Aldaron - Forest Path

I was very lucky to come upon a copy of this recently on Discogs for an overly reasonable price (thank you, friend!) This tape sits both on the periphery of dungeon synth and deep into its core chambers where the isolated bedroom naivety of the genre materializes. Forest Path by the Greek artist Aldaron is the first of two short demos the artist released in the early to mid '00s. I believe this one was self-released while the other demo, When Dawn Rise Again, which I'm still hunting down, was given a release from what I'm assuming is the artist's own label considering its the only release on the roster. Essentially self-released either way. Forest Path from 2004 is a short demo though it is nothing short of intriguing. What we have here are four tracks of sparse Roland Soundcanvas MIDI instruments, totaling about 11 minutes of playtime. The on-point timing here makes me believe that these were written in a tablature program, perhaps Powertab considering the date and since there is no drum-kit being used. The j-card credits the artist for guitar and synth, but I don't think anyone's being fooled into believing the guitar here is real. Not saying I don't love the old MIDI sound, though.

What is striking about is this tape is that the tracks somehow avoid having a recognizable or familiar atmosphere. Perhaps it's the overly accurate timing due to the program being used to compose the songs, but there's something just unfamiliar and vaguely alien about this whole thing. Even the title track, which is the most conventional of the four and is actually rather 'pleasant', still has an anomalous sense of confusion. I am indeed transported by the music, but not to where I am often taken. Whereas other DS releases may take you to fantasy realms of wonder, or medieval scenes of old, the forest path we are set upon here is from another world formed by unknown magics, a scene constructed to look like our own surroundings. The soil, the trees, the smell of wood, the branches snapping underfoot, are all conjured by an inhuman wizard attempting to recreate the human world. Occasionally the artist jumps to an off key note, yet it remains true to its intention. The instruments mesh at times and clash at others, experimenting with each other to give us the forested images we wish to see, but their form is warped, even uncanny. Volume fades and swells and you become disoriented. For some reason, you cannot stop wandering down this unnatural path. There is an end, but it remains perpetually out of reach. At that end sits the inhuman wizard, bent over his alien tomes, casting unearthly spells to construct the world in which you wander, a world he wished was natural. A verdant vision from the nonexistent childhood of the most innocent of demiurges.

I would say that Forest Path sits well within the realm of Hekaloth material (Xynfonica, Gluttony, etc.), though on the folkier and less dissonant side. The demo is intriguing enough to warrant at least one listen, but this isn't going to be for everyone. However, I know there are some of you who will listen to this over and over. I'm on my fifth listen this morning.

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Arcana Liturgia - The Reign of the Mighty King

And at last, the final tape of the three original Arcana Liturgia releases: The Return of the Mighty King. Back a little early since I wanted make up for such a lapse. I've had this on the shelf for quite some time. Originally, this was the release I had planned to post after the last Alviss post in 2017, but equipment issues at the time kept me from getting a decent rip of the audio. After far too long, I'm happy to be posting the most epic of the three class AL tapes. In the meantime, Arcana Liturgia has actually come back to making music, and the new stuff is great, picking right up where he left off many years ago. His first album in 20 years, Tales of an Ancient World is on Bandcamp with a tape on High Cathedral Records (though I believe this is long sold out). AL's previous demos also got a recent re-release in one tape on Gondolin Records. Different mix than the rips here, definitely check them out.

King comes as a natural progression from MCCXXXI and Ars Moriendi, creating an epic tale of an usurped king on a journey to reclaim the throne from his deceitful brother. Lots of instruments and atmospheres featured on this album with some familiar sounds from the prior two tapes but really put to the test of building a grand story. What this album does best is allow the music act as narrative. While each track serves as a scene in the king's journey, the music really speaks for itself in guiding the listener through this tale. Occasionally, narrative/spoken vocals are used to add to the story-telling purpose of this album, but they are sparse enough where they only add flavor and override the music. My favorite moments in the album are the combination of the tracks "The Return of the Mighty King", "The Death of Edris", and "Honour and Glory". The final battle between brothers occurs. The bulk of the self-titled track has this kind of tense yet understated repeated passage with piano, choir leads, and drums that represents the action between brothers. This isn't your typical boss battle music, but something more uncertain and understated. The track transitions into some somber piano moments where its as if the king is accepting the the troubling task of killing his brother. The queen soon comes in congratulate the king on his victory. The following track paints the scene of Edris' funeral, melancholic yet hopeful in tone. The sadness doesn't stick around for long before the victorious tavern fanfare of Honour and Glory begins in celebration the king's victory and the freeing of the land of Alghor.

I recommend reading to the j-card story to get some background of what's going on before listening. We even get a map of the king's travels to follow, another fine touch to the lore of the story. A great tale to conclude the history Arcana Liturgia, with future chapters now unfolding.

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Compendium - Ensemble MCMLXCV

 

Greetings, again. After over a year of inactivity, I've come back with quite the stash of obscure music to share once again. My ripping equipment is in working condition again, so I've been able to get quite a lot digitalized. Still a handful of tapes to go, but everything I have is currently uploaded and is awaiting a write-up, so I don't have a whole lot of excuse for delay now. Many people have emailed pointing out that a good portion of old download links are dead. I've moved everything to google drive which should stay up for a long time. I've also swapped out the Ashmadai rip with the cut-off final track to a new rip from a friend of mine. I played with the mix a bit so it's not so panned to the right and a bit louder. It was still a low mix tape to begin with, but hopefully this makes it a little brighter. Anyway, please enjoy any old stuff you've missed out on due to inactive links. I think the majority of my rips have been uploaded to youtube, as well. I'm sure posts ahead will make their way over eventually. Glad to be back!

I wanted to bring this tape up first thing coming off of my hiatus since it may be my favorite tape so far on this blog. Compendium's Ensemble MCMLXCV comes from the legendary Dark Age Productions, released in 1995 during the label's heyday. Ensemble MCMLXCV is lovely EP/mini-album of six tracks making a total of around 20 minutes. I should note that this tape isn't entirely dungeon synth proper. There's a strong element of gothic/neoclassical piano for the bulk of the tape but keyboards, acoustic guitar, cello, and other instruments are woven in to create a very lush and dark romantic atmosphere. I'm a pretty big fan of this kind of atmosphere relating to neoclassical darkwave, so fans of the genre will surely love this. The music is largely instrumental, though the first and last track feature very beautiful female vocal harmonies. If you're not into the whole gothic piano piano thing as much, old-school dungeon synth fans will get their cheesy synth thirst slaked with the synth panflute on the track "The Falls of Caledonia" and the baroque synth harpsichord on "The Dark Enlightened". It's hard for me to pick a favorite out of these, but I'm partial to the first track "Dancing in the Mist". In some ways reminds me of the piano solo tracks of Theatre of Tragedy. A very beautiful tape that's worth the time of anyone into darker piano music or dungeon synth.

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