Forgotten Conquest

 

    Hooray, another obscure micro-genre for me to dig my teeth into! Today's prey is Soulside Eclipse's Forgotten Conquest, a dungeon synth album. If you know me, I love a good synth instrumental (which should be readily apparent from a number of other reviews on this site) and this is no exception. The soundscape that this album creates is captivating, pulling forth of number of emotions throughout its runtime. It's ability of storytelling is fantastic, with it being able to truly evoke vivid imagery through it's instrumentation, especially with accompanying blog post by the artist. The droning tones and overly repetitious melodies and motifs really get across that feeling of loneliness and dread that the "story" is trying to convey. I might say that it can be a little too monotonous and repetitious sometimes, occasionally losing my interest before it shifts towards something else to pull me back in. Sometimes along with this the music can feel a little flat, in that it's not doing too much other than a few layered parts; not to say that it's bad, it does work in favor of the song with creating an effective mood, but I think that those moments could've done with something more. Generally though, I think that the album does what it sets out to do perfectly well enough through it's techniques in layering and mixing to help it stand on it's own musically, just bumping it up a number rank.

    Highlights: A Journey Begins, Drowning Tombs, Cave, Withering Visions, Hero's End.

Rating: 5/6