Dungeon Synth
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Dungeon Synth
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| Development phase: | Late 1980s |
| Place of origin: | Mainly Europe |
| Stylistic precursors | |
| Black Metal • Dark Ambient | |
| Pioneers | |
| Mortiis • Uruk-Hai • Lunar Womb • Galdur • Wongraven • Lord Lovidicus • Anubis | |
| Instruments typical of the genre | |
| Keyboard • Synthesizer • Drums | |
Dungeon Synth is a subgenre of the Dark Ambient that developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s and works with elements or themes that are typically taken up in Black Metal . In contrast to Black Metal, the pieces are dreamy and ambient . Dungeon Synth is often compared to computer game music, as the artists often adapt and process content from video games.
history
Dungeon Synth was created in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The musician Mortiis of the black metal band Emperor is considered to be a pioneer of this music genre , whose almost two and a half minute intro from the 1992 demo Wrath of the Tyrant was described as Mortiis' first song. In 1993 Mortiis released The Song of a Long Forgotten Ghost, a demo album that contained everything that defines today's Dungeon Synth. However, groups like Dead Can Dance - especially their work Within the Realm of a Dying Sun , published in 1987 - or the German band Tangerine Dream had a significant musical influence on the development of the Dungeon Synth.
Many musicians of the second wave of Norwegian Black Metal of the 1990s, including Varg Vikernes , Satyr and Mortiis, founded musical side projects that mainly work with the sounds of electronic music or simply integrated the atmosphere created by the use of synthesizers into their intro and outro pieces . Many fans describe this phase as the founding time of the Dungeon Synth and the releases from this period are regarded as a source of inspiration by most performers of this genre today.
The albums Dauði Baldrs and Hliðskjálf von Burzum are described as a departure from classic Black Metal towards electronic-sounding pieces. The Satyricon subsidiary project Wongraven went through a similar development . Prominent labels that produce Dungeon Synth include Out of Season , Deivlforst Records and Hollow Myths . A scene developed that remained connected to the aesthetics and, in some cases, the diversity of topics, but was able to achieve autonomy through its own projects.
Mortiis, who is considered the founder of the music genre and the associated scene, explained in an interview with Decibel Magazine that he hardly knew anything about the scene and that he was not sure whether the genre of music owed its entire existence to him.
music
Representatives of the second wave of Black Metal worked with atmospheric sounding intros, which were recorded with synthesizers and simple sounding percussions , to create a gloomy and shifting overall atmosphere . From these songs, actually intended as musical interludes, musical side projects emerged in the context of the groups Emperor and Satyricon, which recorded entire albums with such pieces.
In the Dungeon Synth mainly fantasy-like topics - including JRR Tolkien - are processed. Publications in the genre range from the simplest recordings of living room projects to highly professionally recorded pieces of music. Dungeon Synth also increasingly attracted amateur musicians.
Important representatives
Individual evidence
- ↑ Stephan Möller, Sven Lattemann, Marc Thorbrügge, Stefan Wolfsbrunn: The 10 ... best projects of the Dungeon Synth. Metal.de , September 13, 2017, accessed October 29, 2019 .
- ↑ a b c d e Charles Kahler: A Beginner's Guide to… Dungeon Synth. Indymetalvault.com, November 21, 2017, accessed October 29, 2019 .
- ↑ a b c Stephan Möller, Sven Lattemann, Marc Thorbrügge, Stefan Wolfsbrunn: The 10 ... best projects of the Dungeon Synth. Metal.de, September 13, 2017, accessed October 29, 2019 .
- ^ Neill Jameson: Mortiis: From Black Metal to Dungeon Synth and Beyond. Decibel , October 16, 2017, accessed October 29, 2019 .