Year: 2026
Label: Misantropia Records/Ambirial Mvsic Productions

As I’ve said before, dungeon synth is a genre I’d like to like far more than I actually like. There’s something that appeals to me immensely on a conceptual level in dungeon synth as it’s evolved to be in recent years: that wistful escapism, that melancholic longing for a time and world that never was. Where black metal is a rejection of modernity through a primal, almost knee-jerk reaction as seen in how it rejects christianity (and other forms of mainstream spirituality) through reversal, dungeon synth takes that rejection and turns it into a pining for an imagined era of more lofty ideals and ways of living.

I learned a new word whilst doing background work for this album: anemoia. Apparently coined by author John Koenig in 2012, it means nostalgia for a time and place one has never known. I don’t think there’s a much better sonic representation of that feeling than dungeon synth, theoretically at least – and within the genre, few who actualize it better than Waeltaja.

The reason why I don’t like dungeon synth as much as I’d like to is pretty simple. Sadly, and frankly, a lot of it is not very good. I’m not bothered with its musical crudity or simplicity; on the contrary, I’d say those are things ingrained into dungeon synth, being as it is a genre born from the often crude synth side projects of black metal musicians. What bothers me is that far too often, the atmospheres and the emotion remains flat. Like it sort of starts to part the veil to some mystical realm… but then the veil gets stuck and you don’t really get even a glimpse.

And this is where we get to Waeltaja: as established in earlier reviews, the Finnish one-man project gets it right. The atmospheres are stark and potent. Extremely intangible as well, but that’s part of anemoia at least as I see it. The melancholy, the longing, the nostalgia is of necessity abstract and evasive, because it’s for something we don’t really have words for.

Centuries Of Sorrow, then. In comparison to the previous albums we’ve reviewed, Centuries Of Sorrow takes the music a step away from pure dungeon synth. Percussion is in a relatively small role here, serving more as accentuations and background details rather than a significant structural element; the layers of synth are long, sweeping and ethereal layers of minimalism. The melodicism is during large parts of the album very understated and sparse.

Perhaps one could describe Centuries Of Sorrow as some kind of dungeon ambient. I’m going to go even as far and say I’m hearing elements of Berlin school here. Pretty obviously, Berlin school has always been in the background of dungeon synth, as synth pioneers like Tangerine Dream have certainly been an influence, but more often than not this seems to be a rather buried or unacknowledged influence. Centuries Of Sorrow, on the other hand, puts this slow, ethereal ambience to the fore.

The end result is a bit of a double-edged sword. On one hand, the abstract, understated and long tracks – the shortest one clocks in at just under 12 minutes – weave beautiful atmospheres that sit well with the title of the album. On the other hand, what I liked most about the previous albums was the faux medieval/fantasy medieval atmosphere so typical of dungeon synth; there’s far less of that here. So whilst Centuries Of Sorrow does what it does well, I feel that an important element of the atmosphere is missing.

Still, there’s no doubt about it: Waeltaja continues to occupy a position in the foremost echelons of dungeon synth. This album, too, makes me wish I’d be able to like the genre more than I do. Whilst being the least of the Waeltaja albums we’ve reviewed so far, Centuries Of Sorrow is a thoroughly decent album, and not an unworthy addition to the project’s winding discography.

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