Artist: Shadow Dungeon
Country: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Label: GoatowaRex
Formats: LP
Year: 2024
Shadow Dungeon was one of the many projects of O. (who in this entity goes by The Leper King), the prolific mastermind behind acts such as Sulphuric Night, Obskuritatem, Niteris and Void Prayer. While these acts are nearly all part of the Black Plague Circle of bands from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Shadow Dungeon was never counted amongst them. One can only assume that is based on the music, as Shadow Dungeon was too far removed from the rest of them, or at least initially. Indeed, from the inception in 2016 the band exclusively performed Dungeon Synth on the earliest recordings. It was with the third full-length album ‘Gæstgerýne’from 2022 that the band made a switch to symphonic Black Metal, a genre it held on to until its demise in 2024. Now, GoatowaRex brings us this first step into Black Metal for the band with the re-release of ‘Gæstgerýne’ on LP.
If opening track ‘From Times of Old… Forbidden Mystery’ is the first song you ever heard by the band, you would have never thought Shadow Dungeon had this whole history as a Dungeon Synth act. With a raw guitar tone, gnarly riffs and omnipresent symphonic keyboards, the band has a rather bombastic and cosmic Black Metal sound. With some clear Pagan influences, Shadow Dungeon on ‘Gæstgerýne’ sounds like a mix of Burzum (‘Filosofem’ and ‘Hvis Lyset Tar Oss’), Troll (‘Trollstorm Over Nidingjuv’ and ‘Drep De Kristne’), Covenant (‘In Times Before the Light’) and Obtained Enslavement (‘Witchcraft’ and a bit of ‘Soulblight’) mixed with some Master’s Hammer and early Satyricon. Besides the snarling Black Metal vocals, we are also served with some Isengard and Bathory-like clean vocals, adding to the Pagan character of the music. The haunting and cosmic keys contrast the at times pummeling drums and blistering riffs, such as in ‘Past Traditions Unbroken’, but what is mostly striking is the dynamic nature of ‘Gæstgerýne’. This keeps the rather lengthy tracks captivating throughout and are once again a showcase of O.’s excellent qualities as a musician and songwriter. ‘Night…The All-Devouring’ is a more restrained track, mostly acting at a medium pace in a manner that could be described as Burzum with symphonic keys. And talking about Burzum, the album ends with a cover of ‘Det Som En Gang Var’, a version in which the keys are slightly more prominent and thereby an interpretation that is a seemingly perfect fit with the rest of the material.
From Shadow Dungeon’s past, ‘Gæstgerýne’ was a grand departure into symphonic Black Metal. But as with everything that O. typically does, he did so with dedication and conviction. His homage to the likes of Burzum, Isengard, Obtained Enslavement and Troll is compelling, and this LP version is a welcome treat to those that admire the works of one of the key figures of the Bosnian Black Metal scene.
