Winterlandschaft - L'obscurité

Debut release from a project that is active on the new and Polish (and excellent also!) Raven Fortress label. So far the label had released two beautifully looking digipacks from two different projects. This one called Winterlandschaft (Winter Landscapes) and another called Barbaric Frost. I will get to the review of the later release further on. This limited digipack version is a 6 track album, just over 30 minutes of chilly and grim landscapes of coldness and dread. All the tracks on the album don't have any names... just I, II, III, IV, V and VI.          

As you can imagine, the cover-artwork tells it all. A hard-working hunchbacked peasant-lady trying desperately to gain use (grow something) with the hard and frozen soil, maybe trying to dig-up lost potatoes in a spot which she hasn´t been digging? The effort might be as fruitless likes the naked trees in the background, finding food or growing it in the harsh wintertime... something u might do when you are feeling the torture of starvation.

A lovely epic (but quiet) minimal piece of cold and morbid dreadness. Winter synth with a tiny touch of murky bit-synth. The first track starts off with a heavy and vibrating moody synth-key, kind of depressing but with a certain relaxing warmth to it. Think it might be the sound of autumn, that certain feeling when you start to notice the brown leaves and the cold rain on your face. Beautiful but also slightly sad. This heavy synth key meets up with a lighter and atmospheric synth, which almost describes the landscape before you. Yes, the flowers are gone and the leaves are falling down to the ground. The Second track welcomes the cold, darkness and frosty autumn nights. The kind of coldness which leaves frost on your window (or car!). The sound of an upcoming winter depression might be on the way. A darker piece than the first one, nonetheless very beautiful and timeless. The Third track welcomes the snow on the early morning, the kind of snow which kills every sound and movement for miles. EVERYTHING just stands completely still! You are also receiving a sense of getting lost in the mesmerizing snowy-landscape, mainly because everything looks the same... snowy white!. A walk to the nearby village (for food) will not be easier, nor will those potatoes you forgot in the soil (oh dear).

The fourth track welcomes the coldness on winter nights, warmth is all that matters!. It sounds like the kind of coldness which sneaks unnoticed into houses, and leaves you dead-cold after several hours. Almost a haunted horror-themed dread here going on! The fifth track welcomes a kind of hopelessness, the kind of hopelessness that pops up when all else had failed. And you accept it, as you are accepting the beautiful (and cruel) side of the winter season. Last sixth track welcomes death, the kind of death which leaves the same kind of quietness which you´ve heard on track three. A quiet and lonely death which (maybe) will be discovered in spring, after all the snow has melted away. A very meditative melancholic and heavy piece of ambient-synth´ness. 

A great album with tons of minimalistic cold synth-moods. Highly recommended winter-synth for the lonely cold winter nights. Be quick, few physical copies are remaining on the label´s Bandcamp site!            

Bandcamp (label):

https://ravenfortress.bandcamp.com/album/lobscurit

Dispersive Light - Spider

Do u like spiders?... For most of my small boy-years, I was totally afraid of them! Completely unaware that those who lived in my room, actually killed and consumed horrible blood-sucking bugs like the mosquitos and small irritating house-flies. Today, I am ok with them and I even have a tarantella. I am ALSO ok with one of the latest album called Spider by Ukraine-based Dispersive Light. Released via the label (also from Ukraine) called VOLOK Records. A lovely printed CD-R in a great looking solid cardboard limited to only 20 copies (so be quick for the physical version kids!). 8 tracks, 42 minutes.

Dispersive Light´s Spider can be described as guitar-based drone-ambient with industrial moods. Or you could say...not really drone-metal or post-rock, but pure haunted scrapyard ambient noise-rock! The sound is a very living and dynamic being, pulsating waves after waves of crunchy moods in your face. You can almost smell the blood on the distorted guitar strings here, and you can feel the heavyweight-sound holding you down while hypnotizing you. Would that be the spider hypnotizing you, before devouring you (sucking you dry??). I am not 100% sure about that (spider devouring you) since after listening to this great album, it left me in a state of blissful and focused relaxation. A very meditative sensation with tons of analog drones and ritualistic undercurrents. A world of sound that you can emerge yourself totally into! 

I cannot really go down and describe each and every track on the album since the whole thing/tracks work together as one thing/entity. I can recommend this for those who enjoy some of the more experimental tracks with Swans (Soundtrack For the Blind), Stahlwerk Symphonie by early Die Krupps, Controlled Bleeding, but also for fans of that pioneer of industrial esoterica Z´ev (R.I.P). Do yourself a favor and go get it! A rarity u will hear (every time) from the start and to the very end. And the good thing about it is that Disperlive Light has already released many more albums, which can be heard on the Bandcamp site!

Bandcamp (band):

https://dispersivelight1.bandcamp.com/album/spider

Facebook (band):

https://www.facebook.com/DispersiveLight

Bandcamp (label):

https://volokrecords.bandcamp.com/album/spider

Facebook (label):

https://www.facebook.com/volokrecords/

        

Testing Vault - Amnesia Milk

Testing Vault from Italy has been around for some time since 2003 to be exact. Over 15 albums released and a handfull of mini-albums. Most of the material has been released via the act´s own label called Looney-Tick Productions, a label which also has released the likes of Premature Ejaculation and Le Cose Bianche (see link below). This album called Amnesia Milk was released on Looney Tick Productions on the 5th of March this year (2019), if you would purchase the physical (and limited digipack) copy u even get an extra CD with it!. Amnesia Milk? ... What the hell is it?!. Here is a clue from the cover/inner-sleeve. 

"Amnesia Milk" is a sound installation for a recurring dream that Daniele Santagiuliana (the person behind the moniker Testing Vault) has been experimenting with since the end of 2018. An intangible but so lucid place that he can go back every time he wants to see it, where instead of the street lamps, the only source of illumination are milk bottles with a lighted bulb inside each of them.

That´s pretty.... abstract but, interesting. It makes it more interesting when you look at the cover as well, even more, interesting when u are listening to the album while looking at the cover (at the same time)... it makes sense. So what kind of stuff is it?. Think melancholic icy drone-ambient like Biosphere and the surreal pitch-black eerieness from Coil. The kind of experimental ambient-music one might isolate with while it´s raining outside on a dark night. I will only review the main-album, and let the recordings in the extra CD be a surprise for the listener!. 

The first track is a prelude, being a tribute/homage to Alan Lamb (Check him out if you don´t know him!). He did this one album where he recorded 20 hours of sound material using microphones on telephone wires! Interesting metallic scraping ambient intro to the album. The second track Amnesia Milk jumps straight into an eerie and surreal modern horror-story, and yes it does that have... dreamy feel attached to it. That kind of dream where you are quite convinced about it, yet not fully understanding it. Eerie windy sounds composing haunting tones while a moody illbient-like rhythm pounds endlessly, the ending sounds like something from Twin Peaks. Third track Digest adds more eerieness to the album, interesting organic sounds... real ear-candy believe me. Fourth track A Friendly Light being one of my favorites. Beautiful haunting Eno´ish ambient-melodies with lots of interesting sounds and creakiness, a perfect soundtrack for a modern victorian ghost story/movie if you ask me.

Fifth track Pale Pink is a ritualistic piece with a jazzy feel to it. Humming and looped human-like voice-sounds, reversed sound of plastic bags being handled, free-jazz saxophones. Second, last track Blackout further expands on that David Lynch´ish meets Nurse With Wound/C93 atmosphere. I would highly recommend listening to this with some decent speakers standing, the stereo-recording here is VERY good!. Voices slowly crawl in and out from one speaker and then further on to the other, and I fxxxxxx love shit like that! Last track called Contempt, also serves as a homage to Alan Lamb, being the longest track on the album (11 minutes). Serves as a perfect weird ending for a great album. Church-like bells, warped human voices, thick electronic glitchiness. All wonderful!. 

Excellent surreal treat from Italy, more if that if you please! At the time I was listening to this album (Often), I was walking the (rather late) mysterious dunes of west Jutland alongside the beach. All while the sun was sinking slowly over the mysterious and empty landscape. While having this on my Discman, I took these photos. The sight, the mood, the music... a perfect match!

Bandcamp (band):

https://testingvault.bandcamp.com/

Facebook (band):

https://www.facebook.com/TestingVault/

Looney Tick Productions (label):

http://eafmcart.blogspot.com/

   

Tarzownik - Castle

Chiptune should be no stranger when it comes to dungeon synth. For some of us, dungeon-themed computer-music was some of the first dungeon-synth´ish music that reached our young and innocent ears. We´re talking games on older consoles (Sega Mastersystem, Megadrive, NES etc) and on older home-computers (C64, PC, Spectrum, Amiga500). This project merges the elements from old-school primitive dungeon-synth with chiptune, the result sounds like vintage background music on classic point-and-click adventure games. We´re talking about those kinds of adventure games we had on the Amiga500 and PC. Secret On Monkey Island, Loom, Manic Mansion and then further onto such classic fantasy-themed RPGs like Bards Tale, Fairytale, Pools of Radiance and Eye of the Beholder. Nevertheless, 11 tracks packed into one album is about 30 minutes in total. The album (called Castle) is available via the band's official Bandcamp site, and it has also been released as a beautiful (kind-of) digipack via the Polish label Raven Fortress. The physical release (sadly) is sold-out via the artist's page, maybe one should try to send a message to the label via the official Raven Fortress facebook profile (see link below!).

The first track simply called Honour puts the mood right and tells (honestly) the listener what sort of dungeon synth we´re dealing with. 8-bit graphics showing a gloomy and grim castle surrounded by a mist, with valiant knights in shiny armour standing as guards at the castle-gate. Pretty cool, evocative and minimalistic fantasy-themed chip-tune dungeon-synth so far. Love the synthetic wood-´ish sounding xylophone here, really puts the listener into a nostalgic mood. The second track offers a more doom´ ish setting. It´s called Armies, and by the heavy and grim sound of it does resample march music for an orc army! Something heavy armoured and bend on death and destruction. Third track King sounds... as if the king sees that there is absolutely no way to escape this utter destruction, I am imagining a crazy king like Denethor II (Lord of the Rings). 

Fourth track Chapel follows the King theme further on into moody darkness. Fifth track Defensor, illustrates panic and stress among the protectors of the castle (I Think). Not a very comforting track, but a more angst-ridden and stressed out piece. Sixth offering named Castle (like the album title) brings a more protective and secure mood, obviously, nothing can break down the walls of this ancient castle. A very solid track! The Monks being the seventh track returns the album to its essence of gloom and despair, but the ending of this track reveals a tiny glimpse of hope. Angelic synth-choirs reveals a way-out... salvation before death perhaps? Next track which is a short one called Ranger, clearly describes someone being very stealthy and deadly... Bowman sniper-style, the kind which can see through the darkness. Swordmaster being my favourite track on the album, do give this track some extra ear attention! Second last track Torchlight, being the strongest track on the album. A very hectic escape down through a narrow and long staircase, with that flickering torchlight in your hand. The album ends with Shadows... shadows?. What shadows? The shadows that still lingers in the grim castle after the brutal massacre?. Who knows...

A very dark and serious computer-vintage chip-tune dungeon experience if you ask me. Perfect for playing AD&D Ravenloft to in the background, or a horror-themed Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying scenario (if you ask me). Might even call this castle-synth rather than dungeon synth, you´ll understand when you hear it! Would I recommend it?. Yes, to hardcore fans. For beginners, probably not. Not because it's bad or anything (I fxxxxxx love it!) but again, a very dark and heavy album for the chip-tuned dungeon-synth beginners. Everyone who would remember those old video/computer-games will love this, I am absolutely sure!.     

Bandcamp (band):

https://tarczownik.bandcamp.com/album/castle

Facebook (label):

https://www.facebook.com/Raven-Fortress-Polish-Stronghold-of-Dungeon-Synth-700582633656372/

   

Kontravoid - Too Deep

The second and latest album from Canadian but Berlin-based minimal-EBM-Industrial act Kontravoid. I remember that there was some hype around the debut, but I did not give it any attention (that was actually way back in 2012). Songs From Under the Floorboard posted the latest video from this album via Facebook, and I, of course, thought that I should check it out. I was actually kind of surprised, not only was it raw, cold and minimal (just the way I like it) but it was also HIGHLY epic and melodic without being too over-dramatic. So what happened next was that I saw the video like... 10 times I think, over and over again. Even played it at my work, someone actually went over and stopped the music! Autotuned rap-based spineless pseudo-pop music is the preferred music at my work! Anyways, my next step would to buy the album and review it. So here goes!.

The style of Kontravoid. Not really EBM, not really synth-pop. Heavy minimal-wave meets gothic-techno with minor industrial hints here and there. Think early industrial/EBM-gothic act Apoptygma Berzerk (Soli Deo Gloria) meets the catchy technoid electro-tunes of Solvent. A quite effective (and catchy) combination!

First track lets in an industrial-coldness not that far away from Dirk Ivens project Dive. Metallic looped distortions, atmospheric cold vocals, and calculated machine-drums (Snare-drum sounds like a lashing whip). The second track with its catchy new-beat mood and aggressive machine-gun bassline, lovely percussion-like rhythms here. The third track follows up on cold brutality and whiplash precision... sounds like it has been recorded in a HUGE hospital basement. Fourth track Too Deep was the track which I saw the music video for (Interesting and good video if you ask me), a HIGHLY contagious and rare piece of simple genius melodic electro epicness! We are still talking something very minimal, but with that epicness that wants to squeeze its way out. 

Fifth track Never Alone turns down the aggression and heads further down into lovely post-punk´ ish electro-pop. Fans of the early recordings by Vicent Clarke anyone?. Sixth track Cost of Life with its minor synth-wave soundtrack element and robotic coldness, beautiful how the melodic elements pump life into the coldness here. Next track Distress strangely reminds me of the Wolfgang Press in a more minimal version, the catchy drum patterns and the mood? The haunting piano keyboards are excellent good here, and the almost Peter Hook´ish bassline works like a charm. 10000 Voices being the last and shortest track on the album, retro-wave coolness gets mixed up with an 80´s crime-movie mood. It could have been used in modern Miami Mice.

And woawww! One catchy tune after the other! Yup, I would love 2 dance to each of these tracks without being embarrassed that I am over 40 years old. This is catchy as hell, the artist has a clear understanding of how to create a decent pop-tune but also to balance it with a raw mystical edginess. I can and I will HIGHLY recommend this release for any fans of old-school electro and groundbreaking retro/synth-wave. Sofar the release has come out on vinyl and CD (check links below!).   

Bandcamp:

https://kontravoid.bandcamp.com/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/kontravoid

Interview With Silent Cabin

A cold minimalist winter-themed dungeon-synth/ambient act which comes from the very land which brought us the mummy-trolls, yup Finland. No, not anything being heavy-metal here! The act has been active since 2016 and has released 7 albums so far. I stumbled upon the creative mind of this project on the social media, and thought to myself ´I´m really curious about this mysterious act, I wanna interview this guy!´. Why for whatever reason? Because I simply think that Silent Cabin (seems) like an isolated/outsider-project in the realm of dungeon-synth, a very unique act with its own sound and signature. Which again takes you back to the mummy trolls, can you compare them with anything else??... No, you can´t! Same thing with Silent Cabin, the reason to question the guy behind the project and find out what makes this act so special.

How and why was Silent Cabin created in the first place?

In the spring of 2016, I started delving into various smaller genres, most importantly dungeon synth.

Inspired by classic DS projects such as Depressive Silence and Forgotten Pathways (and an important album for me, “Dream Castle” by Tanning Salon), I decided to start a DS project of my own.

Simply the want to do some kind of music to escape from the reality was inspiring. My first few recordings were pretty much just experimenting and learning how to work a DAW…

How is the interest in dungeon synth in the land of Finland? 

A few years back there wasn’t (for my knowledge at least) not many Finnish DS projects out there. Of course, such projects as Lunar Womb and some tapes from the 90s were known. I haven’t seen DS recognized in bigger music mags etc. here though.

Where do you get your visual ideas/themes from? Books, movies?

My favorite painter, Hugo Simberg and his symbolic paintings depicting death have always resonated with me greatly. I like to use the paintings of Finnish and Nordic artists because I can easily relate to the subjects and ideas depicting Finnish landscapes for example.

Does the music of Silence Cabin represent the landscape of Finland?

As mentioned above, yes. Every year at yule time I go visit my relatives and both the drive there and the area they dwell has always been inspirational.

Do you prefer creating your own physical releases yourself than being on a label?

I love doing my own tape releases, the DIY aspect of creating a release from scratch and being rewarded is great.

Only this year, the single contact so far wanting to release my music on a label was from Britt, who runs the So-Called Hell label. I am eternally thankful to him for wanting to work with me.

You have another project called Ridge Dweller, can you tell me about that and how it differs from Silent Cabin.

Ridge Dweller focuses more on a natural sound; a real keyboard and guitar. I started it last year and quickly released three demos of lo-fi DS with guitar blended in. The first full length will be out really soon, and I think it moves a bit more away from the DS territory and is more of an Avant-folk/drone oriented.

So, the project is of course far more away from the minimal, wintery DS sound of Silent Cabin.

Future for Silent Cabin, future releases in the making?

I’ve been planning a re-release of “Lonely Mountains”, and I can say it will be out this coming winter.

Other than that, this summer I started a small label called Lahja; the focus originally was for gathering my new releases under the same roof but has expanded to include a few other projects, not by me.

Bandcamp: (band)

https://silentcabin.bandcamp.com/


Facebook : (band)

https://www.facebook.com/silentcabin

Sudaria - Live at the Temple of Flesh

This is the second time we are gonna review a release from Sudaria, one of the prime examples of modern esoteric ritual music. This one came out on cassette via Spanish Marbre, and this time we are gonna experience a live treat from this cult act! Only 2 tracks which in total is over 50 minutes, of pure ceremoniously live-action!. 

The very first track mixes pure tantric sexual-energies with mind-bending intoxication on top of it, the track is simply called Tantric Intoxication. Very intimate recording, you basically hear everything which is going on. The humming automatic hypnotizing machine-drones, ritualistic bells, buttons being pushed, strange clicks, tribalistic drummings, esoteric and mysterious chantings... Incredible sounds bloody incredible! Fans of Hybryds, Zoviet France, early C93 and MZ412... take notice! It´s pretty dark (almost satanic cult-like) material here, but the delight of laying your ears to this is worth your time! Absolutely nothing wrong when you have a very good track which is almost 30 minutes long! I am in no doubt that whoever is behind this mysterious project, takes this very seriously and has a clear idea of where to take it as well. Pure ritual cleansing in sound! Kind of like... A ritualistic version of early power-electronics at the end of the track, interesting!

Next track called Self-induced Transfiguration. After going through tantric sex and toxic, you might wanna... transfigure yourself. After going through the first track, you (just might) wanne do that! Kind of starts where the brutal intensity ended with the first track, definitely sounding more... intoxicated!. Screaming ambient-noise, flesh scraping distortions, the razor-sharp intensity binds you to continue the listening. More of an atmospheric harsh-noise treat, then the former esoteric-ambient one. Kind of like those bags with nuts, all sweet and salty ;) ... A cool track, again a cool recording with a decent intimacy attached to it. Would love 2 have experienced this concert!.

Go out and buy the bloody cassette, this baby is a pure masterpiece. Limited to only 25 copies from Spanish Marbre Negre, go get it now!. Worth in (almost) anyone´s obscure tape collection.

Bandcamp (label):

https://marbrenegre.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-the-temple-of-flesh

Bandcamp (band):

https://sudaria.bandcamp.com/ 

 

    

        

Tryumf - Hymns of Power

Something from last summer, and something which mixes together ideas from the old world with the new world (kind of). Dungeon synth via retro-wave and soundtracks to old-school CRPGs. If you take a look at the catchy cover with its highly seductive colors, you will in an instant be transported back to a time when games for your computer came in HUGE cardboard boxes with a thick manual inside! I can still remember that very dad when we bought our Commodore64, I was (as an 8-year old kid) checking up on the cover-artwork for a C64 fantasy adventure game called Zork. The cover-artwork was incredible, then you would turn the box over only to discover that it was "only" a so-called text-adventure. The cover artwork for this release has that sort of 1985´ish-design, but the music inside sounds like something later. Yup, we´re in the time of the dear Amiga500!  A 4 track mini-album, a potent shot-glass of retro fantasy music from your old computer/Amiga500. 

The first track Anima Christi starts the album in a moody, ritualistic way. Howling winds, tiny drops of rain, ghost´ ish moaning synths, ceremonial bells and then, later on, comes the lovely melancholic folksy retro-synth with corny (but cool!) computer-game drums. The title track reveals it to be a Catholic prayer to Jesus of medieval origin, a very spiritual track indeed!. Second track Mt 28, 19 is about something from the bible (read below):

 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

A very Christian based mini-album sofar. And how true that became, after the death of Jesus-christ his religion moved from cult-based thing to a worldwide belief-system. Even the Vikings from Scandinavia thought, hell... that guy is worth believing in (kind of!). Nevertheless, churches were built everywhere etc. Again, a very retro, ceremoniously and sacrilegious piece. For some reason, it reminds me of Clannad´s soundtrack they did for the British tv-series Robyn of Sherwood (Cult and worth seeing!). Sounds very cool, I love the melody and the mood very much! 

Third track De Profundis is about a letter which our dear Oscar Wilde wrote during his imprisonment, reason? He was gay and lived an extravagant lifestyle. The name for the letter (which was published off course) was taken from Psalm 130. And the very first verse in Psalm 130 sounds like this:

Out of the depths, I cry to you, Lord; Lord, hear my voice.

Let your ears be attentive

to my cry for mercy.   

So the letter was a cry for mercy from one of our greatest writers. The track follows up on this, sounds like someone who has "accepted" their "sin" and sadly waited to be executed. Oscar Wilde wasn´t executed but received an injury during his imprisonment which then leads to his unfortunate death. A sad but beautiful track!.  

Last track Zeal´s Sacrifice. A chilling synth-wave ambient piece with a medieval church-like aesthetic. Cool way to end the album!

So there you go. Quite a unique thing having all of these retro old-school elements being mixed up into a completely new thing. Go and have a listen yourself, chill-out and get back in time.

Bandcamp (band):
https://tryumf.bandcamp.com/releases

    

Hasufel - Decrepit

While still being into the grasp of winter and post-Xmas moods, this one was released last February 2019. A project which has had (so far) several releases under its sleeve. Hailing from the city of angels, Los Angelas. Interesting project with an interesting old-school occult inspired industrial-ritual approach. Decrepit being one of the latest from this project, and there is still some few copies of the cassette let for sale as well (see Bandcamp link below!). 4 tracks, almost 20 minutes in total.

The first track (named after the title of the album) sets the occult meets the early industrial mood just right. We´re thinking about early recordings by John Zewizz´s side-projects (Cult of the Womb, Mahcanik, Hideous In Strength) and Current 93 in their early Aleister Crowley-inspired days. Menacing, cold and calculated industrial electronics and mesmerizing chantings... really nice!. Next track. Burn Away All Life continues with esoteric chantings and cold and primitive ambient electronics, with some cool sounding ritualistic drummings and timeless 80s horror movie-synth work. Very dark and "cold" but with a certain kind of .. warmth to it?. I like it because it sounds and feels very sincere and real!. 

Third track The Wretch In the Woods adds a fusion between Carpenter´ish retro-wave and industrial-ambiance (new genre here). It does have its resemblance to some of the atmospheric ritualistic pieces by the Klinik! Last track The Name of Blasphemy moves into Lovecraftian cosmic horror, something is showing its presence in the very air... it wants to get out and into our world for sure. Whatever you do, don´t do its bidding! Again with the industrial ritualistic settings with lovely retro-feeling synths on top. It´s actually very easy to get seduced by the sound of this project. 

You really have 2 be quick to get a physical copy of the cassette, because according to their Bandcamp-site they only have 2 left! Me? ... Well, I´m a fanboy now .. And I want 2 hear more, and so should you. Should appease any sick-boy who needs their occult-ritual fix once-in-a-while, this surely does it!

Bandcamp (band):

https://hasufel.bandcamp.com/

Varkâna - Ahrimanic Chambers

I have NEVER heard anything from Iran. Been listening to obscure music since... 1997 I think, but never anything from Iran. Incredible thing how a dungeon synth act would come from those parts, I don´t wanna point my finger at anyone BUT! I do think that (probably) there would be some people in Iran who would (maybe) be kind of upset with this kind of music? I don´t know, I have never been there. But then again, maybe Iran is not such a bad place after all. Nevertheless, the latest Varkâna actually prooves that point! 

The title for the album being Ahrimanic Chambers, so what does that mean?. What I can tell you is that it simply means evil mind, evil spirit and that the term hails from the ancient Iranian spiritual leader Zoroaster, who laid foundations of an esoteric religion known as Zoroastrianism. This mystical religion would influence anything from Islamism to esoteric thinkers like Rudolph Steiner and Alister Crowley´s Thelema. Ahrimanic Chambers simply means, being in the chamber of evil spirits... in other words, demons. Not very pleasant! The cover-artwork should clearly illustrate the unpleasantness in all its gloomy glory.

Varkâna makes dungeon synth with a folksy vibe, at times almost sounding like doomy instrumental-synth ambient with sad-core elements. It´s pretty good if you ask me! There are martial elements here as well which works up an apocalyptic mood. Esoteric neo-folk´ish mysticism shows itself through the albums ritualistic atmospheres. Most of it, it sounds like living in a society completely devout of human spirituality. Something has been lost and has been left (for forgotten) in that chamber of ahrimanic demons.

First track A Graveyard Under Snow sits the atmospheric mood right, and is a true evocative treat for any dungeon synth fan!. Ahrimanic Enlightenment, fucking good!. Love how the synth sounds like a heavy guitar string here, gives it a certain... John Carpenter horror vibe?.  The track Lugobrious Ruins is just heart-breaking!. The track simply called The Mist And Rapture sounds a-bit like Raison D´être in his great early days. Spirituality Deformed might just be the thing between ambient pop and dungeon synth, the first time I have heard this sort of fusion (and it is well made, believe me!). Night of the Hunter is just damn unique and good!.    

So yes! A great masterpiece from sand-filled Iran, sounding VERY esoteric in a European kind of way. Arabic influences would have been interesting... BUT... They/He have done a magnificent work 2 create an album, which u can enjoy from the very start and to the very end. I know that I have said it before, but this one requires a physical release damn you!.

Bandcamp (band):

https://varkana.bandcamp.com/album/ahrimanic-chambers

Facebook (band):

https://www.facebook.com/varkanadungeon/

 

Machina Coeli - Lure of the Forgotten Lake

The third release from an Italian dungeon-synth act (which started around 1997), and the first release from a new dungeon-synth label called Nigra Opera Productions (cassette being limited to 50 copies). This one was released on the 17th of June this year.

Machine Coeli means heaven machine, and heaven machine means...  I´m not sure. Something which makes the earth and the cosmos work? Maybe we are in some alchemist kind of lair, the experimental machine of an alchemist? Gnostic mystics was seeking esoteric secrets through science, in order to get closer to god. And the title for this cool release... Lure of the Forgotten Lake? Maybe we´re looking at water spirits, seducing good folk to their watery homes in order to drown them. According to the track titles, we are looking at a scenario in which (maybe) a water spirit has to be defeated in order to get gain access to the lost scrolls. The Bandcamp site holds more details about it, here it goes: 

"The howl was hooting, as the flowing river def the hunger of the forgotten lake. How could we lose the memory of the magical water mirror as we indulged ourselves in the senseless quest for pleasure and matter? It is now time to forge new shiny weapons and crush the devious reign of ignorance which bid the purest Knowledge with its malicious shadows. There's only one thing that can save us now: the ancient secret scrolls locked in the chest at the bottom of the lake..."

Kind of like Arthur searching for Excalibur sort of theme... But what about the music behind this story?!. Traditional high-quality dungeon-synth with a retro/vintage feel. Say early Mortiis, early Raison D´être, early Morthhond with a touch of Coil (or even Phallus Dei) at the end? I fxxxxx love it, the storytelling mood is there and the esoteric mysticism is just right. I also like this because it sounds... otherworldly?. But yes, it is a traditional dungeon synth release yes!... But! it goes just a little bit further than just being about the usual dungeons and dragons-theme. Although it is without lyrics, is still maintains that mystical esoteric feel which gives the release a personal and very unique touch. At around 05:30 (Lure of the Forgotten Lake) I was being rather amused, that the melody (and vibe) reminded me of New Order´s Blue Monday? I do not know if it was intentional, but if it is... Fucking awesome! Who can say no to Blue Monday as a dungeon synth piece?!. 

So my message would be to you all, go out and get it! You get your fix for something downbeat and traditional, and you get an interesting release with a unique occult/ritual mood attached to it. Do go around the Bandcamp-site and check up on the other two releases. Even Mortiis say thumps up to this!

Bandcamp (band):

https://machinacoeli.bandcamp.com/album/lure-of-the-forgotten-lake-2019

Bandcamp (label):

https://nigraopera.bandcamp.com/releases