Seems like at every death/black metal discussion board, reviews site, and newsgroup I frequent, there are always a handful of people that are constantly raving about an Austrian band called Summoning, which developed from a project of Abigor's Silenius Gregor to become just as prolific as Abigor themselves. These same people claim that Summoning are ingenious because of the sheer depth of the atmosphere they put into every song.

Well, I caved in to the peer pressure exerted upon me by these Summoning fanatics, and you know what? This experience has taught me something - never believe any hype. No matter how powerfully you gravitate towards an album, sample it first. This especially goes for people who consider CD burners amoral. If I were one of them, I would've made the mistake of actually paying for this piece of dung album.

Anyway, the easiest way to describe Summoning in one word would be "Yawn." That's what I did through all 68 minutes of this album, the dozen or so spins I spent trying to get into it before throwing in the towel (and throwing out the CD-R I wasted on it).

The formula here is rather enticing at first glance - atmospheric, epic songwriting (with lyrics based on J.R.R. Tolkien's writing, no less), extensive use of keyboards to create vivid imagery of Tolkien's world, backed up by buzzing guitar riffs and quite a bit of the classical instrumentation carried over from Abigor. Sounds like a good concept, but the flaw lies in the pathetic execution of it.

Summoning's songs are, for the most part, very long. This is usually not a bad thing, but when you combine that with the lack of speed, uninspired vocal approach, and the extremely monotonous nature of most of Summoning's compositions, any argument made in favor of this album being "a compelling and valuable listen that brings you something new each time" is made utterly futile.

Each song is comprised of a single riff and keyboard passage that seems to be played on a loop from a DAT, with select songs occasionally speeding up for a chorus part. Yet these fast parts seem like scraps thrown to the listener to relapse him/her from the catatonic state imposed by listening to this album. Now, the first two minutes of each song are rather interesting, because at that point, the atmosphere still feels like it's building... However, after this keeps up for seven or eight minutes, I for one simply lose interest.

The fact that the drum track is played by a machine also works against the band, because when you have a riff structure this monotonous, you could at least keep people interested by providing interesting drum patterns and fills, but no such thing can be done with a machine. Hell, what human would want to play the same beat over and over for eleven minutes, like in "Dor Dædeloth"?

All in all, despite the rather unique atmospheric approach and melodious keyboard passages, this album is a rather dull and empty experience with only a couple of bright spots (one being "Dagor Bragollach," the only "fast" song on the LP). Disregard any praising of this band to which you may have been exposed - Summoning are neither spectacular nor compelling. Pick this up if you're the type of person who compulsively buys video game soundtracks; otherwise, opt for Abigor.

This review is credited to:
The Havoc Vulture