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.
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