Dianom - Candledance demo I 1996
1) Veil of Woe
2) Candledance
3) King of the Caves
4) Beauty of Withering
Zippyshare / Mediafire
Remember when I used to do atmospheric/ambient/dungeon synth stuff on Sunday evenings? Well, I do and to honour that neglected tradition here is, once again by the grace of brother Grev and his associate, Dianom from Finland and their (or more likely his) first and possibly only demo "Candledance" from '96. Don't let the overwhelmingly artistic vision of the cover fool you, the content isn't quite that bleak. Good sound on this rip despite the low-ish bitrate and a full cover scan is enclosed.
Four tracks for slightly over seventeen minutes, so we are firmly set in the standards of Finnish 90's demos. The music is dungeon synth, pure and instrumental, atmospheric and mostly rather melancholic and nostalgic. No special effects or samples here which for some is a dissappointment while a relief to others. Piano and keyboards, somewhat neoclassical feel at times while vaguely soundtrackesque at others. Mostly quite simple and pretty, perhaps it could be said it's easy listening synth instead of challenging and evocative but I like it. Now that I more think about it, kind of reminds me of that unreleased Emglev demo at times, not quite as melodramatic but there are similarities. Recommended for dungeon synth enthusiasts, people into calm, purty music and those who love really obscure artists and tapes.
8 kommenttia:
It surprises me that 90s dungeon synth tapes are not over yet. I mean, this genre is supposed to be underground as hell, with very few artists. But apparently it's not. Good to know.
Btw, have you heard anything about 3rd unreleased Lunar Womb demo recently?
@Eugene:
Considering the relative ease of making this sort of music (you basically needed a synth, some skill and motivation) compared to metal for example it's hardly surprising. I do remember that at certain point everyone and their mother seemed to have a synth side project going, thanks Mortiis for that. Most were quite shortlived, however and tended release just a tape or two. The genre itself didn't exist either, it's a recent "invention" after all, people just would talk about synth or ambient projects. So I do believe there is still quite a hoard of tapes to unearth!
No news on 3rd LW. I believe Henri has been busy recently and either hasn't had time to finish it or has forgotten about it. I'll send him a note about it.
Haha, I saw this on a list a few days before you posted it and was curious about it. Kind of funny how that worked out. Thanks man
@anon:
Sometimes things go smoothly, as if planned!
Great stuff, thanks. I'm surprised as well that you guys are still able to find more of these gems, but it's awesome.
@Andrew:
You're welcome and it's a pleasure for me as well to unearth these things. I wish I had been more active collecting them back in the tape trading days but I had a period where I was kind of fed up with all the synth projects popping up. I haven't checked the recent-ish updates to your blog, should remedy that ASAP.
Kinda makes me wonder if, in 20 years, we'll all be pining for the crappy neofolk side-projects that started coming out in the past few years.
@anon:
It's pretty much granted at least a bunch of people will do exactly that!
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