Grabunhold - Frostheim (2026) Review

I remember anticipating Heldentod eagerly in 2021, due to the great impression I had of German outlet Grabunhold from their 2019 EP, Unter dem Banner der Toten. The debut album proved remarkable, and the band continued on a positive note with 2023's split release with Circle of Shadows, slowly drafting their own continuous landscape of Tolkien-inspired, triumphant and vigorous black metal. Half a decade after the first album, Frostheim is still characterized by mystique of the old world, winter imagery, and a higher than average aptitude for guitar-fronted melancholy in darkness buried deep, beyond all towers strong and high, beyond all mountains steep.

Lamp of Murmuur - Saturnian Bloodstorm (2023) Review

Among the numerous underground, noisy raw black metal projects that make appearances and disappearances in the scene the last few years, one of the most talked about ones has definitely been Lamp of Murmuur. After a series of demos and a split with Revenant Marquis, this band captivated the audience with its grandiose debut Heir of Ecliptical Romanticism in 2020, a record that found its way even to more mainstream lists and ears despite its harsh nature. Undoubtedly, there was massive inspiration and merit in that release, which did not evaporate at the follow-up album Submission and Slavery in 2021, establishing the Lamp of Murmuur name for good as a newcomer to look out for in black metal. 

Up to now, everything has been bleached in black and white representation, which brought the first wave of shock in the form of the well-designed, colourful cover art of the new record Saturnian Bloodstorm (which is, as the title, actually delightful). I had been in waiting for the time Lamp of Murmuur will actually step outside of its shadow and aim bigger, this attempt coming now with this polished work that wants to take them closer to the spotlight. 

While I am all for band ambition, the discography on their shoulders is already quite heavy and for what it is, Saturnian Bloodstorm is surprisingly uninteresting and stale. It is clear that the band makes almost tribute albums to their music role models (Submission and Slavery was a love letter to Sisters of Mercy) and now this record looks Immortal straight in the eye. Taking a production even cleaner than At the Heart of Winter, a worrying chunk of this album feels and sounds like Immortal, their landmark guitar sound and riff structure. The guitar lines are too close to that (reeking examples in “Hymns of Death, Rays of Might”, “Seal of the Dominator” and “In Communion with the Wintermoon”, as in, wintermoon…) but the record lacks the energy, the pathos and the vitality of the previous Lamp of Murmuur works. 

It almost doesn’t feel like them, and what was unique and exciting to listen to before from this band, has now completely disappeared, them having turned into a Scandinavian norsecore clone with slim to none of their own identity. Saturnian Bloodstorm is fun to listen to, it is clean enough to not be annoying and has a couple of catchy moments. But this statement by itself, is a huge disappointment when talking about Lamp of Murmuur.

Out on March 26th, 2023 | Argento Records

DAMAGE: 2.5/5 [Average]

Calderum - Lord Cramridor (2023) Review

As medieval as the cover art of the new Calderum record looks, just about that much it actually feels like listening to it. The one-man project from Catalonia had set this as a clear goal since its first days and Lord Cramridor honours the pact, as an admirable traditional, lo-fi black metal release with its own hints of dungeon synth. 

In this record, everything feels aged, and its leanings are of a different time. Nostalgics of the 90’s second wave will be fairly pleased with it, as it’s mostly structured in the foundational patterns of the genre alongside pale synths behind the middle / fast paced tremolo picks. It doesn’t stretch their use too much to fully enter symphonic black metal territory, but they are mostly employed in a similar fashion like the bands from the Greek scene (most notably in “Chaos in the Dark Realm”). For its better part, Lord Cramridor features tracks of fine quality and with enough variety to not stumble upon itself. 

“Regions of the Dying Souls” has the most memorable lines in the album, while the self-titled track and the opener “Gates of Darkness” have multiple solid riff passages to enjoy. High pitched screams hardly diverge from the norm as it was fully expected, while the most distinct difference from the rest of the work is held by the outro “Enlightenment of the Forgotten Souls”, an instrumental that feels more like a recording of a ritual in the rain. Lord Cramridor is a well-written piece of black metal that doesn’t want to surprise, but it pays homage to old school heritage and fantastically praises medieval witchcraft. 

Calderum pile on with this third full length, which is also the one I found the most solid in their discography especially because of the multitude of neat guitar lines and smart synth ideas to accompany them. Not to mention that it follows a rather unspoken cover art trend of real castle photography behind a red logo (Wallachia, Evilfeast, Godkiller and probably more, have done this in the past…). Anyway, for this year, Calderum delivered.

DAMAGE: 3.5/5

Listen:

Bandcamp

Release date: 03 Feb 2023 (Death Prayer Records)

A realm at the edge of sanity - Interview with Elminster / Ithildin Tape Production

I was already a few years in the blog cosmos when the first posts of Andrew Werdna surfaced on his now historic website, describing a certain style of dark / fantasy ambient with forlorn medieval aesthetics and initially coining the term "dungeon synth". The genre, initially loosely consisting of side projects of musicians of the second wave of black metal, has undergone a time period of rebirth and reform the last 10 years, with more and more projects and dedicated labels coming up and honouring the forgotten art of the cassette tape. And if you've followed this micro scene even a little bit lately, the name Elminster will surely ring a bell. Restless and with seemingly unceasing inspiration, an abundance of projects are maintained almost solely by one musician, Maeglin Aumar, all at the same time, releasing material quite often and a lot throughout the year, while maintaining his own tape label Ithildin Tape Production too. Under different monikers, he experiments with a wide array of musical templates, spanning from dark ambient, to dusty hip hop, to dungeon synth, to raw black metal, and all over again. Elminster agreed to a discussion that includes an extensive description of his artistic presence, his motives, insight on past releases and a glimpse into the future.

 

Mournful Moon - Rose Velvet Dynasty (2022) Review

Mournful Moon is a project by the mastermind behind Greek established dungeon synth name Arthuros, with which a first album was released in 2020, named ...As Shadows Fall Within Zenitheaen and had as positive feedback as Arthuros itself gets, yet less recognition. That record also treads on the same dreamy soundscapes, yet a turn towards more black metal groundwork has been performed this year with the project's second release, Rose Velvet Dynasty. While not losing its identity, and with a fair amount of keys and ambient parts, the album now shows clear inclination towards the same kind of dreamy black metal, with loads of middle-paced melodic structures that fit well to the second wave of Greek black metal sound, yet they're not identical. What elevates this record slightly higher than the average bar is the synth work itself, where it's clear that Constantine is most competent, and the combination between piano and guitar lines is in terms of compositional quality, fairly accomplished. Rose Velvet Dynasty is not violent at almost any point (except maybe at "The Sigil of Elites"), and demonstrates how dungeon synth and black metal can be combined for a non-trivial or predictable outcome. The tracks are engaging and well worked, with a handful of rather compelling moments that stem from some really good synth & guitar combinations, and you will get a proper fix of Arthuros / Mournful Moon's own dungeon synth palette, in various parts scattered all across. When coming across works like these, I understand the artist's honest intentions and substantial inspiration for creating new art, instead of simply a collection of tracks honorary to a certain sound, by a die hard fan. The aesthetics were already bordering with black metal from before, and now Mournful Moon dare to cross the line and put a piece together, that is worth a little more discussion among the circles of Greek black metal. [3.5/5 - Great]

Origin: Greece

Label: Self-released

Release date: 15.09.2022

Listen: Bandcamp

Grimdor - The Land of Shadow (2022) Review

I think I had been reading information about an actual Grimdor full length album as far back as two years ago, yet it seemed like something quite distant since the project is ridiculously active with releases, not only under this moniker but through many. This year alone, they already have four more EPs with Grimdor and I am sure there's more to come, while they constantly make short tape runs of their long back catalog. Nevertheless, the band's debut release is finally reality and there's a few points to note compared to their usual activities: there is by now colorized, proper digitally designed artwork (made by Silvana Massa), all the tracks are longer than usual and they have aimed for a generally cleaner sound in both parts of the record. The Land of Shadow, as always, heavily referencing Tolkien's universe, is made of two distinct sections: the first four tracks of monotonous raw black metal and the last three, of the distinctive dungeon synth style of Grimdor. Elements of one side do not interfere with the other, and could have been separate releases in another world, yet as a whole this falls 100% inside the ballpark of what a Grimdor fan would expect. Now, their black metal tunes are basically Burzum of the self-titled album era. The structure and the feeling, the riffs, even the style of playing is almost identical sometimes, with an only difference that Varg's vocals at the time were vastly better than the vocals here, yet the outcome is not completely lousy. It manages enough to just recognize a fine job of a worship act. On the dungeon synth side, as Grimdor are used to 1-2 minute pieces, there is a lot of repetition of a few melodies in each track to reach a needed duration length. I don't mind that at all, in fact I strongly prefer simplistic ambient to this seemingly grandiose dungeon synth artists that are out there, yet now that the production has been cleared, the verdict is also easier too see: an average record that gets 0.5 extra because I like Lord of the Rings. [3/5 - Good]

Origin: United States / Germany

Label: Self-released

Release date: August 9th, 2022

Listen: Bandcamp

Top 20 dungeon synth albums of 2021

Discreetly, I have been following the modern, digitalized dungeon synth scene since the early 10's with Lord Lovidicus and early Erang. Elffor releases fell on my lap almost as early as black metal, and I have enjoyed a lot of the known Wongraven, Burzum and Summoning material. The most distinct was Depressive Silence, but now there is almost a saturation of popping projects, yet I think the DIY community and the authenticity of the artists, is for the underground, unmatched at the moment. I listened to more dungeon synth (forest synth, winter synth etc... all included) than usual this year, so here's 20 cookies.

Arson Cafe's 
top 20 dungeon synth albums

 20. Ghunjul – Freezing Breath
19. Forest Temple - Spectral Threads of a Cosmic Dream
18. Kyvon – Frozen Grimoire
17. Fridfull - Fridfull
16. Adrasteia & Celestial Sword – Split
15. Gelure – The Candlelight Tomes
14. Abholos – Where Cold Shadows Dream
13. Necrocachot - Forest Of Bones
12. Coniferous Myst & Erythrite Throne - Northern Stories of Frost
11. Knights of the Stygian Order – Strength and Valor
10. Oublieth - À l'Ombre du Royaume en Cendres
9. Mörka Skogens Vindar - Trollens Återkomst
8. Druadan Forest & Old Sorcery - Split
7. Trädvarelse - Cave
6. Redhorn Gate – Sires of Old
5. Varvitos – Forbidden Lost Lore
4. Snowspire – As if Wandering in a Dream...
3. Forlorn Kingdom - Alpine Black Magick
2. Ulk – Shellbound
1. Wallachian Cobwebs – Night Sobbed a Potion Diseased

Grimdor - The Shadow of the Past (Comp, 2020) Review

Genre: Dungeon Synth / Black Metal

Location: Germany / USA

Release date: 01.11.2020

Label: Out of Season

Listen: Youtube

Website: Instagram

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There have been numerous small releases in Grimdor's short lifetime so far, and it seems that there's always more material coming from them, either under the Grimdor moniker or through their side projects. The band has a fairly respected and well-known mark in the dungeon synth scene, as their physical copies get sold out faster than the speed of sound wherever they appear, and their keen interest in the Tolkien universe shines through every aspect of their music. Without a full length release yet (something we really really need), they have achieved this status by frequently releasing demos or EPs, often quite short in duration.

The Shadow of the Past, apart from the legendary piece in The Lord of the Rings soundtrack, marks the boundary between the black metal and dungeon synth inclined parts of Grimdor's discography. It rounds up their first three EPs (The Lonely Mountain, Stone of the Hapless and The Chamber of Mazarbul) and a couple of other tracks, mostly comprised of lo-fi raw black metal with a dusty sound, while after this collection, they have been exercising more stripped down dungeon synth in 2021, with a lot of wonderful mini-albums. 

Big variations undergo this compilation, featuring Grimdor's strongpoints as well as more average fillers. For example, "Death of Glaurung", "Morgul Blades" and "The Chamber of Mazarbul" are really fine quality of ferocious raw black metal. The band experiments with a short doom / depressive black metal piece in "Deer's Leap", and you can swear you must have heard "Scimitar" or "Battle at Cirith Ungol" somewhere in the past, lost in a Norwegian basement during never released Gorgoroth rehearsals. On the other hand, "The Lonely Mountain" has some dubious clean vocals, slightly referring to epic heavy / doom metal singing but not with a huge success, and the longer drone-ish "Battle at the Bridge of Khazad-dûm", while a fan favourite, didn't manage to persuade me.

When Grimdor goes into dungeon synth, they shine. "Mount Gundabad" is wondrous, the eerie essence of "Ringwrath" conveys in just a minute and the introduction or "Black Storm", are beautiful songs for background roleplaying games all over. A track like "The Black Thorn of Brethil!" could be skipped, while "Stone of the Hapless" is great, and right after that, "The Red Eye of Sauron", also released as a single, is one of the best if not the best pieces in this compilation. The Shadow of the Past collects all of their work until then so that you don't have to go into each one by one, but it doesn't leave out some of the band's weaker moments.

And that doesn't change anyone's mind. Me included, as the rest of the people who follow them, purely for the great aesthetics and honest underground spirit, would support and buy anything Grimdor puts out. I'm always glad to see new tracks from them and 2021 has been especially good for that. The Shadow of the Past is a must for dungeon synth lovers, fantasy enthusiasts and lo-fi fanatics alike, yet you should also definitely check out what they have been doing after that. Since the band decided to put their discography on a ridiculous discount a short while back, I decided to grab it all and have a few dedicated listening sessions, and The Shadow of the Past concludes only the first part. Off to listen to "Mirkwood Forest" and "Bombadil" again.

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Tracklist:

1. Untitled (single)

2. Bombadil (single)

3. Black Storm

4. Repulse the Orcs

5. Death of Glaurung

6. The Black Thorn of Brethil!

7. Deer's Leap

8. Stone of the Hapless

9. The Red Eye of Sauron

10. Mirkwood Forest (Intro)

11. Morgul Blades

12. The Lonely Mountain

13. Ringwrath (single)

14. The Chamber of Mazarbul

15. Battle at Cirith Ungol

16. Scimitar

17. Mount Gundabad

18. Battle at the Bridge of Khazad-dûm (single)

19. The Lonely Mountain (alternate version)

Damage: 3.5/5 [Great]