Transmissions from the Dark

From the distro wing of the Forbidden Keep comes the recent batch of Manidoo Gathering tapes.

Raw ambient inhospitable elemental atmospherics from the harsh eternal winter climes of the Canadian wilderness:

Zesab - Ondaanimad
Waawoono – Sky Wolf Trail
Isputinaw – Naawinaagoz
Dibikimitig – Aandeg
Wakewaji - Winter / Spring

In an unreachable place between black metal, noise, ambient, drone and field recordings, lies the Manidoo Gathering sound

#mailday #blackmetalcassette #forbiddenkeep #rawblackmetal #ambientblackmetal #canadianblackmetal

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2 days ago | [YT] | 39

Transmissions from the Dark

Recent cassette acquisition from Fogged Entity - the whimsical winter forests synth of Shire Oak - Sempervirens

Self released by the artist in December 2024, the snow-laden wintery vignettes found their way to tape this summer and have been cooling my decks for the past few weeks (probably longer, time seemingly evaporating at the moment).

Beautifully rustic nature ambience from the Ottowan north

#dungeonsynthtapes #foggedentity #wintersynth #forestsynth #dungeonsynth

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4 days ago | [YT] | 38

Transmissions from the Dark

A new month of Dungeon Synth Sundays means a new artist for the intro banners and backgrounds behind each video, so before today;s album features, I make my regular post to introduce them.

For September, DS Sunday will feature the art of Jean Honoré Fragonard (1732–1806); a prolific and inventive French painter, draftsman, and printmaker, chiefly known for his exuberant and fluid manner, and elaborations on Rococo idioms favoring the playful, the erotic, and the joys of domesticity.



In addition to producing richly detailed Romantic oil-based panel portraits, and overgrown gardens full of mythological statuary, he also displayed a mastery of the rustic red chalk medium, depicting endearing visions of nature as a welcoming and wondrous experience – and it is these pieces which I shall be using as background for the month.




#jeanhonorefragonard #redchalk #frenchrocococoart #dungeonsynthsunday #dssundayart

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5 days ago | [YT] | 26

Transmissions from the Dark

Albion Dungeon Fest welcomes a uniquely enigmatic figure among the pantheon of dungeon synth artists to its stage this coming February.



Min Naing's Vaelastrasz straddles the worlds of fantasy and reality, with surreal perspectives of the modern blurring with escapism, meditation and mythic yearning, bound and threaded about a visceral quality that keys into emotional states capable of felling the sternest of unsuspecting listener. The path of Vaelastrasz's sounds have wended through the old school of Gondolin Records and Dungeon Tapes, into the fantastical realms of Out Of Season and Pacific Threnodies, and on to forge a new path of spiritual exploration of the self in latest album Death In Its Decadence, which fuses dark dungeon synth and neofolk into a sublime transportive creation.



We keenly await the appearance of this most experiential mystic to the Albion Dungeon Fest.


Early bird tickets still available from the Forbidden Keep Records website ⚔️


Full lineup announcement coming soon.

www.forbiddenkeep.co.uk/



#dungeonsynth #albiondungeonfest #forbiddenkeeprecords

5 days ago | [YT] | 31

Transmissions from the Dark

A recent acquisition fitting for DS Sunday, and one of my favourite albums of the year - the self-titled demo from Barbarian Ring.

A truly dark and visceral demo of primitive drone and atmospheric stone-carved melody, presented in old-school xeroxed form, with a cool hand-drawn map depicting the track titles.

Great audio and physical release all round to start new label Blaggard Records

#barbarianring #blaggardrecords #dungeonsynthcassette #dungeonsynth #dungeonsynthtapes

1 week ago | [YT] | 46

Transmissions from the Dark

Fief must rank among the most revered artists in the pantheon of Dungeon Synth mages; opening a portal to an alternate medieval world in 2016 with his debut album, I, the ambient folk harmonies played with seemingly familiar motifs, yet shimmered into a uniquely unreal and liminal realm, with an untouchable, elusive aura that few, if any, other dungeon synth producers have been able to find their way to.


Despite the popularity of his six full-length albums and a clamoring fanbase building over the past eight years, Fief is an artist who has successfully maintained a mystique and magical otherworldliness…..until now.

After revealing the man behind the music and debuting live performances in the United States in recent months, Albion Dungeon Fest has the rare honour of presenting the first European appearance of this most enigmatic and inspiring artist.

Tickets available now!

www.forbiddenkeep.co.uk/

#dungeonsynth

1 month ago | [YT] | 57

Transmissions from the Dark

It’s the first Sunday of the new month, which means I have a new intro banner artist for the next few weeks of Dungeon Synth Sunday. So as I have made a recent tradition of, I am introducing the artist I am using this month.



For August, intro banners and background feature artworks by Josef Mandl; a Czech impressionist painter of landscapes and the supernatural, who lived between 1874-1933.



He was born into the family of Pilsen goldsmith, Josef Mandl, studied at the Academy in Prague, which he entered at the age of 14, becoming a student of religious and historical painter František Sequens, though his work developed over time to become most influenced by the symbolist expression of Max Pirner.



Mandl’s work is often tense, dark, and haunting, as a commentary on contemporary tendencies towards decadence and the inevitable transience of existence.



#dungeonsynthsunday #dungeonsynthsundayartist #josefmandl #supernaturalimpressionism

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1 month ago | [YT] | 44

Transmissions from the Dark

I'm writing the band intros for the Albion Dungeon Fest again this year. February 2026, New Cross, London. See you there.

First band introduced - Hole Dweller. Follow the Albion fest on IG: www.instagram.com/albiondungeonfest/


'...Through the trilogy of ‘Coop albums and several standalone releases, Hole Dweller offers a personal Hobbit-themed vision of fantasy synth, spun from spirited charm and aching melodies into a world of comforting melancholy with an enchanting timeless energy....'



Early bird tickets still available from the Forbidden Keep Records website ⚔️ full lineup announcement coming soon!

1 month ago | [YT] | 50

Transmissions from the Dark

Absolute ripper of a record. ☄️ Stygian Ruin 💫 A Violent Egress ✨released by Crypt of the Wizard

New album is easily one of my favourites of the year. Wild trajectory from misty forested dungeon synth to the psychedelic blackened space metal of these recent albums.

Stellar stuff.

#mailday #stygianruin #cryptofthewizard #blackmetalvinyl #blackmetalrecord

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1 month ago | [YT] | 35

Transmissions from the Dark

Against the odds again (but only just), I am managing to make my DS Sunday intro banner post on first Sunday of the new month.



I am doing something a little different for July, with a theme instead of a single artist, which I do occasionally. Much of the genre of Dungeon Synth is built on depicting fantasy worlds, either those established in the canon of fantasy fiction, mythical realms of reality or artists own creations – world building, and musical depictions of protagonists traversing these landscapes are a quintessential features of the genre.



So, my DS Sunday intro banner artworks for July feature maps of fantasy realms, in easily one of the hardest months I made for myself in deciding which images to go for for each week.



Can also be a fun game for the month, see if you recognise the world each week.




#dungeonsynth #dungeonsynthsunday #fantasymaps #fantasyworldbuilding

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2 months ago | [YT] | 50