It's only a minor secret that many black metal musicians in the Norwegian scene congregated for underground tape trading, especially for their personal synth experiments, which sometimes never saw the light of day. Dungeon Synth probably coalesced there in basements and record stores, a swirling cauldron fueled by the European EDM scene, cheap beer, late-night dungeons & dragons games, and re-watches of classic fantasy movies like Conan the Barbarian. What is Dungeon Synth? It's what remains of black metal when you take away the metal and leave the Dead Can Dance and Berlin School (Tangerine Dream). Purely atmospheric, it wasn't meant to accompany Dungeons & Dragons at first, and the artists making this music didn't call it "dungeon synth." It's often associated with Mortiis, whose Era I projects like Født til å herske are still highly influential on the genre (but other artists were essential to its growth). Like black metal before it, dungeon synth artists are usually obsessed with classical fantasy and myth, especially Tolkien, and many of them intentionally write their music to accompany "old school" Dungeons & Dragons play (although a surprising number of them have zero experience with the game, which came as a shock to me). Cassette tape trading always has been, and probably forever will be, a staple of Dungeon Synth and one of the things keeping it going (that and a curious draw towards re-enchantment creeping its way into the consciousness of Westerners). But despite all of its fantasy trappings, underground allure, and "grass roots" appeal, Dungeon Synth is a genre defined more by emotion than musical structure. Artists like Hole Dweller perform live on electric guitar using synth merely as a backdrop, while other musicians are implementing more folk stylings into their compositions, including mandolin, violin, ocarina, and other traditional instruments. It's not always about droning lo-fi keys, nor should it be; because of the genre's rock-solid basis in old-school pre-2000s fantasy, musical experimentation does almost nothing to dilute it. Is Dungeon Synth political? Usually not, but it does have a pervasive sense of tradition and a veneration for the ancient past and the myths that have shaped us, as black metal did before it. One thing Dungeon Synth is NOT, however, is mainstream. And I hope it stays that way. (Drop me into a volcano when we start seeing the dungeon synth + mumble rap fusions, please.) #osr #dnd #dungeonsynth #synth