Dungeon Synth

Since the upcoming first issue of Hinsides magazine is intended to reflect upon movements in both Art, Literature and Music, Hinsides invited the notorious Hatpastorn, known from the blog ”Hatpastorns Likpredikan”, to discuss the kind of musical expression that goes by the name of Dungeon Synth. A genre that now seems to experience something like a ”second spring”. Hinsides are therefore proud to hereby offer you a general conversation about the scene as a whole as well as the hitherto untold story of the reverends own escapades in the promised land of Dungeons. Read further if you dare to discover a world of giants and trolls armed with questionable software ...

In addition to the self-indulgent writing that you post on your blog, you are most known for your works in various metal bands, and in recent times you have also been talking about a Dungeon Synth project? Please tell us all there is to know about this highly interesting initiative and what it is with this particular genre that appeals to you? 

- My first band ever was actually a dungeon synth-project, but back then it was just called dark ambient. This must have been around 1996-97. The band was called Thee Forgotten Oblivion and it consisted of me and an old friend called Rasmus. Needless to say, the music and the name were fucking atrocious. We had just discovered FastTracker so it was pretty minimalistic. But It made me continue to create music and a couple of years later I mastered FastTracker to the point that I still to this day find music software like CuBase, Logic and Reaper somewhat limited when it comes to programming drums for example. Rasmus started and ended his musical career with that project. Nowadays he is some kind of genius in theoretical physics, and I … collect strange music and write about it. I´m not really sure who came out on top.

Through the years I have had numerous synth-projects, much to the chagrin of some of my friends who are not into this kind of music. A couple of years ago Nachtzeit from Lustre visited me and helped me with some computer stuff, and that’s how Thuringwethil was born. I recorded an album and got a great label ready to go, did all the artwork with help from Mysteriis from Setherial. But I doubt that album will ever be released. Since so much time has passed, I have created music for at least two new full-length albums. Maybe I release it myself or put in on a streaming service or something. I think it turned out great. A bit more original than the average dungeon synth. I also have a project called Stjärnfödd, and it sounds exactly as you can imagine it.

Logo of Thuringwethil

So, with your famous ability to express yourself poetically; What does dungeon synth mean to you? How would you define this style of music and how would you describe your relationship to this specific genre?

-  Dungeon synth means a lot to me. I started playing tabletop RPG´s in the late eighties and during the nineties many high adventures had black metal and dungeon synth as musical backdrops. Synth music of this kind has also been a great catalyst for creativity such as drawing, writing and making stuff in general. It is also great to have in your Sony Walkman when you venture into the woods. Back in the days I also lured many unsuspecting females into my trap by playing Wongraven. Well, that was a lie. I still use that trick. 

To really define the genre is kind of tricky. The cruel explanation of dungeon synth is that it is a genre created by desperate non-musicians from the black metal-scene. A genre where devotion is far greater than the actual musical skill. Just look at Lamentation for example. It is kind of shitty, but at the same time awesome and atmospheric. If I had to explain the genre to a person who has no knowledge of the black metal-scene I would describe it like this:

”Imagine a soundtrack to a fantasy movie that does not exist, performed by a slightly retarded musician that does not often venture into the tricky black keys on the Casio-keyboard”

My relationship with the genre is kind of mixed. The good stuff is good stuff, but since it got popular a couple of years ago the community turned to absolute shit. I had to unfollow so many Facebook-groups for the sake of my own sanity. When some fucking idiot made a post about how Vangelis was dungeon synth and some other complete moron had the audacity to say that Mortiis was not DS, I just left the group and shut down the computer. But there are still some great tunes coming out, but damn, it got oversaturated fast.

Tell us about your greatest musical experiences related to dungeon synth music! Where were you, and when were you? Do they come from an intro or outro on some old black-metal cassette from the Alps, or have you discovered any contemporary project recently that you like for some reason? What ingredients must be there to make some good D.S?

-  My first encounter was via Burzum, “Channelling the power of souls into a new God” from the first album. I thought it was pure genius to have such a strange and simple song played on keyboards exclusively. When I heard “Tomhet” from the “Hvis lyset tar oss”-album I was hooked. Still to this day one of the best songs ever recorded. After that I discovered similar tracks on albums by Isengard and Abigor and so on. Unfortunately, most new bands lack these kinds of intermissions on their albums. It is kind of great to have a soothing synth piece after about four songs of distorted hellscapes.

My greatest memories connected to this kind of music are from the mid-nineties when I discovered black metal. We were a bunch of misfit teenagers who played RPG´s all the time while listening to music. It was a magical and simpler time. I do have a quite recent experience that needs to be addressed though. Last year I performed a midnight show with a band that for now is secret. Normally we play black metal, but for this occasion we decided to only perform our songs with synthesizers, samples, vocals and percussion. We played in an old chapel called “Vandrarnas kapell” (Chapel of the wanderer) and the audience was sitting on the floor, intoxicated by all sorts of natural and unnatural substances. After our set we put out all the candles and since the chapel was completely dark, we figured that the audience should leave. But they all stayed in complete deafening silence for about fifteen minutes. It was an extremely powerful experience, to evoke such dread that we paralyzed an entire chapel full of people. The next day some old folks visited the chapel and lost their shit because we had redecorated the place. According to them we desecrated the chapel and I think it got dechristianized.  Great success! We later recorded our album in that chapel. Hopefully it will be released in the end of this year.

The man on the Silver Mountain

I mostly prefer the old classic stuff like Mortiis, Fata Morgana, Vond, Pazuzu, Swartalf, Lamentation, Trolltjern, Lord Wind and the synth tracks by Burzum, Abigor, and Isengard. The band name Thuringwethil is of course taken from the Isengard logo. The figure in rags in the logo is from MERP if I´m not mistaken. Unfortunately, there was some fucking American bozo who also took the name after I finished the album and by now, I guess there is approximately a zillion bands with that name. Maybe I will have to call it The True Thuringwethil.

Anyhow, there are a lot of great new bands in the genre. Old Tower, EITR, Til Det Bergens Skyggene, Erang, Fief, Lord Lovidicus, ElixiR, Rymdborg just to name a few.

Ok, thanx a lot for participating! Final question to close things off: Which ones of todays world leaders would most likely be responsible for the sickest D.S, and what would the jurys motivation sound like?

- Today’s world leaders, that one is not easily answered. If I could choose any leader, I think Stalin could pull of some great oppressive and repetitive stuff. The Russians has a great sense of melody. Рабор released an album called ”За Тридевять Земель” a couple of years ago that immediately put me into a good mood. And the album cover is brilliant. Putin is more of a euro disco-guy, I think. 

I have to go with Kim Jong-Un. I think that guy can create pure bliss on the keyboard. I actually put the best song from the Skyrim-soundtrack, “Secunda”, over a video clip of him riding a white horse through the mountains and it put a tear in my eye. Such majesty!

Collage by Hinsides

You´ve just read an excerpt from a longer interview with Hatpastorn made by Hinsides Magazine. The conversation as a whole are soon to be published on paper in the first issue of this Magazine together with a lot of other exclusive content.

Pre-Orders of the strictly limited edition of 200ex are being made here: