Summoning is an atmospheric black metal band from Vienna, Austria that are lyrically influenced by Tolkiens' works & medieval/fantasy themes and musically clearly contain many folk/pagan metal elements. "Old Morning Dawn" is the 7th album of the band since their formation in 1993 and was released in June 2013. My expectations were high and I thought that this album could be one of this years highlights in the metal industry, and I personally think that I was right, because "Old Mornings Dawn" directly became my favorite Summoning album, followed by their predecessors "Minas Morgul" and "Stronghold".
If you decide to give this album a listen, you need to know that you have to be ready to go on a 66 min journey through several atmospheric stages and get ready to listen to diverse songs that wisely change from mood to mood but still perfectly fit together and have an awesome sound, in my opinion.
From the beginning of the album you can listen to a wide selection of instruments, including flutes, violins, keyboard, traditional percussion instruments and so on. The flutes and keys are mainly the lead instruments on this masterpiece; the warm sounding guitar is somehow always in the background and is used as a rhythm instrument; it lets the vocals and wind instrumens lead the songs.
The vocals sung by band mates Protector and Silenius fit perfectly to the created atmosphere and the music itself. The voice can be compared with Falls Of Rauros or even Winterfylleth vocals. The technique used is the standard high growl technique that you can find on almost every black metal album you will listen to. The lyrical themes of the band are fantasy, medieval themes, nature and J.R.R. Tolkiens' Middle-Earth. The lyrics are on english or elvish and are very interesting and unique.
I can characterize the music on this album as really enjoyable, warm sounding and majestic, for example for the somehow "hope-giving" atmosphere and the well-structured, unique songs. I personally think that the music on this album and especially Track 3, the title-track of the album could be used as an main theme in many fantasy or adventure video games like Skyrim or Runescape, so gamers of this game genres may really enjoy the album.
Back to the music; A thing that I remarked right from the beginning, after only listening to a few minutes of the album is that the drums were again perfetly programmed by mastermind Protector. They sound pretty raw and have an audible echoe, but they are incredibly diverse and dynamic for a drum machine. The variations and diversity of the drums also make the music more interesting. Don't be afraid that you will listen to long repetitive and boring songs, because every song is wisely structured and contain various riffs, passages and breath-taking melodies.
The band managed to create an unique masterpiece again in my opinion. It is also clearly one of the best releases in atmopheric black metal this year. The album is not ground-breaking, but it still is a beautiful combination between melody and atmosphere with a little bit of black metal rawness on top; again a true masterpiece added to Summonings discography, recommended to Falls Of Rauros, Winterfylleth, Acturus and Primordial fans. Cheers.
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/SummoningBand
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen