Swordcerer - The Hungering Keep

Released: August 25

The first album from Swordcerer (side project of Skeleton Mage) is a wonderfully minimal and crunchy lo-fi dungeon synth exploration. It’s a fairly minimal experience altogether with often little more than a simple stacking of synth sounds with some light pieces of percussion to accompany in spots. But there’s also a lovely and persistent hiss that runs throughout the whole album. I don’t know if it is from the recording medium or the analog gear, but I love the atmosphere it gives. It feels like it is straight out of the early 70s or 80s with an old and dusty charm to it that feels like opening a book that hasn’t been opened in decades. Which is pretty fitting since it was inspired by a book from decades ago that gives the same vibes as the album. 

As I said, it’s a rather minimal experience, with the only percussion featured on track five, “Siege,” consisting of little more than a pounding bass drum of sorts. It gives off an incredibly epic feeling though, sounding much like the procession of a march of war, drums beating rhythmically and horns sounding off the impending invasion. It does fade off at parts with a gentle plucked instrument playing out a complementary melody. I particularly love this part too as it almost instantly called to mind playing Chrono Trigger on my Super Nintendo as a kid. 

Everything else on the album feels more chill and less epic, but still very much in the same realm. I think “Subterfuge” stands out as another of my favorites here as it keeps with that same SNES RPG feeling with the soft plucks and soft horns. But I like how this one sounds a bit crunchier than some of the others. You can really hear it when the instruments all sound of at once, giving off a squished sound that might be unpleasant under other circumstances. But it works great with the lo-fi tape saturated aesthetic that runs consistently through this album