Summoning - Stronghold - guest review
Summoning - Stronghold - guest review
Tracklist
01. Rhûn02. Long Lost To Where No Pathway Goes
03. The Glory Disappears
04. Like Some Snow-White Marble Eyes
05. Where Hope And Daylight Die
06. The Rotting Horse On The Deadly Ground
07. The Shadow Lies Frozen On The Hills
08. The Loud Music Of The Sky
09. A Distant Flame Before The Sun
Guest review by
R.Baldur September 03, 2017
Stronghold, with its bloody cover taken from an ancient painting - its epic and warm weather does not look like the previous Summoning's cool and atmospheric work, with massive spaces and assemblies just like the start of the album. You feel like an eagle rider, flying over the mountains and plains in the reach of Rohan and the Pelennor Fields, flying alongside the armies of elves and dwarves on the march, or taking up an ancient force like the rising of the sun against your eyes. The books that form the foundation of Summoning are very powerful in the space of the minimal, quiet album, revealing new and greater effects of the deep, epic music on us. Combined with very skillful craftsmanship, a kind of specialist black metal, the music has high production values for black metal, and because of this I would call it "black metallic music," to distinguish from the habitually low-quality productions of most black metal.
This album has come to bring new effects out of ancient history. You can make your own space and live in the sound of history, as if you were a wandering soul whose bady had been blown apart. This has inspired me to point out that these elven halls, alongside Middle Earth as a whole, are perhaps the embodiment of our own world, a description of the days that have been forgotten and buried under the bonds of the soil - the days when there was no energy except what we worked for, no factories, nothing but the nature of God, the candle, and the soil?
The music emitted from the keyboards, melodies with their own accent, along with the sweeping, dreaded, distant black metal riffs, make you feel the majestic halls of kings with strange architecture, full of desolate, cool, dark structures. It's a classic black-and-white distribution, the culmination of which is the last track on the album, "A Distant Flame Before The Sun." That track, which is also not produced like much black metal, is like the fires of hell and a sunset of blood. Your ears, when you get a little bit of the album's atmosphere, turn red just like this hell as you find out more and more about this album.
One of my friends has said that if Richard Wagner were alive he would become a member of Deep Purple, but I say that he would undoubtedly be a member of Summoning, because he always sought to create magnificent works and spaces of this kind. Here he would be among colleagues who in their work have references to more classic works, and take the same pride in its perfection; that borrowing is clearly visible in "Where Hope And Daylight Die," a track that shows the glory of classical music, combining a mysterious musical accompaniment with the description of a wounded warrior.
Finally, Stronghold is?
Crimson, but not conquered?
Dilapidated, but steady?
Old, but young?
Hidden, but showing?
In the bloody-red sunset?
Strong castle? strong fortress?
Stronghold?
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 10 |
| Songwriting: | 10 |
| Originality: | 10 |
| Production: | 8 |
Written by R.Baldur | September 03, 2017
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
Comments
Comments:
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Posts: 1208 Written by Dinruth on 03.09.2017 at 22:53 A very nice and atmospheric album but I would not rate it 10, seriously ?! Summoning is a nice band but not the everyday day kind of metal band.
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Posts: 1534 Written by s_t_s on 05.09.2017 at 20:45 I don't think the problem with Summoning is them not being an average run-of-the-mill band, I think the problem with Summoning is their pretty fucking weak songwriting, even their chord progressions are just so predictable and get on my nerves.
---- My one-man project's Bandcamp with free downloads: https://dreadrealm.bandcamp.com/
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One of greatest reviews on last 10 year
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"  I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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You got a little carried away with that Wagner reference...
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Posts: 516 Written by s_t_s on 05.09.2017 at 20:45 So them not being a generic everyday kind of metal band is not a good thing? O......k.......
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Posts: 1208 Written by Nicko's Nose on 12.09.2017 at 03:23 Where did I write "generic" ??
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Posts: 516 Written by s_t_s on 12.09.2017 at 23:21 Isn't that what "everyday" pretty much means? Generic, typical, whatever...
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Imo generic means that we are talking about soulless and boring music while "not your everyday" kind of metal means that it is actually not typical (here I agree with you). Summoning is not a typical band and their albums are not like songs you could sing or learn by heart  But I guess you and I mean the same in the end, just not using the same words To complete what I wrote I can spend months without listening to them and suddenly I feel like doing it but to speak the truth going thru almost an hour of such music isn't always so easy to digest. Not sure I'm being clear in the end
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Best Summoning albums imo and one of the best black metal album for sure. Although i agree with the ratings the reviewer has given(except songwriting as almost everything is taken from tolkien) the review itself fails to do full justice to this epic album(maybe its just my opinion, sorry). But the album is not generic and neither is the band. i cant recall more than a handful of bands which are even 10% similar to what Protector and Silenius create even till date. The pioneers in the epic/atmospheric black metal category. Would definitely rate it in my top 4 of all time. Favourite Tracks - loud music of the sky, long lost to where no pathway goes, where hope and daylight dies(sung by protectors girlfriend - pretty epic) And this is all that i can show, and this is all that you may know. . .
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