A Dungeon Synth/Dark Ambient solo artist from Serbia. August 8th, 2023, saw the release of his independent early demo album 1. Return of The Dragon Warrior, which includes eight complex labyrinth-but ain’t songs that would gratify fans and music for dungeons, caverns & deep forest dwellers.
Introduction:
Ris, Return Of The Dragon Warrior: This review will evaluate every aspect of the album, from its intricate musical composition to its production. Our analysis will provide valuable insights to help you determine if this album is worth adding to your collection.
The First Three Sins of Return Of The Dragon Warrior
Let’s start by discussing the first three sins of Ris and his album, Return Of The Dragon Warrior.
The First Sin, The Strings/Keys: Consisting of omitting heavy metal instruments and replacing them with ambient/atmospheric keys. The Second Sin, The Vocals: Involves omitting the vocals and replace with an instrumental environment to create an atmospheric soundscape. The Third Sin—The Percussions: Involves omitting the drums and replace with an instrumental environment to create an atmospheric soundscape.
The Fourth Sin: Overall Discussion: Throughout the journey into the New Dark Age of Iron and Steel…
Immediately after the listener presses that play button, the listener is immersed in the captivating soundscapes of the opening piece entitled Endless Ages Of Lies, Misery, And Wars. The dense and atmospheric (key) introduction intricately sets the tone for the epic adventure unfolding before the listener’s ears.
As one continues their twilight epic journey, one will find this release of swords, dungeons, unknown caves, and towering castles. This release goes under the name (a side project of Ris) Ivanvao Kula (Ivan’s Tower) and is more of a darkly romantic and nostalgic homage to Ris‘s forefathers and his pagan roots & mythology. A musical score consists of only dark ambient keys, whereas the Bauk Bauk musical spectrum consists of raw and lo-fi distortion (frigid atmosphere) of black metal with dark ambient keys/music.
Throughout the journey into the New Dark Age of Iron and Steel, where Kings and enslaved people, Heroes & Thieves, and Dungeons & Dragons reign supreme. The listener is treated to an exceptional second piece entitled Tyranny Of Mad Kings and Court Jesters, alongside six other mesmerizing musical compositions. Ris‘s artistry and devilmanship are on full display, resulting in a magical and beautiful musical forbidden fruit of art that is simply awe-inspiring.
The listener is whisked away on an enchanted, creative, and imaginative journey through Ris‘s mind, teeming with magical work of dragons, dungeons, unknown caverns and caves, mythology, and paganism. The result is a work of genius that captivates the senses and leaves one in a state of wonder as the intricate layers of sound and melody intertwine to create an ethereal and otherworldly experience.
When comparing the body of work by RIS, I presently reviewed it. Return Of The Dragon Warrior stands out for its shorter length while maintaining a high level of devilmanship, which only comprises a keyboard, a simple composition that sounds complex. Thus, creating something dark and epic -all enveloped in this transfixing and entertaining/enchanting soundscape -neither dull nor repetitive, and even each piece sounds different- simultaneously creating a whole musical piece.
This particular piece of music was created as an initial demo release and was entirely improvised. Although seemingly simplistic, the sounds incorporated within the composition (again) sound complex. The old-school dungeon synth vibe that permeates the piece effectively transports the listener to a long-forgotten and dilapidated realm. It is almost as if they have stumbled upon a musical time capsule that has remained untouched for decades. The composition has an unmistakable retro feel, heavily reminiscent of classic PC role-playing games that were prominent during the 1980s and 1990s.
Overall, Return Of The Dragon Warrior is a fruit of art-crafted artwork that will captivate any listener who loves old-school dungeon synth music.
We want to give a shoutout to Ris for letting us review his Bauk Buka album. Now, we’re going to wrap it up by talking about the final three sins and concluding the review.
The last Three Sins
Let’s discuss the last three sins, our thoughts on Ris and his album, Return Of The Dragon Warrior.
The Fifth Sin, The Memorabilia: Is that for us, The dungeon-crawling arrangement of this fruit of art is truly entrancing and nothing short of mesmerizing. Its seamless ability to transport the listener to an alternate dimension is utterly spellbinding. The captivating nature of Ris‘s devilmanship is a testament to the artist’s skill and vision.
The Sixth Sin, The Artwork:
The artwork is impressive, and conveys a sense of dungeon synth, but it also has a distinctive appearance reminiscent of ancient Persian or Middle Eastern deities.
The Seventh Sin, Disrelish:
Nothing to disrelish within the musical spectrum of Ris, and their album Return Of The Dragon Warrior.
This concludes the Ris, Return Of The Dragon Warrior review.
Track-Listing:
- Бескрајно доба лажи, беде и ратова (Endless ages of lies, misery and wars)
- Tиранија суманутих краљева и дворских луда (Tyranny of mad kings and court jesters)
- Оковани ланцима и гладни до смрти (Bound in chains and starved to death)
- Повратак Змајевитог Ратника (Return of the Dragon Warrior)
- Око за око, зуб за зуб (Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth) • Устанак! (Uprising!)
- Заборављена победа, заборављена слава (Forgotten victory, forgotten glory)
- Безимена (The Nameless) – bonus track
Ris is:
- Musick opus created in the mind and forged by the hands of Ivan Ristić
- Pure musical improvisation of early demo tracks from his latest release ↩︎
