Being a klutz who only skim reads most PR blurbs I was completely unaware until after listening to this album half a dozen times or more that it is one of the projects of maverick musician Maurice De Jong of Gnaw Their Tongues et al. And no that fact hasn’t changed my opinion of it… You see it does kind of reek of class.

But if you’re expecting harsh black noise maybe sidle off someplace else. We are venturing inro dark epic lands of Nazguls and Black Legions, werewolves and strange lights. Yes, this is epic dungeon synth.

From the opening title track, this is grandiose music. Imagine early Dead Can Dance sans vocals, neo classical ambient and a groundswell of aching, imperious melancholy rising up to greet you as you crest the brow of some rocky ridge and see a vast valley opening up below. Things immediately turn more sinister as, behind you, ‘Hunted By The wolves Of The Night’ closes. Dark and with a growing sense of dread stalking it plays on ominous drums and unsettling strings, haunting keyboards and a tension tightening before dissolving into the howls of wolves that think they are human. Or humans that believe they are wolves.

See? Class. Epic, dark and tightly composed. None of the eight passages here stretch over the five-minute mark but each is a concise evocation that fits superbly into the title. There are the odd phases of vocals; spoken and even some black metals sounds deep in the background, but this is an album where the music takes front and centre stage. Mories speaks through it in a remarkably clear voice that somehow manages to be stripped down in its delivery and yet utterly cinematic and majestic in its sound.

That, gentle readers, is the most remarkable thing about this album. A mere forty minutes with eight distinct and sharply drawn experiences that fit together like a map and yet delivery a sound and an atmosphere that goes on for days and leagues.

Ah, I’ll leave it at that. It’s not for haters of dungeon synth as it is undeniably of that genre. But it is superb and a little bit of mystery and mastery spread with a sweep of Maurice De Jong’s wizardly cloak.

Epic.

(8/10 Gizmo)

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https://vetussupulcrum.bandcamp.com/album/windswept-canyons-of-thule