I was trying to remember when I first became aware of dungeon synth. The first time I blogged about it was back in May 2020 when I wrote about Fylgja’s cassette Aska Vors Lands, though that was more about how the surrealness of early COVID lockdown collided with how I heard the music. I remember getting excited as I explored the genre, and for a brief moment I considered going “all in” and starting to buy a lot of cassettes. It felt new and exciting and grassroots and unconstrained by any kind of desire for expansion or popularity. But I didn’t take a deep plunge then, and I do regret it a bit as there were some great releases I missed out on.
Fast forward a bit and I discovered Dungeon Synth Zine. I love zines – they are true DIY passion projects and I have a lot of respect for anyone willing to commit the time and effort (and usually their own money) into something that they know will have a limited reach but they still personally find very important. I think I ordered all six issues available at the time and have continued to buy the new ones as they came out (the most recent is #9). If you haven’t read DSZ, it leans heavily towards interviews with a handful of articles and some album reviews in each issue. The interviews are particularly important – in many cases they are the only interviews these artists have ever done and in the future I suspect DSZ will be an resource for those seeking to learn more about the roots of dungeon synth.
DSZ has extended its reach and produced a handful of cassettes. I’m still kicking myself for not jumping on the three early Jim Kirkwood re-releases they put out last year, and I was sure not to make the same mistake when Nest’s Both Men And Wild Beasts Listened To The Harper In The Glade / Live In Poland came out – which is a good thing as it was one of my Top 5 favorite releases of 2023.
Most recently DSZ published its much-awaited book, 101 Dungeon Synth Albums You Must Hear… Before You Rot In A Dungeon. I believe this is the second book about the genre, the first being Ruslan Akimov’s Dungeon Synth: The Rebirth Of The Legend, which is now on its second printing. A third, Dark Dungeon Music: The Unlikely Story Of Dungeon Synth, is slated to come out later this year, which probably speaks to the growing interest in the genre.
I was particularly interested in 101 Dungeon Synth Albums, however, as I already had a lot of respect for the knowledge of my friend S. over at DSZ, and I knew this was going to help me further explore the genre. And after greedily reading the entire thing over the course of a weekend, I had questions. And fortunately for me, S. was willing to provide me with answers. Sometimes the interviewer needs to become the interviewee.
S., tell us a bit about yourself.
“I’m the primary, but not the only force behind Dungeon Synth Zine. The only steady, remaining member is Tomek, our graphic designer from the very beginning to, probably, the bitter end. Some other people who have helped over the years were Dame Silu de Mordomoire, Colin Bacon from Elminster, Tristan from Elyvilon, Brayden Bell and Kathy Davis, the sister of late Matthew Davis (Secret Stairways) who keeps the torch of his memory alive. Last but not least, my wife. If I missed anyone, please forgive me, I’m but a man. We’ve already released nine issues of DSZ and the 101 Dungeon Synth Albums… book, plus four tapes, three from Jim Kirkwood and one from Nest. Privately, I’m happily married, two cats, hundreds of tapes, a dozen or so maps on the walls, both real and fantasy. My room is full of artifacts from times long gone by when I used to hitchhike around Europe, bits of Asia and Africa. The longest trip took me from my hometown in the Subcarpathian region in Poland to the Sahara. Most of these hitchhiking travels I did alone, some took months, which allowed to me discover who I am to some degree, full of highs and lows of the most extreme degrees. In life, I do my best to follow the ways of the Stoics, which fixed my life in 99%.”
How did you first connect with dungeon synth? What was the early journey like as you explored releases and connected with other enthusiasts?
“It might sounds like some new age shit, but the words ‘dungeon synth’ just came to my mind one evening in 2017. I was just like ‘I’m kinda tired of metal, let’s listen to something lighter and more ambient… maybe some dungeon synth?’, and then I went to YouTube, found Dungeon Synth Archives and poof, listened to all there was at the time in the course of a few months. Logically, I must have heard this term before, but I can’t recall it. Actually, I had been adamant that I had known it since forever, like 2005 or so, but later found it impossible, because the term was coined in 2011. No explanation for all this whatsoever. Let’s let’s just assume I was visited by the Dungeon Gods, like young Jack Black in Pick of Destiny praying to Dio’s poster.
“This exploration took about two years of 2017-2019. Fuck me, time flies. I read everything there was at the time online, which was not much. A few blogs plus Dungeon Synth Forum, which was an enormous influence. I don’t know who’s ‘thekeeper’ there, but this motherfucker’s charts with different subgenres were just out of this world. Sure, they are pretty outdated by now, because they were made in 2017, but when it comes to, for example, proto-DS, son of a gun had it figured out to a stupendously accurate degree. I still haven’t listened to all of these, but whenever I have a chance to grab one of these positions, I do. He already knew about Conan OST, Tangerine Dream (wrong album, but still, hehe), Dead Can Dance, Jim Kirkwood, Enya, Popol Vuh. He missed a few too, but still. ‘Foundations’ and ‘First Wave Classics’ are far more accurate than the previous chart, I’d agree with about 80% (and even if I don’t with some of them, they are still within bounds of reason for discussion).
“Some zines had already existed, but they had been long sold out and drifted into darkness, basically, like Dungeons of Darkness… Skaventhrone had released six issues by then but they were pretty small and difficult to acquire. They didn’t release any new ones since I joined the scene anyway. Rotstock had released one issue, but that was it. No more written sources. I didn’t like it. I wanted more. There was no path, so I made one.
“The entire beginning was just messaging my favorite artists – or just popular ones – to see how many I’d get for interviews. Surprisingly, a lot, and shockingly good names, looking from perspective – the first DSZ had Old Sorcery, Old Tower, Malfet, Torchlight, Lord Lovidicus, Galdur. Man, what a start. There were almost no fuck ups, except maybe for screwing up the nickname of Old Sorcery, it was Vechi Vrăjitor, but the gothic font in his CD looked like Bechi Brăjitor, and that’s what was printed. I tried calling the printing place, but it was too late. He probably didn’t like it. We still don’t talk sometimes.
“This issue didn’t have a single interview that would make me feel disappointed (it happened over the years, but not here). Lord Lovidicus, Galdur, Malfet, Torchlight, Barbaric Frost, Encloaked were just ridiculously good, better than a new zine ever deserved.
“My earliest good friends were Ross from Malfet, Jordan from Ancient Meadow, Ben from Toad Sage/Hammer & Flail Records, Erang, Silu, Arillius from Khand, then it was growing and growing. Probably, I got the reputation of a funny guy, which is well deserved – not a single day passes when I don’t look into the mirror and laugh.
“The first five or six issues were released quarterly, about 100 pages each, which basically means making one page a day. Preposterous amount of work, it couldn’t go on like this forever.”
You started DSZ in, I believe, 2019. What made you feel the urge to start that project? Why was it important to put it out in a physical format?
“I know you’re older1, but I’m pretty old too, also older due to the fact of being born in Eastern Europe, we’ve always been a good few years behind the US when it comes to innvovations. People think that now when we have the internet, everything happens everywhere at the same time, that’s bullshit. Tapes were still much in use here in 2005 when they were already antiques in the US. The same is true for zines. I was raised on physical zines like Wolfpack, tapes, a bit of CDs, generally tangible stuff. MP3s were for posers. MySpace never really took off in Poland. My beginnings in music were around 2002-2005, so still deep in the midst of this tangibility.
“When the decision to make DSZ started, I didn’t even ponder the orb on whether it should be physical or not. It’s almost as if you asked me: ‘Why did you decide to marry a woman and not a man?’, hehe. No matter what people say, internet stuff doesn’t last. Here today, gone tomorrow. If you ever visit Sankt Gallen in Switzerland, go to their monastic library, you will see a book from 10th century. That was even before Poland appeared, not to even speak about the US, and this paper is still there and still readable. With internet, you can barely find any page from 25 years ago, and it will be deteriorating fast.
“With a physical magazine, it will always be somewhere. I don’t know exact numbers of how many were printed, because I’m a lousy bookkeeper and never thought that I will be here four years later, but here we are, and I think that around 2,500 copies were distributed (so far!). There’s a good chance that at least some copies will survive 10, 25, maybe even 100 years from now on someone’s attic. I’m considering giving some copies to the National Library in Poland, they collect all shit that’s printed here. Purely theoretically, a physical magazine can outlast the music itself. Not saying that it will, but can.
“Now, imagine that 100 years from now the music faded, nobody plays it anymore, but is still somewhere in the dark corners of the internet, and some kid finds this DSZ in his grand-grandfather’s attic, and then his eyes glow afire and he sets on a quest to find out what’s this thing called dungeon synth. Now, I just need all readers to copulate and bear children from time to time to make yourselves potential grand-grandfathers, and don’t forget to stash your DSZs in the attic, hehe.”
You have seen the interest in dungeon synth grow. How do you believe the scene has changed in recent years?
“I don’t think it has changed that much, or at least it’s change is overestimated sometimes. It was smaller, or maybe it even wasn’t? Very hard to estimate, you’d need to ask labels who sell more stuff than me, but for DSZ, I printed as many copies of DSZ #3 asDSZ #7, while the distance between them was like, two years. The sales didn’t increase that much. It has only changed with DSZ #9 and now skyrocketed with the 101 Dungeon Synth Albums... book. So maybe it actually grew and I’m just shit at marketing, who knows.
“There’s less drama, but it’s also boring sometimes. 2020-2021 were excellent years, 2022 kinda slowed it down, 2023 already felt like looking for golden nuggets in a river, but finding mostly rocks. Or maybe it’s, again, just me getting to know more and more and thus becoming picky and grumpy? Everything is possible. The biggest labels are still the same, minus Ancient Meadow (but Jordan will come back with vengeance, I believe in it). There are still almost no zines (pretty much just us and Quagmire, eternal hails).”
Why was now the right time for a project like 101 Dungeon Synth Albums…?
“My mind was a fruit ripe enough. DSZ has come to a wall. We’re working on the 10th issue now, and I’m already sure it’s gonna be the last. There’s nothing more to achieve. When we started, I was sure that after three issues we will run out of material and everyone will already have been interviewed. Not true, of course. In such a situation, you have two options – either close or try to reach higher. So I reached higher and tried to get bigger names multiple times. The truth turned out to be disappointing. Many bigger bands (and I don’t mean here Metallica but names such as Current 93, Poison Ruin, Stormkeep, Paysage d’Hiver, Wongraven) did not bother to reply to emails, sometimes many, and messages through various channels. One large name kept asking how many copies we sell, agreed to an interview on a specific day, then ghosted me. No matter how much customization I did, how I explained how they’re important for both me and the genre, all to no avail. If you sense resentment in my voice, that’s because it’s there. It is what it is. I’m not complaining, it’s just that at some point you have to come to terms with reality. Maybe it’s the magazine itself that is not treated seriously. When I wanted to interview Wongraven, Napalm Records initially gave me a term in spring (yes, that vague) when it was autumn. They made me promise that Satyr will be on the cover (I would do it anyway, but…). Then finally they also ghosted me. It’s the same if you are an artist, you have to be tough with getting refused. For me, I kinda lost my steam because of that. Another musician, black metal, not a superstar: he agreed, praised for making a printed magazine, promised to answer in a timely manner. I spent a few days to think of good questions. I sent them… And that’s it, no more communication, even after chasing emails a month or so later. So that’s totally not what you asked about, but here we are.
“The idea for the 101 book came almost as a joke. Then I realized that the aggregated reviews from DSZ should give about 50% of material ready. Some of them had to be rewritten, some updated, many, many added, but it was all worth it.”
You touch on this a bit in the book’s Introduction, but tell us a bit about why you chose to approach the list as albums “you must hear” instead of “the 101 best dungeon synth albums”. There’s certainly a difference in those approaches.
“Yes, there is a difference. I’m not a god to decide which are absolute best. It’s written almost entirely by one person (plus some from Ben Schnitz and Anton Virdeus). I’ve always been a fan of lists. I don’t know how deep you’d like to go, but let’s undress my life a bit. I suffer from serious atopic dermatits that has affected my whole life. To give a representative picture, one of earliest memories is that we’re sitting with my mom at a doctor’s waiting room and she’s saying ‘Sebastian, you have almost no skin’, and I replied, pointing out to one specific place on my leg: ‘No, I have some here’, with all the honesty of a child. It was true. I had almost no skin. I was covered in blood. Many years were spent like this. Sometimes it was better, sometimes it was worse. Today it’s good. New treatments gave results, but they also bear the promise of cancer one day. I will die.
“In such a state, small everyday tasks become insurmountable. You need lots of systems just to get going, not to speak about demanding endeavours. You need to plan. You need to have something that will help you focus while it’s just so difficult to focus on anything. Today is good, I feel alright as long as I don’t do anything stupid, but who knows what tomorrow will bring? That’s why I made numerous systems just to keep going. It’s a precarious balance.
“I like lists. They help me rise above the biological basis of everyday life. I had 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, and read many of them. Not all, of course, but many. 1001 Albums You Must Hear…, I listened to all. 1001 Movies You Must See... Well… I got to the 60s, so about half of the list.
“To get to your point, what’s the difference between ‘you must hear’ and ‘best’? It takes away the responsibility of being a self-appointed god of dungeon synth. I’m not an authority. If I stopped today, five years from now almost nobody would remember me. The same is true about almost everybody. Let’s not dream. It’s all just fun. You must hear these albums, that’s right, but in a way that when you were a kid, a friend stormed to your room with Appetite For Destruction with an explosive ‘Dude, you must hear this!’. Not like, you must do it, because obergruppenfuhrer will decide your fate or something.
“This list is incomplete. Objectivity was attempted, but as an ideal that will never be realized. It has no Balrog, Dim, Umbria, Ulk, Moth Tower, Borg, Solanum. You know why? Because I said a stupid insensitive thing years ago and didn’t realize it. Because of that, we never had a good relation with Danny from Gondolin. We’re just now fixing it. And because we didn’t trade much, I just didn’t have this music, and since I listen to music almost exclusively from tapes and CDs, not the computer, well, here we are. I think they should be in the next edition, if it ever comes.
“There was also the opposite. For years we had a wonderful relation with Knekelput Recordings. So you will see lots of their albums here. Not because we were friends and I wanted to butter him up, it’s just what I had on my shelf and considered really good.
“To sum up, don’t treat it super seriously. It’s a hobby. Have fun discovering, discussing it, even tell me that I’m a moron for putting this or that (just not for Burzum album, I’m fatigued with this discussion). There’s like 15-20 albums that I think absolutely must be on anybody’s list. The rest is up to you. Make your own list. Let’s compare them. The thing is that not many people can do it. Not many people heard a couple hundred DS records. Not saying that I’m the only one, not at all. But there’s maybe like, 20 or 30. And not everyone is eager to write and compile and get criticized and print and sell. And that’s OK too. There will be more and more in the coming years. They will make their own lists, but this one has the privilege of being the first.
“At this point I feel a sudden urge to smile brightly and think: ‘I did it, motherfuckers!’, hehe.”
In reading about all 101 albums, my perception is you made a conscious effort to represent different parts of the DS genre – musically certainly, but also geographically. Is that accurate, and what were the factors you considered as you worked on the list?
“Not really, sorry to disappoint you. It’s mostly the US, Canada, Western and Northern Europe, a bit of Russia. It’s almost like this ‘when bands say they go for a world tour’ meme, where ‘the world’ is only countries with the highest living standard (Russia is an exception, I guess). Nobody got extra points just for being from a less known country or something like that. It never crossed my mind. The only third world country that is widely represented here is the US. OK guys, hide these stones, I was joking, hehe, yeah, I know I come from Poland.
“It’s much more interesting to see where DSZ is flying, where buyers live. I recently sent this book to Nunavut where they have a church shaped like an igloo, I even drew an eskimo on the envelope and text ‘You’re the first dungeon eskimo!’. A few went to Japan, some to Malaysia, Iceland, and of course all issues are on Reunion island, but that’s Akerius, so it’s kinda cheating. We’ve been exchanging courtesies since forever. New Zealand, too, but that’s no surprise. Australia. One in Chile. Some in Argentina. It’s pretty fucking cool.”
As you revisited albums for potential inclusion, were there some surprises along the way? Albums that were much better, or perhaps very different, than you remembered?
“You know, I could end this one with ‘no’ and that’s it, because most of these albums I know very well and listen to them at least more or less regularly, and the rest were classics that I had known about, but had to kinda learn them anew. But I will change your question a bit, because I know how bad it is to get a bad interview, haha, and don’t wanna disappoint you. The interview is here to be interesting for readers, not for myself.
“I revisited one album recently. A classic for many. I can’t tell the title for the reasons that will be made clear soon. So I listened to this album in 2017 or 2018 and didn’t really like it. Only recently did YouTube suggest it again, and boy oh boy! I immediately wrote to Jordan from Ancient Meadow, because he’s a fan, and told him: hey, the first track is suspiciously similar to Necromantia’s ‘The Vampire Lord Speaks’, the next one is very similar, another one is almost exactly ‘Han Som Reiste’… Then he was like: you know what’s funny? I’m writing questions for the same guy as we’re speaking. Then he also took a deep dive: another track is from Massacre, there’s Wongraven, it is just all in all almost entirely a rip-off. Jordan asked me not to tell which album it was to anybody. He’s going to write about it in his own book, at least that’s the plan. And if he doesn’t, I’ll take it to the grave, I guess.
“Another one – I don’t remember the name anymore, but apparently there was a DS album on YouTube that had a track that was exactly ‘Han Som Reiste’. I commented there with a question ‘is there any specific reason why it’s not marked as a cover?’, because it had a different title. Later the guy re-uploaded the album without this track without telling anything, but this track was still visible on Bandcamp.
“Varg is the number one ripped off musician in DS and there’s just no question about it.”
One of the regular topics on the various DS boards is the low barrier to entry for new artists, and if this is good or bad for the genre. As someone who has benefitted from this personally with my music as Abandoned Graves, I can see both sides. What are your thoughts on how the genre is expanding with all the new entrants and where do you see it going in the next five or ten years?
“It’s true. It is low. I guess everyone can agree on it. Back in 2018, you could listen to every DS album coming out daily. Today, far from possible. Maybe if you made it a job and hated it instantly. Democratization of music has its ups and downs. Now even more with the rise of AI images. It’s still up to you what you will do with it. History is a funny thing. Generally, if you put more effort, you will get more recognition, but not always. If you put no effort, you will almost certainly get no recognition (although there are a few fascinatingly low-effort projects that get attention just because they are fun). You can also have great music but personally be an asshole, and because of that get little friends, and fewer friends mean you will not get publicity, because people know people. There are just so many different aspects.
“Ben Schnitz reached out to me when I was very early in the scene. We understand each other, and maybe, just maybe, it was fuel for both of us to stay in this longer. We’re still friends. I love you, Ben. Even after you shaved your beard. OK, just kidding.
“Seregost had such a difficult time early on. He got his interview in DSZ and told me it was one of these little things that kept him going. On NEDS2 2023 he played the best fucking concert this side of Mississippi had ever seen. There was a storm outside during his gig! It was over as soon as he started playing. I’m not even joking. He lived his life to the fullest that night – and from what I heard, on NEDS 2024 as well. Erang told me. I trust him.
“Yeah, Erang. He was on hiatus until his interview in DSZ #2 was released, then he came back. We’re friends, too. So if you enjoy Erang’s music after 2020, and want to support him, my PayPal is… hehe.
“I’m speaking here only of people who told me openly that DSZ changed something in their lives, not about dozens of other people who are just beautiful motherfuckers, Silu, Nick Pahman, Jordan, Colin, Kathy, Ross, Bruno, Davey, Jon, Scott, Joan, Bernhard, Min, Josh, Aslak and more, I’m only limiting the list to those I met in real and speak to at least more or less regularly.
“The prospects for the genre are good. We have more and more festivals, some already regular. I’m flying to Dark Dungeon Festival II tomorrow with my wife, Joan Llopis Domenech and his friends. There’s plenty of music. Articles in metal magazines are plentiful. Jordan is going to release his book. Maybe it’s an occasion to say that after DSZ #10 I’m thinking about another book that will be about dungeon synth from a wider perspective – 101 albums, movies, books and games that influenced DS musicians. After that I’m considering making a huge compilation of all zines, plus those 2x 101 books, plus some extras, and put them in hardcover of 500-1,000 pages on Bible paper and call it The Dungeon Bible, similar to these editions of complete chronicles of Conan. If this works, I’ll print 1,000 copies and close the business, move on to another adventure. Will it work? Who the fuck knows.
“Thanks for the interview, Jeff. Probably everyone will find at least one or two facts they didn’t know. Stay in the dungeon. Sunlight sucks anyway.”
So, what about 101 Dungeon Synth Albums…? Well, let’s cover a few details first. The book is A5 size, so roughly 5.75″ by 8.25″ for my non-metric friends, and is 72 pages. The first 13 pages include some short sections – “Introduction”, “On The Definition Of Dungeon Synth”, and “How To Succeed In Dungeon Synth” (key takeaway – the ultimate measure of success is your own satisfaction with what you create). We also have a couple of intriguing pages that recommend specific artists based on their inspiration, whether that be Tolkien, Lovecraft, Moorcock, Pratchett, or others, which is potentially a fun way to explore artists based on the type of fantasy that interests you. We’re also treated to almost a dozen full-page drawings in various styles, and I have say these truly are lovely.
The bulk of the book is given over to the 101 albums. We’re generally treated to two releases per page, which includes the album artwork, place of origin, and the general style (dark, cinematic, vampyric, winter, etc.) along with a 100-250 word review. If you’re a long-time DSZ reader and afraid this will all be previously covered territory, have no fear – the only album in the book that was reviewed in DSZ is Hole Dweller’s Flies The Coop, and it got an entirely new write-up here. The format makes it easy to read casually, just leafing through a few pages and putting it down, or doing what I did and going start-to-finish. Entries are concise and informative, but also sometimes with a bit of personal flavor from S. If you’re looking for an in depth breakdown track by track, these probably aren’t the reviews for you. But if you’re seeking some inspiration and an aid in discovery, they’re perfect. As I sat reading it I found myself pulling up a handful of the albums on Spotify to play as I continued, most notably Morrowdim’s Wandering Songs and Lamentation’s Fullmoon Over Faerhaaven.
The date range covered by the book is 1990 through 2002. When I begin exploring a new genre or artists, I tend to go back to the earliest days when possible, and 101 Dungeon Synth Albums… provides plenty for me to search out by including 20 albums from the 1990s (the earliest work is Jim Kirkwood’s King Of The Golden Hall from 1990). As for what may have been the “best” year for DS, albums from 2020 hold 30 spots on the list, making that year the clear king (or perhaps lich) of the dungeon. While I’ve bounced around a bit in my listening so far, I suspect in the near future I’ll start the list from the beginning and work my way through chronologically to give me a sense of how things developed, consciously or unconsciously by the artists, over time.
The DSZ online shop is closed as of this post date so S. can focus on DSZ #10. In looking at a handful of other places advertising 101 Dungeon Synth Albums You Must Hear…, it looks as though most are currently sold out, so this may be a bit tough to track down, but it is worth the effort. At least until S.’s The Dungeon Bible comes out… S., make sure to put me down for a copy!
- Alas, this is true. As someone who somehow now finds themselves in their 50s, I’m wondering where all the time went. Thankfully DS music has an old soul feel to it. ↩︎
- NEDS is Northeast Dungeon Siege, one of the most prominent dungeon siege festivals. I caught a bit of NEDS 2024 on live stream and now I desperately want to attend in the future. ↩︎