Dungeon Crawl — Lored Legend – Realm
ABSTRACT
We cross “The Threshold” to a realm of Fantasy Synthesizer Magick, and review the latest revisions to doot n’ toot taxonomy.
INTRODUCTION
While any dorky synthesizer music about wizards and/or dragons and shit is Dungeon Synth sensu lato, contemporary taxonomic descriptions of the genre now reflect a split between two major lineages: Dungeon Synth sensu stricto and Fantasy Synth. This Fantasy Synth split has its roots in the genre’s nascent days (see: Mourning and Turning Point) but has further solidified in the past decade (Pattison 2025). Just as death metal may be categorized as “wet vs dry” (Hickman & Schafer 2022), this revised phylogeny reflects the predominant “vibe” of dorky synth music about wizards and castles, namely “is it spooky or ✨ sparkly ✨?”
Dungeon Synth sensu stricto predominantly features the preservation of the ancestral spooky state, courtesy of its black metal origins. Think goblins lurking in dank dungeons, general moroseness, and corpse paint. Synth drones and an atmosphere of dark, foreboding gloom. Conversely Fantasy Synth exhibits the up regulation of ✨ sparkly ✨ traits; i.e. elves and fairies and gnomes, a prevailing sense of wonder, and a broader tonal palette that borrows from adjacent synth genres (e.g. New Age), film and video game scores, and music associated with medieval fantasy (i.e. Medieval Ambient).
While a type album has not been declared for Fantasy Synthesizer music—an album that distills the essence or embodies the gestalt of the genre—here I propose that Realm, the latest album by Pittsburgh’s mighty Lored Legend, should be adopted as the de facto type album for the genre. Predominantly on the basis that it’s “full of cool synth shit that sounds extra ✨sparkly✨ and makes me feel good” (Megachiles, personal communication, 2025).
LORED LEGEND — REALM
Figure 1: Realm album art. Note the heavy use of purple and conspicuous ✨ sparkles ✨, diagnostic of Fantasy Synth versus Dungon Synth’s predominant “xerox’d photo of a castle or mountain or some guy”
Realm’s suitability for type album status is clear both from the art (Fig. 1) as well as the opening notes of the first track, “Threshold.” We’re rippin’ rad fat synth vamps and dank pan pipe melodies straight out of the Eyewitness VHS substitute teachers would whip out during science period in 5th grade. Think Fief, but really into Tangerine Dream and Vangelis. Track two “Fairycraft” (note: autocorrects to “dairy raft” in my notes app; must explore this idea further) also has what is best described as “some dope John Carpenter business, but it’s in a major key” @2:27. These two traits, 1) fantastical use of synths, and 2) musical references to acclaimed electronic composers— are key characteristics required of a type album for Fantasy Synth.
A third trait needed to satisfy Fantasy Synth type album status is implying or evoking Narnia, Tolkien, and/or other beloved fantasy literature.“Satyr Saturnalia” features the aforementioned synth’d pan pipes in a melody so sweet and magical it’ll definitely have you selling out your siblings and Mr. Tumnus to wintry queens with questionable claims to sovereignty.
The 4th trait required of a Fantasy synth type album is “Can you quest to it?”, and no song on Realm better embodies that adventurer’s spirit and fantasy ethos better than “Princess of the Glade.” It’s got it all: mystery, intrigue, the promise of a heroes journey, etc. If the passages and transitions from 1:55->2:43->3:22 don’t steel your resolve and fortify your spirit for the arduous trials awaiting you, Leave the Hall!
Taxonomic rules stipulate a type album should also provide the genre name; e.g. the ant genus Formica is the type genus for the family Formicidae; Black Metal by Venom is the type album for Black Metal. Therein lies my only critique of Realm: it should have been titled Fantasy the way it embodies all that is good and ✨ sparkly ✨ about Fantasy Synth. The converse approach of revising the widely accepted Fantasy Synth to “Realm Synth” is inadvisable because a) it doesn’t have the same ring to it, and b) it’s probably already another separate microgenre someone made up for their 17th anonymous synth side project. As if Food Synth wasn’t enough. Regardless, it is this author’s opinion that this rule is “kind of dumb,” and we should ignore it and move forward with Realm as the type album of all Fantasy Synth anyways.
CONCLUSION
Here I have briefly outlined recent revisions to the doot n’ toot taxonomy, and why Realm is rad as hell and should be the accepted type album for Fantasy Synth. Future research should further explore introgression events between Dungeon and Fantasy Synth, and how we can halt or even reverse the proliferation of Food Synth.
In conclusion: Realm is a straight up Dungeon Synth (sensu lato!) AOTY contender. Go buy it and steep yourself in its immersive Lore(d).
Until next our paths cross, Dungeoneers.🫡 🏰 ⚔️ ✨
