Over the past few years, Arbadax has become one of my favorite Dungeon Synth artist. With each release bringing an amazing venture down a dark realm filled with fantasy-based themes and intriguing musical intonations, Arbadax excels at releasing consistent music that is bound to connect the listener to a fascinating, Medieval world. I recently had an opportunity to talk to Arbadax about his wonderful discography of Dungeon Synth greatness, where the inspiration came from and the direction for future releases. Please enjoy this interview with the prodigious Arbadax!
1. Thank you very much for taking the time to answer a few questions about the Arbadax Dungeon Synth project. How did you first get introduced to dungeon synth as a genre?
Thank you and the friends at The Dungeon in Deep Space for the interest you’ve shown! For years, I was unaware of the existence of the genre itself, even though I knew about artists more closely tied to the metal scene, like Burzum, Mortiis, Summoning… The real discovery happened during the COVID lockdown, when I was stuck at home due to restrictions, spending time playing music, listening to music, and working on building my small home studio. The memories are already blurred by the passage of time, but the first DS record that struck me straight to the heart was Hole Dweller’s ‘Flies the Coop’. From there, a whole new world opened up for me to explore. At the same time, I also regretted not discovering this genre earlier, because who knows, maybe I would have started making this music much sooner… But perhaps the time wasn’t right yet.
2. Do you see Dungeon Synth as a subgenre of ambient, black metal, or something else?
More or less, we all know how it originated; its roots run deep in black metal, but after so many years, I think we need to give DS the proper dignity it deserves, as far as I’m concerned, it’s a genre in its own right. What I found when I approached this world was a mature and grown-up scene, still confined to the underground and the limbo of amateur musicians, but in my view, it’s absolutely right to define it as its own genre.
3. Who are some of your musical influences, both within and outside of Dungeon Synth?
I was born a metalhead, and I still am one. I’m currently a bassist in a band called Heavenfall, and I used to play in an epic metal band, Holy Martyr, so my main influences are the entire hard ‘n’ heavy world, mostly classic, hard rock, epic metal, thrash metal, and to a lesser extent, other metal genres as well. To complement that, I’d also mention classic rock from the last century. I’ve also always listened to instrumental compositions, especially soundtracks, classical music, and some of the most famous musicians who made electronic music popular, like Jarre, Vangelis, and I’d also like to mention the Italian Franco Battiato, who experimented with synths in the early 70s. Recently, with my interest in DS, I’ve also gotten into other electronic genres, like ambient or synthwave, for example. On my YouTube channel, I’ve published a few synthwave-oriented songs, which I usually do between albums to take a break from the DS atmosphere and reset my mind.
4. When it comes to thematic expression, Arbadax has released some amazing albums in the realm of Medieval fantasy. What role does fantasy, mythology, or history play in your music, if any?
Clearly, my love for fantasy is evident in my storytelling, which focuses on the character of ‘Arbadax.’ More generally, I’ve always been passionate about the fantastic in a broad sense, and also about the mysterious. I’m deeply fascinated by the world of the occult, even though this fascination is in constant conflict with my rational side. This attraction to the fantastic and the mysterious is a very human, primal component, but then there’s the adult me, an engineer no less, with years of scientific studies behind me, who says, ‘Hey, you know all of this is nonsense, right?’ This also ties into my passion for ancient and modern history, its mysteries, its conspiracies, its horrors… the epic and the mythology. It’s all connected. In the end, fantasy is nothing more than the story of humans living in a world truly shaped by their mythology, beliefs, and folklore. I’m fascinated by the bestiaries of various cultures, and sometimes I’m amazed by how imagination can conjure up such incredible creatures with extraordinary powers and strength. It would be fun to live in such a world, and that’s why I enjoy talking about it. When I created the two more medieval-oriented albums, I was undecided about starting a separate project under a different name. But in the end, I continued as Arbadax and incorporated “The Bard’s Tales” and “The First King” into Arbadax’s storytelling, as if they were tales of the mythology and past history of the island of Ankmar.
5. What do you think makes Dungeon Synth so unique compared to other ambient or electronic genres?
What sets it apart is a raw sadness and a gritty darkness that I don’t see in other genres. For example, ambient music is relaxing, and synthwave music is usually cheerful, with positive or ‘comfy’ vibes, as they say nowadays. But when you listen to DS music, you’re catapulted into a sonic dimension that takes you to other levels. Even comfy synth, which might not have that sad and dark note, transports you into a world where the musician wants to guide you (and I could mention Hole Dweller again in this regard). Perhaps this is also a characteristic of the genre: the listener lets the musician guide them into their world. A song title or even a brief bit of storytelling is enough to make it work. This is obviously what I’m trying to do as well.
6. Dungeon Synth often evokes the essence of nostalgia. How do you capture that feeling in your music?
Musically speaking, I like to write pieces that sound sad, and to do this, I usually rely on minor modes, technically speaking. However, it doesn’t mean that if I write melancholic-sounding pieces, I’m feeling that way myself. In fact, sometimes it’s the opposite—the music, as I write it, brings out certain emotions. It’s an equal exchange with what I’m creating.
7. How important was it to capture that on your first album, ‘A Sad Story Of Blood And Love’?
This was the first album; we were in the middle of the COVID era, locked inside for months, and in the album, I conveyed this sense of sadness, abandonment, and melancholy. The compositions were very minimalist and stripped down, and it naturally made me think of something terrible like war and a story of passion ending in blood. Then maybe there’s something personal as well, who knows?
8. Do you prefer your tracks to have more of a lo-fi or raw sound, or do you focus on more polished production?
So, this also seems to be quite a debate among DS fans, right? Probably, if I could afford it, I would go to a studio to work with a sound engineer or producer to get the best out of the tracks. But perhaps, at that point, it wouldn’t be DS anymore; it would become something else, because everything would be wrapped in a nice layer of sound, with bright dynamics and clear, well-balanced tones. I try to do the same on my own, on a smaller scale, often without consulting anyone. What comes out in the end is 100% mine, but I’d definitely be very curious to hear one of my albums professionally produced at a high level.
9. Your third album, ‘The Land Of Ankmar’ shows an incline in musical growth. Do you feel as if your comfort level in the genre was getting better at this point?
Let’s say I really started to enjoy myself. There was a period when I spent almost all of my free time writing music, recording, and jotting down ideas. I still have about a hundred riffs recorded on classical guitar, waiting to be developed. During that time, I also invented an alphabet that would be the alphabet of Ankmar and laid the foundations for its language. I was completely immersed in inspiration from all angles. It was also a period when I started studying piano and became interested in the basics of mastering and mixing techniques, but I eventually stopped due to lack of time. This project also marked a break from my previous work because it doesn’t represent the typical ‘journey’ theme of fantasy stories, but simply a description of my imaginary land, Ankmar, which is partially connected to Sardinia, where I was born. For example, ‘The Ruins of Karahal’ refers to the ancient name of the city of Cagliari, which was called Karalis in Latin. Or the sound of the sea in ‘The Grand Sea’ was recorded on a beach in Sardinia.
10. Your seventh album, ‘Lost’ is one of my favorites by you. The music is as relaxing as it is imposing. How do you balance simplicity and complexity in your music?
It is said that life requires balance, but man is not perfect and is in an eternal struggle to find balance in everything he does, in every emotion, and in every relationship. Sometimes genius is found in a person’s imbalance and madness, but I don’t think that’s the case for me because I’m a fairly rational person. Therefore, in my music, balance is still given by the sensations I feel. Often, I find myself adding instruments and overlapping harmonic lines in a compositional high, but then when I listen back the next day, I start to remove things, bringing the piece back to its simplicity and keeping only the parts that still sound good to me and that don’t alter the essence of the piece.Or it can just as easily happen the opposite, meaning that a piece that started off simple can then develop in an incredible and unexpected way. You know, sometimes when I listen back to my old tracks, I find that I absolutely don’t remember how I came to develop them in that specific way.
11. Do you incorporate live instruments into your recordings, or is it all digital/synth-based?
First of all, you should know that I’m not very good at playing the piano or keyboard. I usually write pieces on guitar or bass, then I take everything into MIDI and from there, I develop the piece by adding and removing until I feel it’s complete. So, it was inevitable that sooner or later, I would reach the point of adding something different, especially because I often feel the need to find new sounds. In ‘The Land of Ankmar,’ for the first time, I used an acoustic guitar, while in ‘Winds of War,’ I recorded bass and electric guitar with my Fender Precision and an Ibanez guitar. At that time, I was in an ‘epic metal’ phase; if I remember correctly, the war in Ukraine had just broken out or was about to break out, and I was angry. Subsequently, in my other works, I sporadically used the acoustic guitar, especially in the two projects with medieval sounds. I always think that sooner or later, I’ll make another album in the style of ‘Winds of War,’ with bass and electric guitar, because I had a lot of fun making it!
12. On your eighth album, ‘The First King’, there is again, another shift in musical focus as the tracks seem more melancholic yet more developed and powerful. How has your sound evolved since you first recording?
I had a lot of fun creating many harmonic lines on this album. There are some long and intricate pieces, with key changes and varying themes. This is definitely something I didn’t do in my earlier works, which may have been more repetitive, but you know, it also depends a lot on the mood and the types of sounds I use. With medieval orchestrations, there’s actually a lot of space in the mix to create many harmonies, while using fat pads like in ‘LOST,’ which occupy a lot of space in the frequencies, there’s much less room to develop harmonies. In any case, I like to frequently change the type of sound and song development, as I did with the latest album.
13. Your latest album, ‘The Necromancer’s Swamp’, is a short collection of fun tunes that are very eclectic. What was your vision with this album?
Originally, the tracks were created with the intention of doing something different from everything I had done before, and I started working on this album convinced that I would integrate it into the storytelling of the island of Ankmar. Then I was contacted by the label HDK to write five pieces to be published on a cassette alongside three other musicians, and so the composition took a different turn to follow the storytelling of the short narrative provided by HDK. I slightly modified the pieces by adding sounds and noises and replacing the percussion with pads that, in my opinion, give that eclectic touch you mentioned. Those tracks seemed perfect to me for telling a story of black magic and necromancy.
14. Do you see Dungeon Synth as a form of escapism for yourself? What do you hope that your listeners get out of your music?
Certainly, yes! I think all forms of art are like that. It starts with passion, and then when you delve into the art, you discover that it can also be a great way to unload your problems or transfer them into it. In a broader sense, there’s also the fulfillment that creating something of your own gives you, like when I made the physical copies of the cassettes, taking care of the artwork, the recording, and the preparation of the cassettes myself.
15. Can we expect any new releases from Arbadax this year? Do you plan to incorporate exciting new directions or experiments?
At the moment, I’m working again for HDK, this time for a full release, although I’m not sure when it will be ready, because in the coming months, I will also need to enter the studio with my band. Recently, I have actually slowed down my production pace, so we’ll see. I have a lot of ideas in my head that I would like to explore sooner or later… I’m always thinking about starting a project exclusively focused on historical themes, as well as the science fiction that I love so much, with sounds that are, how should I say, more ‘spatial’? Finally, I’m also considering making an album completely based on guitar and bass… We’ll see; at the moment, I’m not sure what I’ll do first or if I’ll be able to do everything.
16. I really appreciate you taking the time to answer these questions. Do you have any final thoughts for those that will be reading this?
I hope I haven’t bored you too much! I invite those who don’t know me to check out some of my work on my channels. Arbadax awaits you in the city of Ankmar, in the land of Ankmar, to share a drink together at the Boar’s Inn. But send a messenger first, because I might be too busy studying a new spell, and I would be sad not to meet you! Remember to support music and your favorite artists, stay in peace but fight for your well-being.
Links:
BC: https://arbadax.bandcamp.com/music
Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/Arbadax/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arbadax_?igsh=eXBjYjNic3gzcGUz
