Summoning
Nightshade Forests
[Napalm]
Nightshade Forests is the fourth album release from this Austrian duo and their third work in the traditional sound. It is a MCD, but for Summoning that means clocking in at 33:42, so you're definitely getting a fair amount of music at MCD price.
Yes, Summoning is my favorite band, so of course I love this CD. Three out of four of these songs were left over from the great Dol Guldur, which you think would make them sub-par but they are not at all. In fact, if they had managed to pull off a full length of songs of this caliber it might easily have been their greatest.
Emotions and themes run the gamut of Tolkein-esque situations: dark and dreamy sad soundscapes; ambient, melancholic wanderings (unlike Black Hate, I think this CD can be VERY depressing); the crushing might of steel in medieval epic battles; and triumphant, majestic, yet staid and controlled revelry in the beauties of mythic forgotten realms. Habannan Beneath the Stars is one of the most amazing songs I have ever heard, capturing PERFECTLY the sense of something beautiful, harmonious, pure and triumphant hidden in a golden yet starlit realm, lost long long ago. It coincides perfectly with the lyrics, a lost poem penned, of course, by probably the only christian to catch the admiration of the black metal scene.
The formula on this album is the same as usual: slow drum beats (though more rhythmically complex, more syncopation and breakbeats even on this release) with black metal-toned guitars placed very low in the mix while medieval keyboards carry the melodies and Protector's and Silenius's great bm vocals either plod through dirges or ride on the waves of hymns. This MCD has a very unique sound, though, a very dreamlike quality to it. It is easily the most pastoral of Summoning's releases so far, not having the sharp drops and heavier elements found in previous and subsequent releases, opting instead for an ambient pace with a muted and feathery (by our standards) tone and sound. It works marvelously though, as everything melds together in a beautiful lush soup of sound, percussion, and melody.
My friend once claimed that Summoning is not really black metal; that they are not even really metal, when it comes down to it. An argument could be made for that I guess, especially with this album, as it is very pastoral at times, and not really "heavy", as is the case with most post-Lugburz Summoning. However, it should be noted that there is nothing "gothic" or "romantic" about Summoning or their use of keyboards. I personally have a revulsion to the Anne Rice, horny, pathetic vampire aesthetic found in much gothic black metal and I am very picky when it comes to keyboards (even parts of In the Nightside Eclipse are starting to sound silly after all these years). Summoning is purely medieval/Tolkein slow epic-dirge and they are the best at what they do. Nightshade Forests is a must for the discerning music fan; beautiful, stirring, melancholic, and, of course, dramatic.
© 2002 the insider
Yes, Summoning is my favorite band, so of course I love this CD. Three out of four of these songs were left over from the great Dol Guldur, which you think would make them sub-par but they are not at all. In fact, if they had managed to pull off a full length of songs of this caliber it might easily have been their greatest.
Emotions and themes run the gamut of Tolkein-esque situations: dark and dreamy sad soundscapes; ambient, melancholic wanderings (unlike Black Hate, I think this CD can be VERY depressing); the crushing might of steel in medieval epic battles; and triumphant, majestic, yet staid and controlled revelry in the beauties of mythic forgotten realms. Habannan Beneath the Stars is one of the most amazing songs I have ever heard, capturing PERFECTLY the sense of something beautiful, harmonious, pure and triumphant hidden in a golden yet starlit realm, lost long long ago. It coincides perfectly with the lyrics, a lost poem penned, of course, by probably the only christian to catch the admiration of the black metal scene.
The formula on this album is the same as usual: slow drum beats (though more rhythmically complex, more syncopation and breakbeats even on this release) with black metal-toned guitars placed very low in the mix while medieval keyboards carry the melodies and Protector's and Silenius's great bm vocals either plod through dirges or ride on the waves of hymns. This MCD has a very unique sound, though, a very dreamlike quality to it. It is easily the most pastoral of Summoning's releases so far, not having the sharp drops and heavier elements found in previous and subsequent releases, opting instead for an ambient pace with a muted and feathery (by our standards) tone and sound. It works marvelously though, as everything melds together in a beautiful lush soup of sound, percussion, and melody.
My friend once claimed that Summoning is not really black metal; that they are not even really metal, when it comes down to it. An argument could be made for that I guess, especially with this album, as it is very pastoral at times, and not really "heavy", as is the case with most post-Lugburz Summoning. However, it should be noted that there is nothing "gothic" or "romantic" about Summoning or their use of keyboards. I personally have a revulsion to the Anne Rice, horny, pathetic vampire aesthetic found in much gothic black metal and I am very picky when it comes to keyboards (even parts of In the Nightside Eclipse are starting to sound silly after all these years). Summoning is purely medieval/Tolkein slow epic-dirge and they are the best at what they do. Nightshade Forests is a must for the discerning music fan; beautiful, stirring, melancholic, and, of course, dramatic.
© 2002 the insider