Well, without any doubt I would name this one the best album of 2013! They've got a unique sound and unique performance on each album! What is a little bit irritating is that there are a lot of bands, who can be named as Summoning followers.. Trying just to copy the atmospheric style which characterizes this Austrian band.

Shit, title track is damn catchy. Its in my head from past 4 days. Woah, must be some tremendous attraction.

"Earthshine" features some Chester Benington (Linkin Park) style vox (in a good way).

Very good album, I love the horns they implement, really compliments the music.

Written by Atom89 on 02.10.2013 at 19:29

Infinite boring.

Infinitely agree

Approximately one year has passed and I can't get enough of this album.

Well this grabbed my attention in the first 3 songs, but sadly the album is too long for its own good. This is just average atmospheric black metal with some interesting moments. Those moments are very few, I have to say.

"Atmospheric black metal", "Depressive black metal"...etc are wrong description for genre.
Almost all types of music are atmospheric...and even all sad pop songs are depressive...In short, adjective should not be added.

I would call this album Folk Metal, similar to Primodial -To the Nameless Dead, there is no Black there.
"Folk" is general enough to include viking, pagan, oriental...elements.

Written by andreosokin on 14.02.2014 at 07:52

Written by Atom89 on 02.10.2013 at 19:29

Infinite boring.

Infinitely agree

Where is Satan ?

I am so guilty to say that this is my favorite Summoning's.

Written by Skl3ros on 29.10.2013 at 02:43

People who find this album boring simply didn't listen it enough. It's a masterpiece and most masterpieces require at least a few listens to unfold their ingenuity.

Masterpiece doesn't require many listens.
The main problem here is they're no masters so they can't recognize masterpieces.

I post here just to piss Erik off. He'd be commenting on this and question my "opinion", bringing up many bands I don't like again :p

Written by Dr. Strawberry on 26.09.2014 at 14:11

Written by andreosokin on 14.02.2014 at 07:52

Written by Atom89 on 02.10.2013 at 19:29

Infinite boring.

Infinitely agree

Where is Satan ?

Infinitely drifting in outer Space

Nothing mind-blowing, and cheesy as hell, but a decent album overall.

These guys didn't do anything less than amazing since Lugburz!

After listening to this album a LOT, it got better and better over time, I never thought it would happen with this album but the melodies are so intricate and interesting that I just feel so impressed by it at the moment. I might get sick of it one day but for now this is a well deserved 9.

I consider this as a return to albums like Minas Morgul. We are listening to the same structure, two different melodies, a sad and a lively, glorious one, harmonized to act alongside each other. Masterfully produced, one of the best Summoning releases. I love all tracks except " Of Pale White Morns And Darkened Eves" which belongs to some other roof in my opinion.

Beautiful album. Doesnt feel boring or long at all. Thats probably because I like what I hear. And the length of the tracks is somewhat part of the concept here, I would say. Title track and Flammifer stand our for me, but I can enjoy all songs.
I wonder why this album is not in the Top 200 (any more). I would have expected more than an 8.4 considering MS rating distributions in general.
That said, the album cant fully keep up with their two masterpieces (Stronghold and LMHSYF) imo.

Definitely a band I don't understand the hype for. It's cheesy, way too fucking long, over produced and run of the mill.

In some way in beginning I thought WYF is this metal. Later after some spins in some way its more BM metal st annists can make, epic, atmospheric and awesome. I am amazed about this one, really I am. I think it is bands best. Am I crazy?

The first half is definitely a lot stronger than the latter. A great album but not Summoning's best.

Reading upon the entire chat for this band upon recent rerun made me realize the hypocrisy of how the majority of Summoning's criticism is the repetitive pace and songwriting which if it were a funeral doom or drone outfit would be excused and lapped up! That's not to say all of their work is golden Arkenstone but they're not judged fully as much as they should be. Apothecary don't be toooo00 hard on yourself on this review. It's okay to dream about what world you imagined yourself in by this. That's the sign of music working!

They aren't as spoonfed as obvious other talents and at times can be extremely hard to reach that reward since they offer distinctive individual details that separated them from other atmospheric bm acts for a long time, but it's not all great. One of which is how the majority of the pace is at walking speed is interestingly distinctive in black metal. Ironically this their most accessible and guitar-driven within their sound.

Caradhras and The Wandering Fire are as perfect for hikes as you can get. They should next try should go the funeral doom route as it seems also the usage of sounds they generate come from the similar game console soundtrack effects at whatever is available.

EDIT: This is coming from someone without much Middle Earth connections as I still need to read them.

What they achieved with this album is a majestic atmosphere that manages to picture a perfect image in my mind of the landscapes and sounds of middle earth, particularly those Eagle sounds in Caradhras, with that trademark Atmospheric sound coming from the synthesisers like they create in previous albums, to most this may sound repetitive and boring, and a here we go again scenario, but with my love of fantasy and my vivid imagination I can capture every element and beauty of this album.

Written by AndyMetalFreak on 14.05.2021 at 09:11

What they achieved with this album is a majestic atmosphere that manages to picture a perfect image in my mind of the landscapes and sounds of middle earth, particularly those Eagle sounds in Caradhras, with that trademark Atmospheric sound coming from the synthesisers like they create in previous albums, to most this may sound repetitive and boring, and a here we go again scenario, but with my love of fantasy and my vivid imagination I can capture every element and beauty of this album.

Yeah I was kind of skeptical whether Summoning could sustain their quality this late in their career, but listening to it right now, I'm convinced this one is just as good as all their previous releases. (A pleasant surprise were the female Elvish whispering in the intro song - I think it's the first time they had direct reference to Elves, usually their lyrics are about Mordor or dwarves)

They may kind of have a formula, but (just like Bolt Thrower) that formula is so good that I don't care about the repetition

Written by F3ynman2000 on 30.06.2022 at 18:16

Yeah I was kind of skeptical whether Summoning could sustain their quality this late in their career, but listening to it right now, I'm convinced this one is just as good as all their previous releases. (A pleasant surprise were the female Elvish whispering in the intro song - I think it's the first time they had direct reference to Elves, usually their lyrics are about Mordor or dwarves)

They may kind of have a formula, but (just like Bolt Thrower) that formula is so good that I don't care about the repetition

Recently this has become one of my most listened to Summoning albums, "Flammifer", "Caradhras", "Wandering Fire" and "Earthshine" are in particular songs I keep coming back to.

Written by AndyMetalFreak on 30.06.2022 at 18:29

Recently this has become one of my most listened to Summoning albums, "Flammifer", "Caradhras", "Wandering Fire" and "Earthshine" are in particular songs I keep coming back to.

This used to be my most listened to Summoning album, too, but that was several years back, at a time when I was digging this album quite a bit. Nowadays I find myself returning to Flammifer and the title track every once in a while, not to the other songs though, which is a bit of a shame because they are also great. The point is maybe that this is not an easy-listen album, which you would just spin in its entirety every other day or so. It needs concentration, patience and probably a special mood for the atmosphere, too. So you first have to figure these points out before you decide whether now is a good time to spin it again. Too much to think about, and to figure, thus it doesnt happen...