Best Summoning album?

[Focusphere]

Summoning is grand and epic music without the pretentiousness. I used to think that Dol Guldor was their best, but now I think it's Let Mortal Heroes Sing your Fame .

 

[BRUTAL SENSATION]

Summoning are fucking horrible IMO...possibly the most lameass band ever!!!


NP: Open Wound/Antigama

 

[Dev]

Stronghold

 

[Hammer of Might]

Cool, the sheer variety of recommendations supports the idea that you can't really go wrong with them. Thanks so far.

 

[Blaphbee]

I've never figured out why this band excites people so much. I've listened to almost all of their releases and have never been able to sit through a song without skipping to the next. Not to mention the sound quality of the drum machine, the other instruments used, and the actual recording process, which are all less than stellar.

Anyone care to break down why this band is so great, and in the process, not have a negative opinion of me for honestly stating what I think of them, and asking why they appeal to so many of you?

They've moved beyond the confines of "regular" black metal. I think why I appreciate them as much as I do is because they aren't the "direct assault on the senses" that most garden-variety sets out to be; they plant themselves firmly in the background of your immediate consciousness, where the protracted repitition of the motifs works on the subconscious. It's easy to get hung up on tertiary aspects of the music, like production, using a drum machine and the like, but it's missing the point of what they're doing.

Summoning seems to be striving more towards what is termed "neoclassical" within the context of modern metal, same as the later direction of Burzum and Lord Wind. They are reaching for the epic, and for myself, they are succeeding.

 

[no country for old wainds]

Methinks it is music for a time when black metal isn't needed anymore, because that which it opposes has been defeated and all is glorious. Genuine post-black, perhaps.

 

[TB666]

Dol Guldur or Let The Mortal Heroes Sing Your Fame.

 

[spigot]

...they plant themselves firmly in the background of your immediate consciousness, where the protracted repitition of the motifs works on the subconscious. It's easy to get hung up on tertiary aspects of the music...

Uhhh...what???

 

[Blaphbee]

Uhhh...what???

What was hard to understand about this? Summoning doesn't use a directly confrontational musical approach to their songwriting; Dol Guldur is the perfect example of this. Sure there are dynamic crescendos and such to introduce certain parts, but the overall saturation of the instruments and compositional structure within the music does not make it stand out in the listener's mind as much as "regular" BM does, in that "regular" BM has a great deal that instantly demands the listener's attention musically - crashes, distorted howling, harsh riffing - whereas Summoning achieves a trance-like repitition in their creations.

Better?

 

[suela]

Summoning are fucking horrible IMO...possibly the most lameass band ever!!!

Thanks for this laugh...I needed it today
PS: Oh well...I just have seen your signature...that explains a lot

 

[CountSorion]

Grindcore kids.. Not to mention that he evens has BRUTAL in his name.

I'd say that Dol Goldur is a good place to start with. Let Mortal Heroes Sing Your Fame is also VERY good but it's not very metal. That might make it a bit harder to appreciate. (for a metal listener) But yes. All albums are good.

 

[SculptedCold]

What was hard to understand about this? Summoning doesn't use a directly confrontational musical approach to their songwriting; Dol Guldur is the perfect example of this. Sure there are dynamic crescendos and such to introduce certain parts, but the overall saturation of the instruments and compositional structure within the music does not make it stand out in the listener's mind as much as "regular" BM does, in that "regular" BM has a great deal that instantly demands the listener's attention musically - crashes, distorted howling, harsh riffing - whereas Summoning achieves a trance-like repitition in their creations.

Better?

Exactly. My flatmate Transilvanian Scotsman hasn't quite realised this yet, or has but hasn't had any of it sink in.

Real shame. It's perfect mood music......and he likes Burzum's last two albums which weren't exactly direct or less than repetitive either.

 

[Ivan the terrible]

Lugburz