Drums are digital, but here's the twist: they're not programmed, but rather actually played on a keyboard, which gives their percursion a very distinctive feeling. It simply doesn't behave like metal drums, and it really just sits in a sort of conceptual limbo that endes up really setting Summoning apart; there's no band that sounds like them. As the story goes, their first album had a drummer which left shortly before the recording of the second album, so they just said "fuck it" and improvised and it kind of became their thing, which is again a vestigial consequence of the musicians punk past. Their thing became a "two friends get together and bang out some tunes recording at home before protools", which I understand is an obstacle. They continue to flirt around with percussive ideas and incorporate some middle eastern drumming like the darbouka on songs like Flammifer, which, being fairly recent, comes a lot closer to that grandiose explosion you mentioned. They also said the use of middle eastern percussion has the souble effect of being a way to piss off nazis which, in a scene as problematic as black metal, is always good to know. Summoning are as close to perfect metal background music as one could ever hope for, IMO. Their MO doesn't really deviate from what's here: they milk a single idea of all of its possible variations, have all of those ideas play off of each other with crescendos and release of tension and a lot of counterpoint. The whole point is to kind of disconnect from it and allow for it to set the mood, which tends to be antithetical to having to react and dissect it. Still, pleasantly, you mostly got it, as the song itself kept you interested and the biggest gripe was the production. It's the kind of music that makes sense the less you think about it, though. It's also very thematically coherent for me in the sense that it taps fully into that sense of vast emptiness that was present in the works of Tolkien, moreso even than in the books. Middle Earth in the books is incredibly vast in scale, majestic, and almost completely desolate with the save for some ponderous ruins and a few locations still clinging in vain to their lost glory. It's almost post acpocalyptic in how empty it feels, complete with a tinge of melancholy, less about battles and glory and all those clichés than about the aftermath and a world that goes on and heals without us. I always thought this song to be about one of the recurring couples in Tolkien's tales that end up being separated by fate, It has the same ponderous sense of tragedy that permeates so much of epic literature, which, you are correct, can be really emo at times. Edit: OUt of curiosity, went and checked Midnight Odyssey's cover as I actually quite like them. And it's pretty decent, but completely fails to understand how much heavy lifting lie in these non metal drum patterns.
Holy cow! SO much good info here. Thanks for all of this. And bummer about the cover. The drums actually being keyboard based is interesting but also wildly close to how I make drums sections. I do have 8 drum pads on my keyboard but a majority of my drum recording is through the keys because it makes more sense to me. Funny you mentioned Flammifer as I've reacted to that one before but I have no memory of doing it. I'll have to give it another listen on my own if it's doing something more akin to what I was expecting with this track.
Hey man Summoning is one of the penultimate Tolkien atmospheric black metal bands I will say this is actually one of their weaker songs on "Stronghold" if you are looking for high quality well done Summoning song would be "Old Mornings Dawn" or "Caradhras" off their album "Old Mornings Dawn" really been digging your content these past couple days. As for Midnight Odyssey they are fantastic but very long form. If I were to choose a song by them I would listen to "Hidden in Tartarus". Cheers!
I love Summoning. One of the most consistent bands out there. They don't have a very big catalogue, but each time they put one out is a total experience. This is one of my favorite songs by them. Though the production and even the female vocals (I think it was Protector's girlfriend at that time) kinda bring it down a bit for me. I still love this though. So if you enjoyed it, maybe try Kivimetsän Druidi version. The production is way better and the female vocals too. L.E.: If you wanna here some "Summoning", without the guitars... or a more, symphonic approach, try also Die Verbannten Kinder Evas, which is Protector and his girlfriend.
Beautiful song by Summoning. Session vocals by Tania Borsky, she was at the time the girlfriend of Summoning member Protector (Richard Lederer) and she was in his other band Die Verbannten Kinder Evas (Neoclassical Darkwave) and performed in the 1999 album In Darkness Let Me Dwell. About production i think their Dol Goldur album has better production and it's the best selling album of the band.
I've known their work from the 90s and early 2000s so for me their typical, most representative stuff would probably come from the Dol Guldur record, one of the 10-minute epics. This song stands out a bit because they do use harsh vocals, hell literally the song before it on the album (Like Some Snow-White Marble Eyes) is plenty different. It is really interesting to see how some bands change their sound/style. Rewind a few years and Summoning was a straight fast-paced black metal band with their songs like Flight of the Nazgul, then some years pass, you play Kor for example and you go "what the hell is this", in a good way. I remember thinking that was probably the weirdest music to be screaming along to. Their influence cannot be denied, they inspired quite a few bands that could be described as a more epic kind of black metal let's say. You know, you go listen to a song on youtube, and then in the comments you see a bunch of people saying "oh this is Summoning"
Summoning is one of my all time favorites. This might not have been the best intro to the band for you (there are usually harsh vocals). Still this introduced you to their percussion style and synth strings that basically created atmospheric black metal.
Holy crap, you did a Summoning track! One of my favourite bands and takes me back to my university days. Stronghold is an awesome album, but, I prefer some of their other stuff. Have a listen to anything off Oath Bound, such as Northward. These guys made some absolutely glorious music. And, Protector and Silenius’ screeching vocals, oof! Big shout out for mentioning Midnight Odyssey; love Dis Pater so much. Just had The Forest Mourners vinyl arrive yesterday!
Typing this prior to hearing your lyrical analysis portion of the video, but keying off of the title, how cool would it be to produce this with a big, grandiose production up front gradually fading away to the more tinny, distant, pale imitation of an orchestra sound towards the end. I’m not quite sure technique-wise how one would go about doing that, but as far as painting a soundscape goes, that’s what I picture hearing that title.
Summoning is a combination of Black Metal and Dungeon Synth (dark medieval music made with synths of 90's). Today, there are many Dungeon Synth projects only. I recomend the RU-vid channel The Dungeon Synth Archives: ru-vid.comfeatured
First off, great you're reacting to Summoning, one of my all time favorite bands. On a other note, i really agree with you analysis of the production on how it could be better. But keep in mind they are 2 guys doing these recordings in a homesetting in the 90's. I know there are bands from the same era with better production, but they had bigger budgets and a real studio.
I love Summoning, but I totally agree with you on the production quality. They have one album that actually has the production that their music should have and that's Oath Bound. Across the Streaming Tide or Land of the Dead would be good tracks to check out from that album.
This is a bit of an odd track for Summoning due to the vocals; usually they do Black Metal vocals (male, but that doesn't make a difference in BM). As such, it stands out not only on this album, but in their entire discography. The bad production is what keeps Summoning anti-commercial. They have so many great songs that have the potential for mainstream success if it wasn't for that awful production. This way their music remains Cvlt, because it rewards the eager listeners that don't get turned off by BM with bad sound quality. To go with that, they refuse to play live or to produce music videos. Summoning is one of my favorite bands (second only to Agalloch), but it took me a couple of attempts until I "got" them. Nevermind the audio; your imagination can fill in the blanks. You know, just like you do when you're reading a book. And Summoning is all about Tolkien. Most of their lyrics are lifted from several of his poems and songs, but they also "borrowed" poems from other writers like Poe and repurposed them to fit into the Middle-earth lore.
It's a mix between dungeon synth and black metal. I bet you hated the production, and wish it had real drums etc. The guitar is real though, but as you said, it's compressed, almost like if peaks have been cut and everything. What if it is intentional? idk that it is, but that is something to always keep in mind when listening to dungeon synth or black metal. So what is dungeon synth? Well, it's a genre that actually stems from the BM community, and this is a perfect example of that. You also have Mortiis, who initially played for Emperor, but wasn't a member anymore when they released albums, as one of the creators of the genre. Burzum is another one. It's a very interesting genre that is really about thematic music that could play during your dungeons and dragons (or similar tabletop rpg) session. It usually has synth of some sort. The drums are digital etc. There's more focus on world building, the feel, nothing like pop. It can feel epic, or dark, and probably bring you to another world, maybe a long forgotten one, filled with nostalgia etc. It can sound like music from some oldschool rpg game. I highly recommend Murgrind - Palace of Oblivion. Should bring you into some epic palace. :D Erang is also a great starter.
This one’s tough for me. A lot of what they were doing was very interesting, but you know how you struggle with finding black metal that you enjoy? That 80s/cheap synthesizer sound is absolutely not something I’m equipped to enjoy.
I've heard of this band but this is my first time hearing them. As for what is this, it sounds like straightforward symphonic metal to me, which is only strange because I remember Summoning being described as a black metal band, though it's possible they have other tracks that are more symphonic black metal. My opinion on this is pretty straightforward: I love music but hate the production that almost ruins it. I'm used to bad productions and metal, but I think such terrible production it is most ruinous on symphonic metal tracks like this where a clear, wide production would add so much. Perhaps this was an early album and their later albums have better production.
You mentioned the drums having electronic feel to it - it's a drum machine. In 2022 we have artificial intelligence creating art online, but programmed drums still sound like crap lol.
Summoning are great but this track is not one of their best. Try Mortal Heroes, or Beleriand from Oath Bound. Good to see someone reacting to them though, one of the best most consistent black metal bands ever.
