I am sure all of you have at least heard of Summoning, so I am gonna keep it short and sweet. With their second album, this premier fantasy-oriented band defined their signature sound with slow, epic songs full of Tolkien-inspired imagery combined with the black metal backbone. The keyboards, being an integral part of the formula, vary from simple neo-medieval melodies to baroque, quasi-symphonic, lofty arrangements, and work their way around blackened, noisy guitars, raspy vocals and a drum machine. I am not too crazy about the latter, but it's well programmed and doesn't damage the mood of the album as a whole. Because of the "fantasy factor" and classical influence, the music is not very dark or evil, but the songs are so incredibly epic, atmospheric and full of charming melodicism that it really doesn't matter. The simplistic song structuring is another thing that turned out to benefit the music, which is exactly that - simple and beautiful. With this album Summoning demonstrated that they have a distinct vision and plenty of talent to utilize it, so "Minas Morgul" comes off very much recommended, especially if you prefer the more romantic strain of black metal.

© 2000 boris