The World in the Valley of the Wind by Castlerock (tapes by Realm & Ritual) – Released September 14, 2025
This album is yet another stunning release in the lore of Castlerock. Beautiful melodies drift hazily over foggy rivers and against tree-covered mountainsides. The opening song alone feels like an entire world to explore. Pleasant plucking and fluted wandering abounds within this album, letting us get lost in the moment, while our minds drift along in serene wonder. There is, perhaps, both a lighter, enchanting bliss that melds together with wistful longing and a sense of hopeful ambition to create an album that is entirely memorable and an absolute delight to listen to. An incredible romantic fantasy synthesizer album that occupies a place in our hearts we had not yet realized was vacant.
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A September Night’s Dream by Swordcerer – Released September 21, 2025
The opening notes of this album instantly transports us to a place where the sunset holds long on the horizon, casting its glow on leaves turning for the season and a crisp coldness blowing in the evening breeze. The warm tones wrap themselves around us like an enveloping embrace, one that bolsters against the chill. There is a fantastical coziness that this album invokes. Some songs see fluted riffs floating over plucked rhythms, accentuated by the occasional dance of chimes. Others yet provide layers of soft tones and warm, comforting, drifting melodies. The compositions fall like dreams around us, as we grasp out to hold on while they transform and grow around us into something greater than and at the same time not equal to the sum of their parts. There is emotion and intent dripped into every note of this album, and all we need to do is listen.
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the translucent obelisk by Hermit Knight – Released September 25, 2025
This is an album that journeys places, traveling with listeners to realms beyond what is real. Yet still grounded in tangible emotion and evoking feelings of the natural environment, if not only from a new perspective. The sounds of nature permeate this release and add that depth, almost as an anchor, as the mind and spirit drift away on the ethereal melodies that draw longingly over the soundscape. Bouts of excitement, hopefulness, and joyous clarity join us along the way, giving rise to an album that merges that unbridled sense of wonder for the world that only something new to it can have, together with the weight of what the knowledge of what that world holds brings. “the translucent obelisk” is an incredible ambient emotional fantasy synth album.
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Thranuldulth, The Blind, Black Dragon by Spife – Released September 17, 2025
Spife spins a tale of dark terrors and fearsome might yet again with the telling of Thranuldulth. Synth-heavy black metal and epic narration and vocal work transform this album into a grand tale. The reverence evoked in the lore behind the album is carried over to the music, blending a wistful yearning for times past and that of the inescapable future into the melodies. There is a great mix of high and low energy movements with the guitar and synth riffing, creating a musical narrative that underscores the vocal storytelling, which also offers a range from spoken word to chanting to harsh wails.For fans of atmospheric black metal, dungeon synth, or fantasy tales, this album satisfies all three.
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Echoes Of The Black Flag by Prison Island – Released September 7, 2025
What would you expect from Pirate Synth other than wistful shanties and intrepid themes of the forlorn longing of the open sea? Prison Island delivers all of this and more in “Echoes of the Black Flag.” There are trappings of dungeon synth and those of sea synth across this album, but overall it falls somewhere in the middle without trying too hard to be what it wants to be. The tones chosen feel like those that you would hear on a ship sailing the seas, with the limited instrumentation available to those crews. Everything fits so cohesively, combined with the sound of waves breaking upon a wooden hull, it is easy to close your eyes and find yourself on deck. The overall mood conveyed is one of somber excitement with melodies that are just waiting to be hummed along with, and a grand adventure begging to be sought.
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Realm by Lored Legend – Released August 27, 2025
Epic and narrative driven fantasy and dungeon synth is on full display with the latest album offering from Lored Legend. Adventurous and grand in scope, featuring warm tones of bells, chimes and plucked strings. The movement between songs creates the sense of wonder and discover that the journey brings, begging the listener to focus on the here and now, instead of the destination. The tempo of the album keeps everything moving at a good pace, speeding things up and slowing them down in just the right places. An injection of surreal synth tones rounds out the architecture of the music, punctuating the fantastical and more classical elements and creating an immersive listening experience with new discoveries in every listen.
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The Reliquary Notes Online 