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Post by Daytol on Apr 11, 2021 23:21:40 GMT -5
One day, many years ago, I came home from work to happily find a package from a heavy metal company waiting for me that had come in the mail. My happiness turned to confusion though, making me go "what the hell is THIS?" when all this stuff fell out of the envelope when I opened it. What was all this *stuff* when all I did was either order one t-shirt or one cd?
Included with the order was free heavy metal fanzines, one of which was The Grimoire of Exhalted Deeds, quite the colorful publication there, to say the least.
The second reason I went "what the hell..." was this thing on the cover, having an obvious prosthetic nose, obviously prosthetic pointy ears, and with his arms being spread, he had bat wings as his costume.
That was Mortiis, of course, which there was an interview with him in that issue.
Sounding interesting, I went out and got his cd of Født til å Herske at a store without hearing one single note of it beforehand, having a bit of a six sense that I'm going to like something without hearing it first and I was right (I've yet to be wrong, and I don't like everything either!). I was lucky too, because even though I live in the fourth largest city in my country (Houston), I heard a radio dj say several years later we rank 16th as far as live venues, music availability and the like goes; not a real good ratio, so I was lucky to be able to get that as it was, as the only other time I saw an album of his (The Stargate) was also at a record store on that side of town, which was odd. Because the place I got Herske at was near a temp job that I was working at the time, which was like a 40 minute drive away. I never would've gone into that store if it wasn't for that due to the length of the drive. If you were into popular stuff, the only thing you needed to do back then was find the closest store with the best prices; not so much with underground stuff.
This led me to getting (through the mail) three of his four Vond cds, as well as his Cintecele Diavolui cd too. I also got Desiderii Marginnis's Songs Over Ruins (yeah I know, dark ambient rather than dungeon synth, but some artists cross over/they have a bit in common) and Swartalf's Candles Burning Blue cds.
I only got back into dungeon synth in the last year due to being on Mortiis's e-mailing list forever, letting me know about the Dungeon Siege concert last year, so I sat through that and this year's (just the other week), getting exposed to a lot of current artists that are new to me. Nice to be back, after all these years 
With the rise of Emperor in the underground thrash metal world, we all heard about how Mortiis played bass with them until he was booted out before their debut was released. So I'm sure I would have heard of him and gotten into him anyway, but who can say for sure?
So, thanks to whatever employee it was from either Nuclear Blast America or Relapse Records for putting that 'zine in my order, this is how my history with dungeon synth happened, as I could possibly have a great genre of music missing from my life if it didn't.
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Overlooked
Peasant
https://soundcloud.com/overlookedambient
Posts: 13
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Post by Overlooked on May 27, 2021 8:28:17 GMT -5
Tomhet, I liked the song by Burzum and wanted to find more music like that and here I am.
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Post by clrecords on Jun 1, 2021 4:56:09 GMT -5
Same story, dicovred Burzum in the middle of the year 2000 and summoning... After that I completely forgot this style then in 2013 I left in.
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Post by madrayken on Jun 12, 2021 1:08:56 GMT -5
Hmm. Long history with Dead Can Dance, a ton of weird old dark ambient (including Mortiis), video game soundtracks (from the 80s, in particular) etc. I only really got into it in a big way after discovering Forlorn Kingdom’s ‘Walking the Paths of Old’ and loving its heavy use of minimalistic repetition. The synthesized sound was both cheaper and more genuine than a lot of the polished ‘fake orchestral’ stuff I’d been hearing and I was hooked. To this day I prefer the sounds of super cheap organs and keyboards to high-quality samples and romplers: wear your synthyness with pride!
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Post by Daytol on Jun 12, 2021 8:10:59 GMT -5
I only really got into it in a big way after discovering Forlorn Kingdom’s ‘Walking the Paths of Old’ and loving its heavy use of minimalistic repetition. Can't blame you for that, it's a good one! One on my "wish" list once I start supporting artists  |
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Post by crystallogic13 on Jun 13, 2021 1:39:17 GMT -5
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Post by Daytol on Jun 13, 2021 9:06:04 GMT -5
^Yeah, strange, I don't see how I missed that, as I spent several days looking around on here before getting my account created and that's only on page 2, I think. I would've just bumped that one. Oh well, I shouldn't be duplicating threads from now on, I've been here long enough now!
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Hatis
Peasant
https://hatis.bandcamp.com/
Posts: 21
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Post by Hatis on Jul 1, 2021 5:00:18 GMT -5
Mortiis (mainly Crypt of the Wizard) and some songs from Summoning's Minas Morgul, in the late 90s.
BTW, it's my first post here, so hello!
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Post by Daytol on Jul 1, 2021 8:53:10 GMT -5
Hi, and welcome! Hope to hear more from you!
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Post by Lord Tetrarch on Jul 14, 2021 10:09:26 GMT -5
I would have to say Stronghold by Summoning. I realize it isn't exactly dungeon synth, but hearing it was enough to let me know that there were people out there making dark electronic music and I immediately became attached to it.
It was when I heard Die Festung by Paysage d'Hiver soon after when I realized synth exclusive music was a thing. That album had me petrified. It was hands down the most mysterious thing I ever listened to.
Never really got into Mortiis back then.
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Post by Nick 'Nachzehrer' Walker on Aug 4, 2021 14:32:21 GMT -5
Jim Kirkwood I think for me. His stuff stands out from much of the stuff out today. There is some really good stuff out there at the moment. Although a lot of it sounds a bit stale, uninventive and going through the motions.
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skeleton
Peasant
Ancient bones rattling within the darkness
Posts: 10
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Post by skeleton on Aug 12, 2021 16:11:08 GMT -5
Riveting. Thanks for sharing your stories here! I got into DS last year, shortly before I wandered my way into this forum. I was recommended, oddly enough, a YouTube video from the Dungeon Synth Archive! And that very upload was Burzum - Dauði Baldrs!!! That pesky algorithm knew it had to send me on a journey, and I don't quite know what brand of curiosity came over me in that slight moment of hesitation. I clicked it, and I don't think I've ever been the same since. That album always takes me on a darkened pathway, and is still a frequent listen, one of my favourites! I joined this lovely haunt shortly after, and engorged on the discussions and the "What you're listening to right now" thread, to discover Dungeon Synth direct from the mouth of its die-hard enthusiasts. I wouldn't have listened to half of the tapes I have listened to thus far without crystallogic13's mastery of the genre and his recommendations. I doff my wizard hat to you, crystal! I grew up on sounds from greats such as Ian Taylor (RuneScape), and Josh Mancell (Mutato Muzika), and synth or ambient sound has been stuff I've always gravitated to, but never quite understood why until the day I was recommended to listen to Burzum. |
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Post by Daytol on Aug 12, 2021 18:14:06 GMT -5
^That's the wonders of the YouTube algorithm!
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Post by crystallogic13 on Aug 21, 2021 6:35:45 GMT -5
skeleton mate I'm so flattered, not enough words to say, I personally love DS so this forum is my home for this cause, and while I read all else DS communities places (reddit , Facebook), I prefer to post either here or on reddit (different nick but not posting much there since it's also quiet there - trying to concentrate here when I got time!), since on Facebook, every GREAT conversation I've read if I don't "save" to read later is lost in the damn "wall" format of Facebook which can only go so much back in time and you're #@$^ed if you miss for some time and want to catch up, you'll simply scroll endlessly till FB decides it's enough way back in time :/ So I'm very glad to see people post here and participate as to keep it alive and a good as it can be of a source for future "scholars" of DS to find their way... In general let me one more time take the time to post how much I appreciate this gem of the genre which, along with other genres also in the past, has being like opening an ENDLESS treasure chest that keeps on giving... Dungeon Synth is one of the very few genres nowadays I **try** to keep up since I don't want to lose any underground undiscovered gem of music, but it's a never ending battle as the backlog always increases which is to be honest, a GREAT thing since it shows DS keeps getting bigger and bigger... Dungeon Synth is a genre that is as if you put in cauldron a fair amount of Epic OSTs,Early Electronic,Ambient,Fantasy,Medieval and Clasical,Neo-Classical,Role Playing Games and Video Games Music and aesthetics, Black Metal aesthetics+ and so many other genres that all come down to this point, this genre.. A genre that most people that are fans thought of it like " How many years have I been searching this kind of music and genre?", like with other technological+ things and despite unfortunately living in tough times, music-wise I think all of us are blessed to have been alive from the 80s onwards.. We lived and still live an age of future myths imho! Again, thanx for the comment and sorry if I got very carried away, blame 420 
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Post by erisianchalice on Aug 21, 2021 10:09:00 GMT -5
I first heard the Burzum prison albums in 2001 when I was a freshman in college and had access to a T3 connection and file sharing. and I also loved the old Emperor and Satyricon interludes and intros and stuff, and bands like Mithotyn that had lo fi folky synthy parts.
I had heard of Mortiis too from seeing promos in Metal Maniacs zine for "the smell of rain" album, but the track i heard from it on a comp I thought sucked, and I was unable at the time to track down his early stuff, which was rumored to be good dark ambient material
I've always been metal guy but peripherally into neo folk and dark ambient, and retro synth too, and i kept touch a little bit with that stuff on the internet and eventually was underwhelmed by era 1 mortiis when I heard it.
I dont remember the first time I saw "dungeon synth" as a genre but I did intuitively understand what it and linked it to burzum and mortiis and old black metal intros immediately.
The first contemporary dungeon synth album i heard and fell in love with was Old Sorcery "Realms of Magickal Sorrow," and its still a touchstone for me. If I can conjure even half as mystical an atmosphere as that album, I'll consider that a success LOL
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