about DS (from "Black Metal Compendium vol.1", 2017)
Oct 23, 2017 11:31:14 GMT -5
Post by stormcrow on Oct 23, 2017 11:31:14 GMT -5
About Dungeon Synth's birth and early days, from the "Black Metal Compendium Vol.1" book by L. Ottolenghi & S. VavalΓ (published in Italian only):
....and here's my translation, as accurate as possibile:
[...] another subgenre we're going to talk about, is the one recently renamed "dungeon synth", born with earliest Mortiis records (which he calls the "Era 1" of his production).
In the 90s, this subgenre has a delicate growth, mostly as a side-project from some black metal musicians, but with average results. Anyway, we decided to talk about a few records, which aren't black metal at all, actually, for two reasons: first of all, the birth of these side-projects let many black-metal-fans getting familiar with "dark ambient" sounds and Swedish industrial record label Cold Meat Industry, so the connection between the two scenes grew stronger. Second, we noticed how the dawn of dungeon synth is similar to the black metal one: artists are often unreachable by fans, and even their identity is mostly unknwown; DS circuit is very restricted (just a few sites and social media), as well as totally out of any kind of music-business (mostly free/donation distribution); the very few offically printed media are on cassette, as a remembrance of the old demotapes, but using meanwhile the modern methods of communication; recording style clearly recalls the "old school dungeon synth", but at the same time the new technology allows more sophisticated releases.
Finally, the DS scene could be identified in three main artists: Mortiis (which is actually the most important "bridge" between two genres, because of his past as Emperor's bassist), Satyr (because of his "Wongraven" project) and Burzum (since his "prison albums" and some recent one). So, there is a really strong connection between Dungeon Synth and the genre we're speaking of in this book [...]
....and here's my translation, as accurate as possibile:
[...] another subgenre we're going to talk about, is the one recently renamed "dungeon synth", born with earliest Mortiis records (which he calls the "Era 1" of his production).
In the 90s, this subgenre has a delicate growth, mostly as a side-project from some black metal musicians, but with average results. Anyway, we decided to talk about a few records, which aren't black metal at all, actually, for two reasons: first of all, the birth of these side-projects let many black-metal-fans getting familiar with "dark ambient" sounds and Swedish industrial record label Cold Meat Industry, so the connection between the two scenes grew stronger. Second, we noticed how the dawn of dungeon synth is similar to the black metal one: artists are often unreachable by fans, and even their identity is mostly unknwown; DS circuit is very restricted (just a few sites and social media), as well as totally out of any kind of music-business (mostly free/donation distribution); the very few offically printed media are on cassette, as a remembrance of the old demotapes, but using meanwhile the modern methods of communication; recording style clearly recalls the "old school dungeon synth", but at the same time the new technology allows more sophisticated releases.
Finally, the DS scene could be identified in three main artists: Mortiis (which is actually the most important "bridge" between two genres, because of his past as Emperor's bassist), Satyr (because of his "Wongraven" project) and Burzum (since his "prison albums" and some recent one). So, there is a really strong connection between Dungeon Synth and the genre we're speaking of in this book [...]