**This title is on pre-sale. Pre-orders ship fall 2026.

Hardcover | Clothbound | 256 pages
9 inches x 12 inches | 22.86 cm. x 30.48 cm.
Original photography by Peter Beste
Edited by Johan Kugelberg
With an introduction by Jordan Whiteman

Hat & Beard Press is proud to announce Dungeon Synth, the forthcoming photography book by Peter Beste.

Over the course of three years, Beste documented dungeon synth’s global underground—a fiercely independent musical subculture rooted in solitude, fantasy, and self-made worlds. Emerging from the one-man black metal projects of the 1990s, dungeon synth has evolved into a distinct and enduring form. Largely overlooked and rarely photographed, this international network operates outside mainstream visibility, sustained through small-run cassette releases, handmade artwork, and tightly held channels of exchange.

With Dungeon Synth, Beste presents the first extensive photographic account of this elusive subculture. Moving between intimate portraits and stark, atmospheric landscapes, the images trace the spaces in which this music is created: bedrooms, forests, ruins, and imagined realms made tangible through solitude and devotion. The result expands beyond music, revealing a broader practice of world-building, grounded in isolation and imagination.

Edited by Johan Kugelberg, the book situates dungeon synth within a lineage of underground cultural production—where anonymity, self-sufficiency, and resistance to scale are not limitations, but defining principles. This volume marks the fifth collaboration between Beste and Kugelberg.

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Peter Beste is a documentary photographer known for his long-term engagement with subcultural communities. His previous books include True Norwegian Black Metal and Houston Rap, both of which offer in-depth portraits of insular cultural worlds.

Johan Kugelberg has been writing, editing, and publishing books since 2005. His award-winning work has been featured in publications ranging from The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, BBC News, Libération, and The Guardian to Rolling Stone, Mojo, Print, and Arts & Antiques.