Hello and good day everyone! Risa here, I’m back with another dungeon synth review; this time we are going to take a look at the 2023 album from Borja, VIDUUS.
The album begins with a track titled Nightmares of Putrid Hopes. The first minute of the song is full of grunts and moans and screams that liken the listener to some sort of horror house. It sounds as though the individuals in the background are being horrifically tortured. Those sounds fade out and are replaced with a steady monotonous piano note that remains at the base of the song for the remainder. There are layers of what sounds like some string instruments and almost a chant or humming of some kind from a person that gives the whole track the feeling that it belongs in Dracula’s castle. Overall, it sort of made me uncomfortable, but I can only assume that was probably the point. It is eerie and beautiful at times, and at other moments it is creepy and a little gross. Very interesting and I am glad to have heard it regardless.
Track number 2, Tormented Souls Consume my Hatred, starts with the sounds of water trickling. It almost sounds as if a faucet was left on, or the rain coming out of a gutter. The piano that plays over the top of the water sounds is high pitched and therefore maintains the eerie feeling from the first track. This one is less creepy, and more so just uncomfortable enough to maintain the horroresque feeling from before. Song number 3, And Then, the Earth Inhaled the Demonlight, starts hard and fast at what I would have considered the climax of a different song. It fits very well immediately following the previous song, flowing effortlessly into the next moment.
In continuing the gothic horror feel, the next track, Envoy of the Darkeater, begins with the sharp individual piano notes that I would expect to hear in the score for a slasher story, such as anything by Steven King or what would follow Michael Myers around. These notes stay at the forefront of the track throughout its entirety, joined by a similar chant or humming sound as the earlier songs.
Echoes of Forgotten Emperors begins lower and slower, in good contrast to the prior song. This one feels muchmore somber, as if it is telling an incredibly melancholic story about the forgotten emperors of its name. This is the kind of sound I would want to hear while crawling through a dark, wet dungeon. The Crypt of Dismemberment flows so well with its predecessor that genuinely didn’t notice the song had changed until I was halfway through it.
The initial vibe for Astral Entities of Realms Unknown is somehow a combination of gothic horror and a UFO. The higher pitch and uneven feel of this song gave me goosebumps and made the hair on my neck stand up as if I was being watched. Honestly very impressed by its ability to adjust my perception or reality for a moment. And the sounds of an Eldritch being waking up at the end? Very well done.
The last 2 songs, Grief and Solitude (8), and J’espère Que Ta Mort Est Lente Et Douloureuse (BONUS), follow much of the same pattern as the rest of the album. Both are equally eerie and solemn in a beautiful way.
As a whole, this album was a very interesting experience. I like to DM for a dungeons and dragons party and if I were to ever choose to DM a horror themed campaign in one of the Domains of Dread, this is what I would have running in the background as we played. It was serene in places, creepy in others, but eerily beautiful the entire time. Go stream the album now on Bandcamp!
