Summoning – Old Mornings Dawn

Releasedate: 07-06-2013; Label: Napalm Records
By: Martine Goffard

Before all, I will explain who Summoning is for those who have been living in a cavern for years without seeing the light. Summoning is an Austrian band which has created a fantastic discography of epic metal based exclusively on Tolkien’s Middle Earth.

Many bands have tried to take that winding path but no one has succeeded like Summoning. They are unique. Like Tolkien’s universe, Summoning’s metal is gloomy, impressive, sometime full with despair, sometime victorious, always enchanting and absolutely never boring despite their nine minutes tracks. We had to wait seven long years until this album, Old Mornings Dawn, comes out. But what a relief, what a joy to hear that they haven’t changed at all. They have kept the sound archaic so it doesn’t break with the previous albums’. Flammifer is a direct continuity of the last album’s last track, Oath Bound’s Land of the Dead. The band uses a multitude of instruments, till saturation. At a point that you have to listen to a song many times to catch all the nuances. The symphony flows like the flutes on the background. The majestic pounding drums give the rhythm like for a march to war. The guitars are limited to a continuous buzzy sound, a mix of aggressiveness and bitterness. The creepy whispers and female voices maintain the atmosphere in a sepulchral and rotten darkness, like a journey on a sacred forgotten cemetery.

Some songs still, like the breathtaking Caradhras, bring some lights of joy and feast with dancing tambourines and male choirs. You only wish you could raise your cup and sing with these mythical long dead heroes. Be amazed by the splendors of ancient times. Be prepared to travel on the ruins of fallen cities, to dance around a tribal fire and to cry on the mists of a world as ethereal as cold whispers. Tolkien’s ghosts have never been so close and they will haunt you forever.

Old Mornings Dawn is a masterpiece. It’s beyond music. Without doubt one of Summoning best albums and definitely the best album of the year!

Line up:
Protector (Richard Lederer) – Vocals, keyboards, guitars, drum programming
Silenius (Michael Gregor) – Vocals, keyboards, formerly bass

Tracklist: 01. Evernight 02. Flammifer 03. Old Mornings Dawn 04. The White Tower 05. Caradhras 06. Of Pale White Morns and Darkened Eves 07. The Wandering Fire 08. Earthshine

Links:
Summoning Facebook