Dungeon Synth: Ambient Dark Metal That I Adore

A grey-bearded wizard holds a staff with a shimmering crystal embedded at its end aloft as he invokes the arcane arts at the head of a mighty summit to call the ancient stones to life. A daring thief secures her pack as she ventures into a decrepit dungeon with only flickering torch light to guide her treasure-seeking eyes. A warrior holds aloft their ancient sword, dented and knocked from countless battles as the dragon before them roars and prepares to breathe a conflagration to consume the hero. 

If these images spark a certain feeling within you, you may want to consider listening to Dungeon Synth, the lo-fi ambient sub-genre of black metal featuring artists like Erang, Vaelastrasz, Old Sorcery, Secret Stairways, and many more. It’s a relatively niche genre, but I adore it and want to talk about why it’s important to me and what exactly is Dungeon Synth. So, in the spirit of one of my major sources for the history of Dungeon Synth, enjoy some music from my personal playlist. 

   

An excellent break down on the origins and components of the genre can be found on the here, which goes into far greater detail on the history and origins of the genre than I could, and so I’d rather focus on the basics before exploring my own personal fascination with the genre. In essence, the genre is indeed a subset of black metal emerging in the early ‘90s as an expansion of the intros and outros that many of these artists utilized for their heavier work. So much of the work of the early period was preserved via the tapes exchanged and shared by these artists. Despite this ancestry in metal, the key features of the genre’s sound aren’t drums or distorted guitar, but rather synthesizers and orchestral loops. The general composition is more akin to atmospheric and ambient tracks. The Neocities site aptly describes this diverse mix of influence as a mix of “neoclassical, lo-fi, new age, nose, medieval, drone, and even chiptune.” In short, its musical origins are in Black Metal, its aesthetic sensibilities in the medieval and fantastical, and its composition in the ambient and atmospheric. 

The aesthetic in particular is perhaps the defining trait of the genre’s image. Despite (mostly) having no lyrics, the style is undeniably medieval in presentation, even before the album art and track titles are noted. The art is often as lo-fi as the music, with fog, static and fuzz, and a distinct fade as if the cover was produced decades ago and not only a few years.  I don’t say this as a criticism by the way. This aesthetic is indeed a core element of the genre and helps ground the music in a particular vibe. 

I first started listening to Dungeon Synth as I was looking for music to add to the various playlists I would play for my Dungeons and Dragons games. One of the reccommended tracks was “Sorcerer’s Dream” by Old Sorcery, the first track on the EP “Realms of Magickal Sorrow”, and I feel that both the track and EP titles explain the vibe of Dungeon Synth far better than any essay or blog. It’s not surprising then that Old Sorcery holds a special place in my heart as my introduction to the genre, but there are plenty others worth discussing. If you’re new to the genre, these are my personal picks for “keystones”, in other words, albums that are key for getting a sense of what the genre is at it’s core: 

• Erreth-Akbe - “A Lantern Swathed”

• Silent Cabin - “Gently Veiled”

• Örnatorpet - “Midvintersagor”

• Erang - “Within the Land of Imagination I Am the Only God”

• Arath - “Arath”

• Vaelastrasz - “Winterspring”

I actually would like to especially highlight Vaelastrasz as my personal favourite Dungeon Synth artist. Along with pushing the genre in new and interesting directions with collaborations, acoustic instruments, and the occasional lyrics, many of their albums are largely inspired by the World of Warcraft with albums like “Sunstrider”, “The Age of Defias”, and “Return to Plaguelands” incorporating the themes and tone of these stories into the fold of the genre’s discography. In this sense, Vaelastrasz has created Rosetta Stones for fans of Warcraft and Dungeon Synth to find understanding and commonality. Because of the stories alluded to by the song titles, Vael is able to convey a greater narrative meaning in their music through these allusions. The track “Sunwell” may be a gorgeous introduction to “Sunstrider,” but the brief, graceful tones that imply light and a holy shrine resonate with those familiar with the story of Quel’Thalas and what was lost when the Scourge decimated the High Elves. 

Besides this personal nostalgia for when I played WoW on my laptop in Junior High and High School, the genre still conveys a peculiar but greater nostalgia for a time I never experienced and to be frank, didn’t even “exist” in the sense we would think of it. As a genre, Dungeon Synth revives and aesthetic of DIY fantasy. The sort that you see in fan art and behind-the-scenes footage of fantasy films showing the plaster and matte paintings that created worlds beyond imagination. To me, Dungeon Synth is the genre of “what could be” more than anything else. Perhaps the feeling is not “nostalgia” but something else. A fond recollection that becomes a desire for new wonders. It’s a genre built on old school media like books, video games, and of course metal, but it refuses to remain stuck in the past. It changes. It becomes something new. It finds new stories to tell through its aesthetic and composition alone. And that’s something very special indeed. 

So what is Dungeon Synth? It is where the magick of olde collides with the tales of the future to create music that feels as though you remembered it once long ago.