Digipak limited to 200 copies.
"A beautifully full and lush sound, compositions and arrangements that contain a satisfyingly large amount of nice details... The sounds are very obviously synthesized, the faux medieval melodies paint pictures of castles and majestic halls, and the long compositions lean towards minimalism. This is entirely classic dungeon synth. And yet it stands apart from yer random dungeon synth. And that’s due to one significant factor: quality... The beautifully melancholic and forlorn Beholding The Ruins Of My Kingdom consolidates Waeltaja’s position among this elite group" (Only Death Is Real)
In our review of Finnish Waeltaja’s previous album Heremite (review here), we remarked that it made us want to like dungeon synth – but lamentably few releases fare well in comparison to it. As such, it was of course with no little expectations we put the follow-up to that on.
It’s no secret that we here at Only Death Is Real don’t really like dungeon synth. It’s not some kind of principle or fundamental dislike of the genre. Rather, it’s just that we’ve rarely encountered releases we like. Sure, it’s a nerdy subgenre sprung from questionable roots – the synth side projects of black metal acts – but as Heremite proved, when done right, it’s good.
So, does Beholding The Ruins Of My Kingdom live up to expectations?
After the first listen, my reaction was a slightly disappointed “not quite.” It wasn’t anything obvious or glaring, somehow the new album just felt like a lesser successor. But on repeated listens my opinion changed considerably towards the positive: this is a worthy follow-up, reaching the same level as Heremite.
I guess one reason for the initial reaction was that Beholding The Ruins Of My Kingdom is a slightly more “active” album. There are more percussive elements here, and they are more central to the nature of the album. As a result, Beholding The Ruins Of My Kingdom is less about slow, sweeping vistas of panoramic landscapes and dreamy, otherworldly dungeon ambience. And it was exactly this I liked about Heremite, so perhaps my first reaction wasn’t so surprising.
However, though the new album is a bit different in nature, after a while the same strengths rise to the surface: a beautifully full and lush sound, compositions and arrangements that contain a satisfyingly large amount of nice details, and a great sense of atmosphere.
Again, I feel compelled to say that if more dungeon synth were this good, I could and would love the genre a whole lot more. Waeltaja remain true to the basic tenets of the genre; there’s nothing progressive or experimental about Beholding The Ruins Of My Kingdom. The sounds are very obviously synthesized, the faux medieval melodies paint pictures of castles and majestic halls, and the long compositions lean towards minimalism. This is entirely classic dungeon synth.
And yet it stands apart from yer random dungeon synth. And that’s due to one significant factor: quality. I suppose it is the blight of internet genres that they’re oversaturated by artists who take the easy way out both in terms of composition and arrangement as well as style. Dungeon synth isn’t by any means the only genre suffering from this – just take a look at synthwave!
But the fact remains: Waeltaja are among the relatively rare number of dungeon synth acts I more than enjoy – whom I actually, actively like. The beautifully melancholic and forlorn Beholding The Ruins Of My Kingdom consolidates Waeltaja’s position among this elite group.
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