A moss-covered grimoire: An archival tribute to dungeon synth artwork
Luís Lopes
“A Moss-Covered Grimoire: An Archival Tribute to Dungeon Synth” is a book that gathers and presents artwork and other visual elements from releases in the dungeon synth music genre.
Known for its connection to the fantastic and the dreamlike, dungeon synth emerged through black metal not only as an extension of that musical genre but also of its visual universe. Just as frenzied guitars and drums and shrill vocals are replaced by ethereal, idyllic soundscapes, its visual aesthetic follows the same progression.
“A Moss-Covered Grimoire” sets out to pay tribute to the importance of physical releases and collecting as a form of cultural appreciation and of belonging to a small community, valuing the visual and graphic aspects of a field that usually focuses on sound.
As an object, the book aims to draw the reader into the depths of this universe, through layers and overlaps created by the relationship between text boxes and images, the transparency of the paper on some pages, and the illustrative and ornamental power of the visual references the genre originally uses. The medieval inspiration (among other historical periods, necessarily archaic) of dungeon synth graphic design is intentionally appropriated in the choice of a Gothic-style typeface (blackletter, recalling the Gutenberg Bible) at specific moments such as quotations and subheadings, as well as illuminated initials at the start of chapters. The mostly monochrome treatment of the images directly references Xerox photocopying, immediately associated with this subculture, and the book’s narrow verticality recalls the cassette format.
Imprint / Technical Rider:
Year: 2025
Dimensions: 135 × 205 × 18 mm; 150 pages
Materials: Hardcover in 2 mm pressed board, printed in silver Pantone on black Canson 200 g/m² paper, with hand-made linocut debossing; text block inkjet-printed on Offset Recycled 100 g/m² paper and 80 g/m² tracing paper; endpapers inkjet-printed on 285 g/m² pearlescent paper.
Production and finishing: Printed by Norcópia – Casulo d’Imagens, Lda.; hand-sewn binding.
Resources and credits: Typefaces: Epicene Text (Klim Type Foundry) and Fust & Schöffer Durandus Gotic (ANRT); research and writing: Luís Lopes.
Curricular Unit:
Project (1st year)
Supervising Professor:
Cristina Ferreira
Keywords: Editorial Design, Music Design, Obsolete Formats, Musical Subculture