Quest Master and Fief at the First Unitarian Church

 In March of 2024, I was fortunate to be able to attend Northeast Dungeon Siege, a small music festival in Worcester, Massachusetts which is dedicated to the musical genre of Dungeon Synth. For those unfamiliar, the genre consists of fantasy ambient music largely performed via synthesizers. It takes its root from the instrumental interludes featured in Black Metal from the early 1990s. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend Northeast Dungeon Siege this year, as tickets sold out almost immediately (while it is still a niche musical genre, it is rapidly finding new fans, as evidenced by the quick ticket sales).One of the highlights for me from Northeast Dungeon Siege 2024 was Quest Master, an Australian dungeon synth artist, and much to my delight I learned he was going on tour in the United States in March of this year, and he was going to be stopping in Philadelphia. This tour was leading up to his return visit to perform in this year’s Northeast Dungeon Siege! 

Cap'n Jazz - Basil’s Kite

I have talked about the genre Midwest Emo quite a few times over the years, and if there is one band that helped codify what Midest Emo is all about, it is Cap'n Jazz from Buffalo Grove, Illinois. The band consisted of a collection of high school friends making energetic and haphazard punk music that always sounded like it was on the verge of falling apart. Tim Kinsella’s vocal style was a combination of amateurish singing, shouting, and talking, expressing a surrealistic stream-of-conscious wordplay. Instrumentally, Cap'n Jazz was a combination of jangly and melodic guitar lines, occasionally punctuated by a rapid tempo change or a burst of guitar virtuosity, with the rhythm section just barely holding it all together. The band only released a single full length album, the ridiculously titled Burritos, Inspiration Point, Fork Balloon Sports, Cards in the Spokes, Automatic Biographies, Kites, Kung Fu, Trophies, Banana Peels We’ve Slipped on and Egg Shells We’ve Tippy-Toed Over (often referred to as Schmap’n Schmazz), before breaking up in 1995 during their first tour due to drug issues with their guitarist, Victor Villarreal. Despite the band’s short existence, they were the template for what has become Midwest Emo. A remastered version of Schmap’n Schmazz was just released in 2025 to celebrate the album’s 30th anniversary, and the band is getting back together to play a few shows in June and July of 2025.

Conan - Hawk as Weapon

When imagining a band name suitable for a fantasy-themed doom metal band, it is hard to beat “Conan”. Conan the Cimmerian, the barbarian from Robert E. Howard’s short stories and a hallmark of sword and sorcery stories, is the perfect imagery to associate with a heavily down-tuned doom/sludge metal band. The band Conan is a three piece doom metal band founded in 2006 by Jon Davis, and their monstrously heavy music fit the name perfectly. As a band, they shirk the notion of guitar solos. No, Conan are a band that thrive on slow, plodding riffs, both the guitar and the bass flowing in monolithic unison. This is music to be played loudly, where you can feel each chord rumble. Jon Davis’ vocal style sounds almost as if he is shouting across a canyon, fitting perfectly with the reverberating riffs.