It's not the weakest album of Summoning. But it could be better. I really liked Silvertine, Herumor and With Doom I Come.

It's good, but for summoning, it's a bit lackluster.

This album was a lot better than the nay sayers on metal storm lead me to believe. I have only listened to it once and i think it is on par with their previous album. I shall continue to listen to see if I still like it as much after a few more spin, but so far I love this album.

It is not a bad album;
but not a very good one either.
Silvertine, Mirklands, the title track are all pretty nice songs (for from their best though, for me).
The rest of the album is rather lame IMO. Lacks creativity in songwriting.
Some 7.2 or so for me.

The coolest songs on the album are: "Tar-Calion" with its amazing guest vocals, "Herumor" with it's unique melody, and "Barrow-downs" with it's highly atmospheric sounding slave march.

So-so. One of the weakest and I think they should not release it as a full album. Protector said that it came out of the previous album's shards. It is not standing the standard Summoning quality. Tar-Calion, Silvertine, Night Fell Behinind and Mirklands were solid tracks.

It's decent but definitely their weakest album. The writing is on par with previous works but there's less of a variety and most songs lack something to make them really memorable. The songs seem to build more of a forward march than a winding journey and the atmosphere stays pretty much the same all the way through. The instrumentation layers are usually well done but more parts on this album than any other sound messy rather than complimentary. I also vastly prefer Protector's vocals on every other album more than here. They might have sounded better if some other effects were added to them or something. The choirs aren't what they used to be either, but they weren't bad. The overall mix isn't great and takes some getting used to, With Doom I Come specifically took me a few spins before I liked it at all. This album made me appreciate Old Mornings Dawn more, which I wasn't really expecting and which was kind of disappointing. They made good lyrical choices as always however which helped immensely to craft what atmosphere they had here. At the end of the day there is no better band than Summoning to lead you through the tales of Middle-earth and in this album I still managed to enjoy a fresh visit to that fantastic land.

Standout tracks for me were Mirklands, Silvertine, Herumor, Tar-Calion, and With Doom I Come.

Decent. Nothing more nothing less. And for Summoning it's a disappointment

If this didn't have the legendary cult name of Summoning attached to it, I honestly believe it would be sewered into the bottom 20 albums of the year. I mean it isn't that bad, but this hardly seems like the kind of effort requiring half a decade to pull off.

Forceful keyboards have never particularly been a strong focal point of any album, especially in the unforgiving genre of black metal, but used appropriately, they can take an otherwise banal release and elevate it into the realm of greatness. Whether or not those keyboards are the primary or supporting element of an album, it's their subtlety and juxtaposition alongside the extremity of the genre that make or break it.

This album is the textbook definition of how keyboard abuse, coupled with an extremely odd production/mixing style that for whatever reason deliberately muffles and buries all other aspects of the album, distracts the listener from being able to engage with it in a meaningful way, as the challenge becomes overlooking the sound rather than deconstructing the message of the music.

Tried it couple of times already, but so far I cannot force myself into liking it.

Some people seem to blindly follow a review without giving the album the chance it deserves. No, the production is not bad. It's great, in fact. It's just raw/dirty, but it fits the style perfectly. These guys know exactly what they're doing. Unlike a crystal-clear production such as Old Mornings Dawn and Oath Bound, they decided to do something different for a change. I'm one of the few (sadly) who appreciates it.

The melodies, variety, vocals, atmosphere, are all there. It's probably my most-played Summoning album in the recent years. Here's hoping to a new Summoning album in 2025.

Written by Erik M. 2.0 on 21.01.2025 at 21:54

Some people seem to blindly follow a review without giving the album the chance it deserves. No, the production is not bad. It's great, in fact. It's just raw/dirty, but it fits the style perfectly. These guys know exactly what they're doing. Unlike a crystal-clear production such as Old Mornings Dawn and Oath Bound, they decided to do something different for a change. I'm one of the few (sadly) who appreciates it.

I need to definitely revisit this. Andy covered this album when we did the Getting Into article, so I don't really know this album well.

Quote:

Here's hoping to a new Summoning album in 2025.

Oh shoot, is this a concrete rumor? Or is this just a hope of yours?