DUNGEON SYNTH
is a subgenre of dark ambient music that emerged in the late 1980s and early to mid 1990s. The genre employs aesthetics and themes typically associated with black metal and applies it to dreamier ambient songs. The style is often compared to video game music, as it is occasionally applied in those settings. The early pioneers of dungeon synth were mainly associated with the black metal scene, taking the latter genre's primitive, ethereal, and often medieval aesthetics and applying them to ambient soundscapes. Classic dungeon synth releases focus largely on recreating medieval musical styles and textures with synthesizers, while other strains draw upon choir-like changs or battle marches for inspiration. The genre also inspired lighter, fantasy-themed releases with more skeletal instrumentation akin to the MIDI soundtracks of video games from the 1980s and 1990s, though the genre's original ethos of foreboding eerieness remains an important foundation.