Artist: Thorvroht
Album: Frostbound Reveries
Label: Isilya Records
Release date: March 2025 (originally October 2023)
A palindrome-named, difficult-to-pronounce project. A Theodor Kittelsen artwork. A frostbitten, melancholic take on dungeon synth. A tracklist composed solely of winter-inspired pieces. What's possibly not to like? Add to all this the fact that Thorvroht is actually an alter ego of the same artist behind Örnatorpet, whose excellent latest album I've recently reviewed, and it should be enough to pique anyone's interest. The fact that it has just been released on tape format by Isilya Records, the sub-label of the perhaps more well-known Gondolin Records, was an excellent reminder to publish a review of this most peculiar album.
Frostbound Reveries, as its name implies, is a genuinely frosty affair, but not quite in the way one might expect. There are no howls of wind, shiver-inducing ghosts or thundering jotuns here. Instead, what the listener is treated with is a surprisingly melancholic take on dungeon synth, one that is certain to annoy genre purists, but that goes for much of this artist's work anyway. For those who care little for such petty concerns, Frostbound Reveries offers a lush, rich and beautifully varied journey into the mountains, where the goal is not the mountain itself, but rather the beauty of the path that takes you there. Much like the cover artwork, this album tries to represent not the snowy peaks themselves, but rather the aesthetic and spiritual effect that such a timeless view has on the human soul. The sound on this album is profoundly melancholic, from the analogue, cassette-like hiss that paints the background of all tracks, over enchanting synth effects, to the wonderfully varied melodies that adorn the album from the first to the last track. The occasional spoken parts, very low in the mix and with an almost ethereal feel, feel more like you're accompanying a wizard than doing a mere trek through the frozen wastes of Scandinavian mountains. If anything, the music has an unmistakably fantasy feel, one that hearkens back to the childhood, but also more ancient times, when humans were more keenly aware of the beauty and the cruelty of the nature surrounding them, and perhaps appreciated the here and now more than today. Indeed, as the final track, Glimmers of Fading Bliss, draws the album to a close, it exudes that rarest of feelings, one of pining and regret over something that one hasn't personally experienced at all.
If this review feels more like a diary than a review, it's for two reasons only: (i) because this is one of those albums that truly needs to be listened to with the heart rather than with the ears, and (ii) because the artist behind Thorvroht is such an incredible weaver of human emotions into sound, perhaps even more so here than in his main project. For anyone who enjoys the more melancholy side of dark ambient and dungeon synth, Frostbound Reveries is about as perfect as it gets for a winter promenade, offering a colourful, if mournful companion for the drab days in which we live. I just hope it wasn't a one-off and that we'll get to see more Thorvroht releases in the future.
Rating: 9/10
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