So when is dungeon synth not dungeon synth? When it uses traditional dark ages instruments and when it isn’t about dungeons…! Er, yeah, but there is a teeny little connection to this, honest, kind of. A lot of dungeon synth is inspired by and used for Role-Playing game background music sessions and the like (no, not all, but quite a bit is inspired by the idea of creating fantasy lands and tales in ambient and semi-ambient music.
This release by the acoustic band ElvenDale (who any Warhorns Festival attendees will know well by now and probably like me adore) who play ‘ancient music from the mead hall’ on traditional instrument, is a curious beast. Essentially it is music to accompany the fight re-enactments the members also do with The Vikings society (and a little fundraiser) and does indeed in structure differ a touch from their traditional and self-penned songs live.
In eight tracks over a little more than twenty minutes we are taken from the march to battle, the phases of such including the challenges, the boasts, the demands, and the aftermath where the dead are called upon to rise.
With sombre drum beats and horns the armies are called together on the field, turning to sudden rise in tempo and gruff calls. The thing is that immediately this is so atmospheric. We are not talking some grand production like Heilung, we have something that sounds like the warriors approaching an open field. Simple plain arrangements that could indeed be heard in a field somewhere in the land of the Anglo-Saxons. ‘The Slaughter Begins’ is not a passage of violent music, this is more the promise of death taking place in melancholy slow motion as the challenge to depart is issued by the Saxons. ‘A Battle Of Wits is a curious recorder/whistle passage, I am guessing to mimic the voice of the protagonists. We pass into the battle, the tempo increasing and the sounds of battle, the clatter of sword on shield being the frantic pace of the music and the steady drumming. Again this is strangely, effortlessly atmospheric and transporting. ‘Insults And Demands’ voiced by the plain recorder sounds fades and the battle recommences; drums beat harder, voices call out “Odin knows ye all…”. ‘A Field Of Victory, A Field Of Dead’ is cold and still looks over the field, perhaps difficult to separate the victors from the vanquished other than by who stands to look and who retreats. The dead are little different from one another. It’s a lovely passage, delicate music as ever but heavy with feeling and a deceptively deep arrangement. ‘Calling The Dead To Rise’ is the chant of voices, then the pure and clean voice of perhaps a priestess, perhaps a Valkyrie, perhaps one of the gods themselves summoning them to the mead hall of the fallen, Valhalla itself.
And there you have it. Perhaps to some a strange album but it is crafted with real love, skill and integrity. Quiet, atmospheric and an intriguing look at the battle so often recreated by hammering riffs and screaming throats (nowt wrong with that mind!)
Give this a listen if traditional music and instruments have found a place in your heart. And expect their long awaited new album….sometime… or catch them live before the year fades
(7.5/10 Gizmo)
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