Summoning (band)
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| Summoning | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Vienna, Austria |
| Genre(s) | Black metal Avant-garde metal Ambient music |
| Years active | 1993 - present |
| Label(s) | Napalm |
| Associated acts | Abigor, Die Verbannten Kinder Evas, Kreuzweg Ost, Ice Ages, Pazuzu, Mirkwood, Grabesmond, Amestigon |
| Website | http://www.summoning.info/ |
| Members | |
| Protector (Richard Lederer) Silenius (Michael Gregor) |
|
| Former members | |
| Trifixion (Alexander Trondl) Pazuzu (Raymond Wells) |
|
Summoning is an Austrian experimental atmospheric black metal band. Their style has been described as 'Tolkien Metal', by some, because the lyrics on most of the albums they have released deal with the mythological world created by J. R. R. Tolkien, Middle-earth. A notable exception to this is the album Stronghold.
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[edit] Biography
Summoning was formed sometime in 1993 by Silenius (Michael Gregor), Protector (Richard Lederer) and Trifixion (Alexander Trondl). Before creating Summoning, Protector was playing drums in a kind of "old fashioned" thrash/death metal band Marlignom[1] and had embarked on a four year study of drums in music school. Silenius was in a doom metal band Shadow Vale (at 16 years old) and had a few years in music school studying piano. Before Summoning, Silenius was making music, together with Pazuzu (Ray Wells) in a band Cromm. Trifixion played in the band Pervertum.
Summoning recorded two demos (Upon the Viking's Stallion and Anno Mortiri Domini), as well as a split with the Austrian band Pazuzu (The Urilia Text) and a five-track promo tape for Lugburz. Nearly all songs from the demos were never released after or took place on CDs in a very different version.
The demos sold quite well in a record shop in Vienna, called "Why not". Some time later Silenius got in contact with T.T. (Thomas Tannenberger), eventually leading to the birth of Abigor. Silenius ended up doing all vocals for Abigor releases (except the demos) as a permanent member until 1999. The first Abigor album was recorded for the young Napalm Records label, which led to Silenius managing to get a deal from Napalm for Summoning's debut Lugburz in 1995. At that time the members of Summoning were: Silenius - vocals, keyboards, bass; Protector - vocals, keyboards, guitar; Trifixion - drums (his last release with the band); Pazuzu lent some additional vocals and wrote some of the lyrics. Lugburz was more traditional black metal and very different from the band's later releases that would follow.
The band continued as a duo after the departure of Trifixion, releasing Minas Morgul in 1995. This was the band's first release in their new style, an epic and atmospheric style utilizing guitar purely as a background instrument and synth almost as a lead, using re-recorded early songs. Dol Guldur, in 1996, continued this style and saw an influence from Protector's darkwave project Ice Ages. It also credits J.R.R. Tolkien for lyrics. In 1997, the Nightshade Forests EP was released, and has since been included on the recent Dol Guldur pressings . After this, the band ceased all work for nearly two years, and also stopped work with many of their other music projects. But in 1999, Summoning returned with Stronghold which, while still in the classic Summoning style, focused more on guitar work to create melodic lines rather than keyboards and synthesizers than in previous releases.
In the year 2001 the follow up Let Mortal Heroes Sing Your Fame was released. This release was a kind of combination between the old and new style of Summoning, with the keyboard lines being more epic and polyphonic while the guitars bore a similarity with the more complex and rock-esque guitar-style from Stronghold[2]. This time the band used more spoken-word samples to bring a more dramatic style to the songs and for the first time the band works with clear vocal choirs on the song Farewell. The lyrical concept again was totally based on Tolkien's Middle-Earth, but for the first time it was combined with some inspiration from Michael Moorcock's fantasy writings. In 2003, they released the Lost Tales EP, which consisted of leftovers from the Dol Guldur sessions.
2006 saw the release of Oath Bound, which consisted of all new material. The long break between the latest two albums was due to struggles in the band members personal lives, along with lack of ideas. [3]. This album featured a "relaxed arpeggio style" guitar sound, which the gave a more epic feeling to the sound. They also had better equipment available to them for this album and were able to create greater choir vocals than they had done before[4]. A mini CD was suggested for release in 2007 containing at least one song which didn't make it onto Oath Bound due to size issues. However, Protector prefers a new full-cd, but that depends on Silenius' inspiration, for it is his duty to start a new song.
[edit] Musical Characteristics
On their debut album Lugburz, Summoning showed the musical traits of a more traditional, "raw" black metal band, although had a rather unique reverberated sound to the production, giving a somewhat more grandiose scale than other black metal acts. After this album, the band began to Develop a slower, more epic and dense sound to their music, showcased in such albums as 2001's Let Mortal Heroes Sing Your Fame, and especially their latest effort Oath Bound. Their trademark sound is characterized by very minimalistic and quiet guitars often low in the mix, heavily programmed and reverberated drums giving a very cavernous feel to the rhythm, strong, multi-layered synthesizer and keyboard melodies mimicking a full orchestra which often dominates the rest of the mix apart from the saturated drums. Vocals are still sung in the traditional black metal fashion, however vocals are often heavily reverberated as well, again giving a very epic and roomy sound to them. Male voice choir sections also make an appearance on Oath Bound.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Full Lengths
[edit] EPs
| Date of Release | Title | Label |
| 1997 | Nightshade Forests | Napalm Records |
| 2003 | Lost Tales | Napalm Records |
[edit] Line-up
- Protector: Guitars, Vocals, Keyboards
- Silenius: Bass, Vocals, Keyboards
[edit] Guest musicians
- Trifixion: Drums on Lugburz
- Pazuzu: Vocal parts on Lugburz
- Tania Borsky: Female Vocals on Stronghold
[edit] Related Bands
Protector (Richard Lederer) is engaged in other projects
- Die Verbannten Kinder Evas: Dark wave project, http://www.dvke.info/
- Ice Ages: A melodic kind of EBM, http://www.iceages.info
Silenius (Michael Gregor) is the creator and sole member of Kreuzweg Ost. Silenius also served as the vocalist for the Austrian black metal band Abigor between 1994 and 1999. Silenius Is also an active member in Amestigon, a pagan black metal band, as well as Shadow Vale, and Mirkwood, both of which are Darkwave Ambient projects.
Other bands with friends of Summoning are listed on their website http://www.summoning.info under links.
[edit] References
- ^ Second page of About.com interview with Summoning
- ^ Chronicals of Chaos interview
- ^ First page of About.com interview with Summoning
- ^ Summoning's official website
