SUMMONING — With Doom We Come (review)

SUMMONING — With Doom We Come album cover

Album · 2018 · Atmospheric Black Metal

4/5 · 2018-02-26
siLLy puPPy

While SUMMONING officially formed all the way back in the early 90s, this current day duo from Austria has been quite sparse in their 21st century releases with only four full-length albums having emerged in the last 18 years which roughly means around five year gaps in between. Lo and behold and at long last a retreat back into the Tolkien lengendarium where Orks run wild and Mordor burns in fury as the Ring of Power remains firmly out of grasp as Hobbits dodge one bout with evil after another. Finally in 2018, SUMMONING which consists only of Selenius and Protector has unleashed their latest installment of their musical accompaniment for all things Lord of the Rings in the form of WITH DOOM WE COME. As with the previous albums beginning with 1995’s “Minas Morgul,” we are treated (or tortured) to another set of epic length jaunts into dark ambient melodic marches that feel as if they are procured by Elves, performed by Dwarves, considered by Hobbits and ultimately embellished with Gandalf’s white wizard ways of crafting the perfect balance between simple melodies that are glistened over with something more precious than Golem’s lost pride and joy.

WITH DOOM WE COME is only the eighth installment in the world of SUMMONING and after years of delays (which remain unnamed), the album finds the first rays of 2018 shining upon it like a new Hobbit movie emerging from the misty fjords of New Zealand. With Middle Earth firmly fixed in gaze, SUMMONING once again delivers the expected epic video game soundtrack romp through a series of eight lengthy tracks that continue the (now) traditional theme of taking a simple (and catchy) piano or synthesized melodic flow that seemingly riffs to eternity but on the march to freedom captures subtle changes in their midst. You are correct to assume that SUMMONING have mustered up yet another album familiar to all, that being heavily atmospheric dominated melodies that crank up the buzzsaw guitar action and raspy corpse paint vocals to conjure up visions of despair and utter dismay as all hope seems extinguished and only carried through by a melodic string that holds it all together.

Whether you love em or hate em, one thing is for sure: SUMMONING has a sound and style like no other. These guys have conjured up one of the most unique elans in a strange world that straddles black metal, dark ambient and video game soundtrack epic grandeur. WITH DOOM WE COME seems to have taken the expected mix of melodic flow in military march with distorted guitar, raspy vocals and orchestrated-the-hell-out-of-it approach to even more extreme pastures. While the basics remain firmly in place, it seems that the production is off-the-hook clear and the use of choirs for background emphatics is even more pronounced and epic in nature. Just as the new release of the video game Zelda takes epic video game experiences to ever more heightened arenas, so too does SUMMONING’s emphasis on these same epic qualities that ride in the same wake. Never before have drum machines, fuzzed out guitar, raspy screaming vocals or synthesized orchestras with choirs sounded so, well…. grand. It’s more of the same but yet the quality is off the charts.

For sure kvlt black metal worshippers, who have been throwing darts at the effigies of Silenius and Protector all these years for betraying the one-dimensional black metal ethos that strangleholds so many, will find nothing on WITH DOOM WE COME to rein in their hatred for anything remotely symphonic and atmospheric in nature. However, to be fair i have never really considered SUMMONING’s form of musical expression a black metal band at all (OK after their first album that is) but rather a dark ambient, darkwave, epic video game soundtrack style of music that just happens to take the raspy vocals and buzzsaw guitar distortion of black metal along for the ride after their black metal origins. Needless to say, if you don’t like what came before, you won’t be SUMMONING any more of these demons but this duo really knows how to craft a lush and exquisitely designed romp through the musical soundscapes of the Tolkien universe and that is something no others have successfully tackled. SUMMONING have latched onto their own brand of hybridized musical expression and why would anyone expect them to explore anything else but?

WITH DOOM WE COME is a welcome respite into a familiar sound with an ever expanding production value in a set repertoire. This is very much a hypnotic type of album that seduces the listener with an irresistible melancholy yet utterly addictive hook and then slowly ratchets up the tension with the swirling sensation of synthesized embellishments that add more and more flavors to the mix. This is one for the audiophiles as the production is super crisp and clear and every detail is drenched in perfection. Yeah, i too am a lover of everything kvlt, demented and evil but that’s not SUMMONING’s game. Their shtick is in the grey zone where black metal, dark ambient and epic soundtrack music meet in the triangulated mysteries of the dark. While this is definitely akin to their previous offerings, i have to admit that i can’t get enough of this stuff and i personally have no problem with a band continuing down a path they forged for themselves. This is a really compelling listen even if it goes down familiar turf. It’s exquisitely performed and that’s more than good enough for me!