

Pyre:Numen's side feels more grounded, like someone looking out into a dark sea at night and trying to make out the shapes that are hidden there. It is dark, and requires great concentration to find all of the small details. Be it the echoes of battle or the hint of rushing waves buried deep in the mix, I'm always surprised to find more than I remembered upon repeated listens... even with the minimalistic composition.

Glasberg's side is a bit more overt. After a few moments of silence the music rolls in like waves. The cascade in and out like a turbulent storm, the darkness obscuring everything around us. The deep tones that accompany the melodies remind me of the darkness of the depths in the water and bring about uncertainty if I'm going to make it through the night or not.

Nebelvolk is a wonderful split album that has the rare effect of the artists complimenting each other's style to near perfection. I eagerly listen to one side knowing that the next side will be just as compelling. This with the depth of secrets found in these thirty something minutes of music make this a musical journey well worth embarking on.