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Post by dungeonsynthzine on Feb 23, 2021 5:26:27 GMT -5
This tree has been made to the best of my knowledge. The main criterium is being influential (judged on the basis of conversations with musicians and asking the question: who inspired you?). I'm leaving it here for discussion.
Seeds (1972-1992)
Tangerine Dream - Zeit (1972)
Klaus Schulze - Timewind (1975)
Basil Poledouris - Conan the Barbarian OST (1982)
Dead Can Dance - Within the Realm of a Dying Sun (1987)
Enya - Watermark (1988)
Jim Kirkwood - Where Shadows Lie (1990)
Roots (1993-1999)
Mortiis - The Song of a Long Forgotten Ghost (1993)
Mortiis - Fodt til a Herske (1994)
Mortiis - Anden som gjorde oppror (1994)
Lamentation - Fullmoon Over Faerhaven (1994)
Burzum - Filosofem (1995)
Summoning - Minas Morgul (1995)
Wongraven - Fjelltronen (1996)
Depressive Silence - Mourning (1996)
Cernunnos Woods - Awaken The Empire of Dark Wood (1996)
Secret Stairways - Enchantment of the Ring (1996)
Arcana Liturgia - MCCXXXI (1997)
Burzum - Daudi Baldrs (1997)
Paysage d'Hiver - Die Festung (1998)
Corvus Neblus - Strahd's Possession (1999)
Trunk (2000-2017)
Erang - Tome I (2012)
Evilnox - Age of Blood and Fire (2013)
Ranseur - Cracked Castle (2013)
Hedge Wizard - More True Than Time Thought (2014)
Lord Lovidicus - Book of Lore - Vol. 1 (2015)
Murgrind - Inheritor of the Forest Throne (2015)
Galdur - Age of Legends (2016)
Thangorodrim - Taur Nu Fuin (2016)
Fief - II (2016)
Old Tower - The Rise of the Specter (2017)
Old Sorcery - Realms of Magickal Sorrow (2017)
Crown (2017-2020)
Grol the Goblin - Grol the Goblin (2018)
Gargoylium - De Cheminements et de Batailles... (2018)
Ornatorpet - Bergtagen (2018)
Malfet - The Way to Avalon (2019)
Hole Dweller - Flies the Coop (2019)
Dame Silu de Mordomoire - Ordeals (2019)
Tarkin Turfer - Old Finnbar Furrowbrow (2019)
Castle Zagyx - Cavaliers of the Western Heartlands (2020)
The WORM - Church ov THE WORM (2020)
New Seeds:
Chronicles of Jest - Yeoman's Tale (2016)
Diplodocus - Slow and Heavy (2019)
Grandma's Cottage - Grandma's Cottage (2019)
Forklift Operator - Warehouse no. 1 (2019)
Additional reading:
Castlevania - OST (1986)
Satyricon - The Shadowthrone (1994)
Emperor - In the Nightside Eclipse (1994)
Mortiis - Keiser av en dimensjon ukjent (1995)
December's Fire - Vae Victis (1996)
Mortiis - Crypt of the Wizard (1996)
Matt Uelmen - Diablo I OST (1996)
Summoning - Dol Guldur (1997)
Casket of Dreams - Dragons of Autumn Twilight (1998)
Summoning - Stronghold (1999)
Summoning - Let Mortal Heroes Sing Your Fame (2001)
Matt Uelmen - Diablo II OST (2001)
Nest - Woodsmoke (2003)
Xynfonica - A Feast for Famished Ravens (2007)
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Post by crystallogic13 on Feb 23, 2021 12:16:33 GMT -5
Nice dungeonsynthzine, very interesting and useful hopefully for newcomers list!! I personally have some remarks/observations/disagreements/omitted stuff but that's the point of the thread to discuss it : First of all I would never distinguish the periods in these spaces, the seeds covers a wide area of really early and nice electronic music to 1992 when Burzum's first great ambient tracks have already been released.. I'd probably split it into :early era(tracking back the roots of DS to medieval music, classical, baroque maybe..), then early electronic mostly era (1960-1987/8), following then with the Black Metal era(and Mortiis subsequently) of ambient tracks (1989-1994) and then to separate unique first early Dungeon Synth(without named such back then) dating from 1994/5 to 2002/3... This should be the first era when the genre actually started too exist separately.. Then I'd add the "hard" years, probably 2003 to up and until 2009/10. Then is the revival I think era when Lord Lovidicus, Abandoned Places, Erang and more people (some of them members here) , along with the Dungeon Synth blogs and Andrewwerdna's naming of "Dungeon Synth" brought the complete revival - Bandcamp was essential on this.. Then the "modern" era, 2016 onwards, with the explosion of the facebook pages, this forum, reddit and general outreach of the genre.. That's for now regarding time frames I'll come back later to comment on some specific releases and stuff , both included and non included hehe I also believe this forum and it's threads is a treasure of information not only about Dungeon Synth but music in general , lots of things to dig and have already been discussed especially in the roots of DS Nice thread for discussion
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Post by arillius on Feb 23, 2021 14:52:21 GMT -5
Edit: after a couple of hours to digest what I wrote in response, I realize I did not offer any real input other than I don't agree about Grol on the list. I'll just leave it at that, I suppose.
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Post by castlezagyx on Feb 23, 2021 16:33:36 GMT -5
Nice list. It's difficult to determine which current projects will be more influential or which are currently influencing musicians and listeners. I suppose it's a matter of preferences and even cultural / regional influences, but speaking about artistic criteria I would add Umbría - The Sleeping Wizard, Ur Pale - Crystal Waves Orchestra, Guild of Lore - Winterstead and Khand - The Sage of Witherthorn for their originality and creative value; Wallachian Cobwebs - Hearken to the Moon Whisper as the strongest vampiric album; and Arthuros - Kosmos as a current exponent of synthetic sound without ROMplers / samples. I'm sure Bellkeeper - The First Flame of Lordran and Nameless King - Downfall of Drangleic will be very memorable videogame-related albums.
In any case, I would add Ildjarn + Niddhogg - Hardangervidda I (2002) to the early days of "trunk" (or, at least, to "additional reading"), because I think it forms a very strong nexus between ambient and black metal during a sparse and arid era. Also Til Det Bergens Skygenne - Vandringen I (2011) as one of the best works of analog sound. And possibly DIM, Barak Tor, Sequestered Keep, Arath-Grimrik, Skarpseian, Tir, Splendorious, Utred and Chaucerian Myth deserve a lot to be on that list among the most influential ones.
At the roots, I think Elffor - Into the Dark Forest (1998) is a very important album, made by means of an incredible artistic and aesthetic vision.
I must say that I stick to artistic criteria (euphemism for not saying personal taste, haha!) and my view is skewed on what is "influential". You have a much broader knowledge about the genre.
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Post by ranseur on Feb 24, 2021 1:21:51 GMT -5
Pretty cool list. Something like this will be endlessly debatable though. Like i think foglord should be on here because he was really the first to mix new age and ds. I also think there's more to the early or proto years but that stuff is even more debatable. So I don't know if it's possible to get something like this perfect it's just a food for thought thing.
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Post by dungeonsynthzine on Feb 24, 2021 16:55:38 GMT -5
Nice dungeonsynthzine, very interesting and useful hopefully for newcomers list!! I personally have some remarks/observations/disagreements/omitted stuff but that's the point of the thread to discuss it : First of all I would never distinguish the periods in these spaces, the seeds covers a wide area of really early and nice electronic music to 1992 when Burzum's first great ambient tracks have already been released.. I'd probably split it into :early era(tracking back the roots of DS to medieval music, classical, baroque maybe..), then early electronic mostly era (1960-1987/8), following then with the Black Metal era(and Mortiis subsequently) of ambient tracks (1989-1994) and then to separate unique first early Dungeon Synth(without named such back then) dating from 1994/5 to 2002/3... This should be the first era when the genre actually started too exist separately.. Then I'd add the "hard" years, probably 2003 to up and until 2009/10. Then is the revival I think era when Lord Lovidicus, Abandoned Places, Erang and more people (some of them members here) , along with the Dungeon Synth blogs and Andrewwerdna's naming of "Dungeon Synth" brought the complete revival - Bandcamp was essential on this.. Then the "modern" era, 2016 onwards, with the explosion of the facebook pages, this forum, reddit and general outreach of the genre.. That's for now regarding time frames I'll come back later to comment on some specific releases and stuff , both included and non included hehe I also believe this forum and it's threads is a treasure of information not only about Dungeon Synth but music in general , lots of things to dig and have already been discussed especially in the roots of DS Nice thread for discussion Oh man, I don't know where to start. I think that we could probably trace it back to Miklós Rózsa or "Furniture Music". It's quite possible. I definitely agree that earlier Burzum SONGS played a big role, but not the whole albums. In this respect, I'm dubious even about "Filosofem". But definitely "Han Som Reiste" is one of the most influential pieces in dungeon synth, maybe even THE most influential. I hear it everywhere. Baroque? Absolutely, we could go for Back and Beethoven, very influential for the vampyric branch. But they didn't record any albums. As for 2003-2010 you mentioned, can you think of any MUST HAVE albums to put on this list? The point here is to cut it down to the minimum, a small guide for the newcomers.
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Post by dungeonsynthzine on Feb 24, 2021 16:56:47 GMT -5
Edit: after a couple of hours to digest what I wrote in response, I realize I did not offer any real input other than I don't agree about Grol on the list. I'll just leave it at that, I suppose. Why not? It was the first project to be called Goblin Synth, which apparently is bearing fruit and giving birth to more projects of this name.
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Post by dungeonsynthzine on Feb 24, 2021 16:59:00 GMT -5
Pretty cool list. Something like this will be endlessly debatable though. Like i think foglord should be on here because he was really the first to mix new age and ds. I also think there's more to the early or proto years but that stuff is even more debatable. So I don't know if it's possible to get something like this perfect it's just a food for thought thing. Absolutely, I think that some album clearly referring to Enya should be added, but I'm not sure which one yet. As for the early/proto years, is there any album that you consider more important than those mentioned? I'm a slow learner, so maybe something's missing.
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Post by arillius on Feb 25, 2021 8:32:36 GMT -5
Edit: after a couple of hours to digest what I wrote in response, I realize I did not offer any real input other than I don't agree about Grol on the list. I'll just leave it at that, I suppose. Why not? It was the first project to be called Goblin Synth, which apparently is bearing fruit and giving birth to more projects of this name. Because I don't understand how anyone can take it seriously. Without coming off like a major ass again and with no actual ill intent towards Grol, I just don't understand the project or how it even is considered a major player in this genre. I have never heard anyone say their project was inspired by Grol. My overall point in my now edited post is that sometimes in this genre, people put low effort/musicianship stuff on a pedestal and it's something I'll never really understand. Reasons like that is why I keep an arms length away with certain projects. Do I usually keep to myself about this stuff? Yeah, because nobody likes hearing negative comments. But, hey, if we want to be real, there's my opinion. Also, side note DSZ, some of your years are off by a year
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Post by nahadoth on Feb 25, 2021 9:30:52 GMT -5
I would also add that Ranseur was doing some of what we now know as Goblin Synth for many years even before the album "Goblin Music", and that "Goblin Music" (April 2017) predates the first Grol release (Jan 2018) by nearly 8 months. Regardless of any opinion on Grol, some of whose music I legitimately like, and some of which I do not.
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Post by arillius on Feb 25, 2021 9:37:11 GMT -5
So, I guess what is really the outlying factor here is that being the first to use a term to describe your music is more important than the music itself? I'll be honest in saying that I haven't heard all of Grol,for reasons mentioned above. But I did hear the first couple and the last one, and there was growth both musically and thematically, which is cool. Reading again what I said above makes me feel like an ass yet again, but I suppose I just will never understand some of the idiosyncrasies of this genre and how some releases are revered and others are forgotten. It's quite fascinating, really.
Social media has had a major impact on this genre and sound, and continues to do so. I always thought the appeal of Grol was the goofiness of the covers more than anything. I suppose it is unique in that sense, and therefore memorable.
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Post by crystallogic13 on Mar 9, 2021 2:16:45 GMT -5
Indeed Ranseur was the first who used the Goblin Synth term, but anyway Ranseur's music is so great and unique and Grol has also released nice stuff so glad to have more great music to listen to Oh man, I don't know where to start. I think that we could probably trace it back to Miklós Rózsa or "Furniture Music". It's quite possible. I definitely agree that earlier Burzum SONGS played a big role, but not the whole albums. In this respect, I'm dubious even about "Filosofem". But definitely "Han Som Reiste" is one of the most influential pieces in dungeon synth, maybe even THE most influential. I hear it everywhere. Baroque? Absolutely, we could go for Back and Beethoven, very influential for the vampyric branch. But they didn't record any albums. As for 2003-2010 you mentioned, can you think of any MUST HAVE albums to put on this list? The point here is to cut it down to the minimum, a small guide for the newcomers. Exactly mate, early Burzum ambient songs have totally influenced very much the whole genre (nevermind the lunatic that Varg is).. Yes indeed tracing DS roots (early 80s back to medieval or even ancient music since DS is all about Antiquity..) would be a project in itself and hopefully some of the people with deep musical knowledge of both DS and its (older) parent music genres care to research! As for the 2003-2010 period I wanted to find time to make a list but it's not something that can happen soon(no time atm mate I'm afraid ) Regards!
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Post by ranseur on Mar 9, 2021 7:33:05 GMT -5
Pretty cool list. Something like this will be endlessly debatable though. Like i think foglord should be on here because he was really the first to mix new age and ds. I also think there's more to the early or proto years but that stuff is even more debatable. So I don't know if it's possible to get something like this perfect it's just a food for thought thing. Absolutely, I think that some album clearly referring to Enya should be added, but I'm not sure which one yet. As for the early/proto years, is there any album that you consider more important than those mentioned? I'm a slow learner, so maybe something's missing.
Alright I'm just gonna go for it and dump this here even though some people are gonna want to cut my balls off but whatever. Because I've been doing some research that has me kind of questioning the usual narrative about the early history of dungeon synth. I mean in terms of the Berlin school and black metal.
It all started when I was hanging around listening to old metal albums, speed metal, epic metal, that kind of shit. Something I noticed is that, if you're just looking at the 80s, some of the interludes on those albums are much closer to dungeon synth than the interludes on first wave black metal albums. Check out virgin steele's image of a faun at twilight from 1985. When you look at first wave black metal very few of the interludes are what we would normally call proto ds, there are some and they are important, but there are many more from the more traditional metal sub genres.
This caused me to take a look back and try to figure out what the earliest metal or proto metal album with a synth intro is, and as far as I can tell it is the synth intro in rainbow's tarot woman from 1976. It's not very close to ds, but the intro to the gates of babylon from 1978 is closer. Put this more in perspective the first metal album with synths was sabbath bloody sabbath (1973) as far as I know, and it had rick wakeman on it but I'm pretty sure it doesn't have a synth interlude. Remember this is in and around the same time that tangerine dream put out their game changing album phaedra (1974). Then go back and listen to some tracks I'm sure you've all heard a thousand times, mr crowely by ozzy (1980), and holy diver by dio (1983). Okay now go and listen to all the intros to the classic first wave bm albums. You see where I'm going with this. Almost all of them would be considered black ambient.
So basically what I'm saying is that the seeds of dungeon synth were already there pretty early in the history of metal, and this is even before black metal and before the Berlin school started to influence everything. And also that the influence of prog has been understated.
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Post by mahrgdidj on Mar 17, 2021 17:37:27 GMT -5
...the intro to the gates of babylon from 1978 is closer. ...And also that the influence of prog has been understated. Mostly just pumped to see someone reference the absolute masterpiece Gates of Babylon, but more importantly to echo that the influence of prog (at least in the latest wave of DS) is unquestionable. Between Mystal Tree covering Yes at Dungeon Siege MMXX and Jenn Taiga basically channeling Wakeman’s undead ghost, DS seems to be where DIY prog lives in the 21st century. Not denying the influence of metal. Oddly enough, it does still seem to be mostly metal dudes in the scene, but we’re all trying to focus our inner Keith Emerson.
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Post by ranseur on Mar 21, 2021 9:12:49 GMT -5
...the intro to the gates of babylon from 1978 is closer. ...And also that the influence of prog has been understated. Mostly just pumped to see someone reference the absolute masterpiece Gates of Babylon, but more importantly to echo that the influence of prog (at least in the latest wave of DS) is unquestionable. Between Mystal Tree covering Yes at Dungeon Siege MMXX and Jenn Taiga basically channeling Wakeman’s undead ghost, DS seems to be where DIY prog lives in the 21st century. Not denying the influence of metal. Oddly enough, it does still seem to be mostly metal dudes in the scene, but we’re all trying to focus our inner Keith Emerson. I mean I'm not trying to take anything away from metal, but there's been some prog influence in metal since almost the beginning.
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