#hideous gomphidious

Mushrooms have been a source of curiosity for Dungeon Synth artists for some years. Naturally, the sound is often lo-fi, often noisy, like Hch'xhsh and Giftsvamp, with some hints of a mysticism or magic in the composition. Hideous Gomphidious has, with this release, really upped the game on the menacing potential of the inspiration, delivering with this album an atmosphere that makes my teeth clench and my vision grow cloudy.

Take the swirling imagery of "A Destroying Angel's Horrid Curse", which begins with the slow massing of a bass-heavy drone, and hints of a decaying melody start to emerge at about the halfway point, before the whole track fades away, the swirling become more wild, more unhinged. There's a spontaneity here that makes this experience, which seems to describe slowly dying after consuming a poisonous mushroom, impossible to turn away from - minimal, but evolving. One of the biggest strengths of this album is the sound design, with synths that slowly oscillate, wavering in pitch possibly through means of delay. It gives the impression that you're looking at a melting landscape, unsure of every step - and this impression is solidified by the surrealist cover artwork. The sound world this artist creates is bleak, but it is hard to turn this album off once it gets its hooks in.

Those listeners looking for a pure DS experience may find themselves a little restless here - while there are plenty of melodies, they take their time to emerge - like in the aforementioned "Destroying Angel" or the lengthy "Mycelial Emanations", both of which don't see melodies emerging until nearly two thirds of the way through. But tracks like "Loamlurkers" and "Realm of the Sporelord", in contrast, place the melodic elements front and center, with distinct chord progressions and counter melodies built around the central themes - still entering patiently, but providing a nice contrast to the more ambient or drone-heavy tracks.