Cybard - CMLXXXIV
I hope the composer/producer of this project, who submitted it to my ask-box some months back, doesn't mind my making a slight example of his project.
This album of fantasy/mythology inspired electronic music is a fine example of why, even taking into account the more hi-fi/soundtrack influenced projects (among them Murgrind, Seregost, Lurk, DIM), not every instrumental project with historical or fantasy themes fits as dungeon synth. "But [blogger]", you may say, "Didn't you JUST say to take you out back and shoot you if you ever used the phrase "not Dungeon Synth?" Well, yes, and damn you for reading carefully. This artist clearly labels this music Dungeon synth and took great efforts to promote it in Dungeon Synth circles - but I would say that this album only occasionally delivers what I usually want from a DS album.
That's not to say that this music is ineptly made. This producer clearly knows what he is doing. The choice of sounds, with a mix of modern orchestral and folk instrument VSTs, is evocative. There are some nice arrangement/orchestration touches, especially in the balance between melody and countermelody, which are technically quite polished. I'm not a huge enough fan of the electro genres this artist seems to be primarily involved in to fully understand what's going on here production-wise, but there's definitely a little of what I would call that "synthwave wobble" in the percussion, which is a little disorienting with the clearly folk-oriented sound libraries. I especially like the syncopation of "Offshore", and there's some nice nuance to the melodic composition of "Viking Lullaby". The artist himself also uses the description "Folktronica", and to me this is a much more apt term than Dungeon Synth to convey what's going on here musically and otherwise. The drums are right up front in most of the tracks, and over the course of the album, that does become a bit monotonous, especially in places where they mask some of the other arrangement strengths. Listening to this album as a whole, you definitely hear a few of these patterns get reused from track to track. I don't think this would be as much of a problem with a traditional synthwave sound palette, and maybe it is the hybrid sound design that makes this more apparent.
I want to avoid calling things "not dungeon synth" because it leaves me with the considerable task of defining what DS is. But to me what this release doesn't deliver to me as someone evaluating DS primarily is a real sense of mystery and listener participation. There's a clear intent, via the artwork, song titles, sound design and so on, to evoke Scandinavian/Viking history. But there's no room for the listener to take a journey other than exactly what is intended by the producer, and that is ultimately one of the the things that I crave most about DS. The best parallel might be, for those of you who remember Playstation games, the difference between a pre-rendered and a real-time, in-engine background. Cybard is sparkling and full of detail, but the camera angles are fixed throughout. The nods to EDM, in the production of the drums and in some kind of house-inspired rhythms (in particular on "The Kraken") take this music too close to the modern world for me to see this album as escapist music. I must stress above all that although this is not really my thing, this album sets a target and hits it dead in the center; the attention to detail in the sound design is excellent, and the composition is overall well balanced. But I can see a lot of DS fans shaking their heads at this one.