Review published on 25/05/2026.

Home is a beautiful word with a gentle touch. It is often synonymous with a safe haven, a place where you can retreat to when the need calls for it and which you can call your own. A good home is a sanctuary to many people. A home is a place which is as mental as much as it is physical.

The unknown artist(s) behind Page do(es) something fascinating with The Way Home. The title of the album refers to a journey home, yet what I experience within the first seconds of the album is stepping through a door into an enchanted realm. It should not be a home for all intents a purposes, yet it does feel as if we’re going home. Creating a home for the mind is very much ingrained within the spirit of the Dungeon Synth genre, yet The Way Home proves to be one of the brightest examples I’ve heard in quite some time. Do not let the Paint-inspired pixel art and the limited color palette of the album cover fool you; this is refined music with as many elements as you may come to expect from an album published by esteemed label Dungeons Deep Records.

To prove my point, I feel I need to return to something I’ve already addressed: the first opening seconds of the album. The twittering birds combined with the soft choir are so perfect it almost brings tears to my eyes. The music takes a neo-medieval turn when the tugs of a plucked strings instrument (which I guess is being simulated by a keyboard) make a welcome appearance, but it really takes off when we first hear the pleasant rhythm of hand drums and then the flute. I AM on a road home, but the journey itself is a privilege to experience. We come across several interesting places and items. We have but to follow the rhythms and melodies of the music.

The array of instruments at display here is impressive. There are many instruments I would expect from an ensemble of about a dozen people, including medieval wind instruments (Shining Jewels) and harps (Unfinished Cathedral), but there’s also the occasional brass inclusion to emphasize drama (Rouged Valley), the aforementioned choir, pan flutes (Woodland Altar and A Strange Stump), sonorous strings (Lapis Pantheon), and naturally a keyboard. In Caverns & Creatures and Lapis Pantheon, we even hear the ambient sound effect of crashing waves (albeit heavily subdued).

The unsung stars of the album for me are without a single doubt the hand drums. The soft thrums add a subtle layer of rhythm to the music and sets the pace for many of the tracks. It keeps you moving, which is exactly what you need for a journey. The drums help to create magical climaxes when the flute joins in (The Way Home and Path to Knighthood). Sure, the flute is way less subtle and some might even think it’s a bit overkill. That would be the one of two criticisms I have with this album; the flute is a bit too shrill in the mix. There are moments when it threatens to drown the other equally interesting instrumentation, and that’s a bit of a shame. The other criticism I have is one of a more conceptual nature; there’s no real finale to the journey. I would have loved a true ending of the journey, which the final track of the album fails to be (even though it is one of the stronger compositions on The Way Home). However, these two considerations do nothing to diminish the admiration I have for this project. It would appear the primary inspiration for this album was to become a tribute of sorts to DOS-games within the Point-and-Click adventure genre. The artwork certainly helps creating the vision.

The album is not very long, but the length feels right. After all, staying too long in this enchanted land may leave you wanting to stay forever. Escapism can be deceptively insidious. To long for an imaginary world and to be able to jump into a safe cocoon of innocent imagination is a siren’s song one must approach carefully. You may never want to leave. However, the shorter length compels us to return, lest we forget our place in the real world. It is both sad and reassuring that The Way Home is a temporary retreat, which in itself is contradictory to the definition of what a home should be. I find it to be a beautiful contradiction.

Fenix Silvermoon approves, and declares: