Album Commentary
Dec 18, 2016 9:02:13 GMT -5
Post by andrewwerdna on Dec 18, 2016 9:02:13 GMT -5
Ok, so the idea behind this thread is to jot down one's thoughts as they're listening. It'll be like a stream of consciousness thing. I plan to do a lot of these for first-listens of albums, because I want to get caught up, and since I've been so shitty about giving proper reviews this seems the next best thing.
So, I'm going to start with Verminaard - Warderns of a Light-Starved Realm
I've been wanting to give this a proper listen for a long time. I love the cover art, and I've taken a few quick glances at the music and really liked what I heard.
The synths are right on point. Old and crusty, but still unfamiliar. I personally can't get enough of this sound. The synths remind me of Lord Lovidicus' early stuff. I can obviously hear the Abandoned Places influence as well, with the dissonance. I think I remember Verminaard saying in an interview somewhere that he utilizes chromatic scales. I don't fully understand what that means, but I think it's a cool unique sound when it's done well. A lot of dungeon synth is starting to sound the same, and I think that's largely because it tends to have a pretty locked language as far as scales and modes and whatnot. I'm very ignorant about musical theory. But in my tinkering I feel like I've learned that it can help if you want to break out of a certain sound. That said, I'm not sure it's such a good thing, while I really like Abandoned Places, I'm incapable of truly loving it, and I think that's in large part because it's so dissonantly distant.
But now I'm already regretting my words as I move on to "Where Lifeless Eyes Hold Vigil." The beginning of this track is great. Here I think the dissonance is mixed in with the beautiful melodies in just enough of a contrasting way that a glimmer of light still remains in the musty catacomb. It makes me think that this sort of unexpected dissonance should be a necessary ingredient to any dynamic ds record. Maybe not so thoroughly though. Dissonance like this is challenging, and at the end of the day dungeon synth is an escape from certain challenges of modernity.
I loved the beginning of that last song and I love the beginning to this next one ("Afloat in Seas of Temporal Mist"). Both start very pretty and then descend into blackness. But sometimes that is where we must go, is it not? I really love this so far, even the dissonant parts sound somehow right. That's the special skill Abandoned Places often (not always) wielded. This is great. The dissonance gives it such an alien, original atmosphere. Like, maybe you don't get that immediate fix of triumph, but you'll certainly never hear a album like this again.
Listening to "Down Crumbling Stairs Into the Throat of Darkness," wow, very dizzying. In a good way. It challenges the palette perfectly, by offering familiarly melodious morsels for a brief moment, only to snatch them away again into the madness of uncertainty and imperfection.
Like Abandoned Places, it's very fascinating and interesting to listen to, but not something I imagine that I'll listen to much of; it's a little too dissonant for me personally.
So, I'm going to start with Verminaard - Warderns of a Light-Starved Realm
I've been wanting to give this a proper listen for a long time. I love the cover art, and I've taken a few quick glances at the music and really liked what I heard.
The synths are right on point. Old and crusty, but still unfamiliar. I personally can't get enough of this sound. The synths remind me of Lord Lovidicus' early stuff. I can obviously hear the Abandoned Places influence as well, with the dissonance. I think I remember Verminaard saying in an interview somewhere that he utilizes chromatic scales. I don't fully understand what that means, but I think it's a cool unique sound when it's done well. A lot of dungeon synth is starting to sound the same, and I think that's largely because it tends to have a pretty locked language as far as scales and modes and whatnot. I'm very ignorant about musical theory. But in my tinkering I feel like I've learned that it can help if you want to break out of a certain sound. That said, I'm not sure it's such a good thing, while I really like Abandoned Places, I'm incapable of truly loving it, and I think that's in large part because it's so dissonantly distant.
But now I'm already regretting my words as I move on to "Where Lifeless Eyes Hold Vigil." The beginning of this track is great. Here I think the dissonance is mixed in with the beautiful melodies in just enough of a contrasting way that a glimmer of light still remains in the musty catacomb. It makes me think that this sort of unexpected dissonance should be a necessary ingredient to any dynamic ds record. Maybe not so thoroughly though. Dissonance like this is challenging, and at the end of the day dungeon synth is an escape from certain challenges of modernity.
I loved the beginning of that last song and I love the beginning to this next one ("Afloat in Seas of Temporal Mist"). Both start very pretty and then descend into blackness. But sometimes that is where we must go, is it not? I really love this so far, even the dissonant parts sound somehow right. That's the special skill Abandoned Places often (not always) wielded. This is great. The dissonance gives it such an alien, original atmosphere. Like, maybe you don't get that immediate fix of triumph, but you'll certainly never hear a album like this again.
Listening to "Down Crumbling Stairs Into the Throat of Darkness," wow, very dizzying. In a good way. It challenges the palette perfectly, by offering familiarly melodious morsels for a brief moment, only to snatch them away again into the madness of uncertainty and imperfection.
Like Abandoned Places, it's very fascinating and interesting to listen to, but not something I imagine that I'll listen to much of; it's a little too dissonant for me personally.