Summoning was formed sometime in 1993 by Silenius (Michael Gregor), Protector (Richard Lederer) and Trifixion (Alexander Trondl). Before creating Summoning, Protector was playing drums in a thrash/death metal band called Marlignom and had embarked on a four-year study of drums in music school. Silenius was in a doom metal band Shadow Vale (at 16 years old) and had a few years in music school studying piano. Before Summoning, Silenius was making music, together with Pazuzu (Ray Wells) in a band Cromm. Trifixion played in the band Pervertum.
Summoning recorded two demos (Upon the Viking's Stallion and Anno Mortiri Domini), as well as a split with the Austrian band Pazuzu (The Urilia Text) and a five-track promo tape for Lugburz. Nearly all songs from the demos were never released after or took place on CDs in a very different version.
The demos sold quite well in a record shop in Vienna called "Why not". Some time later Silenius got in contact with T.T. (Thomas Tannenberger), eventually leading to the birth of Abigor. Silenius ended up doing all vocals for Abigor releases (except the demos) as a permanent member until 1999. The first Abigor album was recorded for the young Napalm Records label, which led to Silenius managing to get a deal from Napalm for Summoning's debut Lugburz in 1995. At that time the members of Summoning were: Silenius – vocals, keyboards, bass; Protector – vocals, keyboards, guitar; Trifixion – drums (his last release with the band); Pazuzu lent some additional vocals and wrote some of the lyrics. Lugburz was more traditional black metal and very different from the band's later releases that would follow.
The band continued as a duo after the departure of Trifixion, releasing Minas Morgul in 1995. This was the band's first release in their new style, an epic and atmospheric style utilizing guitar purely as a background instrument and synth almost as a lead, using re-recorded early songs. Dol Guldur, in 1996, continued this style and saw an influence from Protector's darkwave project Ice Ages. It also credits J.R.R. Tolkien for lyrics. In 1997, the Nightshade Forests EP was released, and has since been included on the recent Dol Guldur pressings. After this, the band ceased all work for nearly two years, and also stopped work with many of their other music projects. But in 1999, Summoning returned with Stronghold which, while still in the classic Summoning style, focused more on guitar work to create melodic lines rather than keyboards and synthesizers than in previous releases.
In the year 2001 the follow-up Let Mortal Heroes Sing Your Fame was released. This release was a kind of combination between the old and new style of Summoning, with the keyboard lines being more epic and polyphonic while the guitars bore a similarity with the more complex and rock-esque guitar-style from Stronghold. This time the band used more spoken-word samples to bring a more dramatic style to the songs and for the first time the band works with clear vocal choirs on the song "Farewell". The lyrical concept again was totally based on Tolkien's Middle-earth, but for the first time it was combined with some inspiration from Michael Moorcock's fantasy writings. In 2003, they released the Lost Tales EP, which consisted of leftovers from the Dol Guldur sessions.
2006 saw the release of Oath Bound, which consisted of all new material. The long break between Let Mortal Heroes Sing Your Fame and Oath Bound was due to struggles in the band members' personal lives, along with lack of ideas. Oath Bound featured a "relaxed arpeggio style" guitar sound, which gave a more epic feeling to the sound of the album. The band also had higher-quality equipment available to them for the recording of the album and were able to create greater choir vocals than they had done before. A 4-song mini CD was suggested for release in 2007 containing at least one song which didn't make it onto Oath Bound due to size issues, however, this idea was abandoned and Protector instead began work on music for a full-length release while waiting for Silenius to finish recording the next Kreuzweg Ost album.
Following the release of Oath Bound, Summoning entered a period of inactivity. Silenius experienced a creative block and lacked inspiration for creating new music for Summoning. He also suffered a heart-attack which "knocked me out for another half a year, but somehow all this brought me to a point where I got hungry again and since then I concentrated again on making riffs. Everything started in small steps. but after a while I knew in which direction the music was going and the more I knew this, the easier it was to compose and the result is what you hear now."
In February 2012, the band announced on their website that they were in the process of writing new songs, and were hoping to have most of the songs complete by the end of the year. In December 2012 it was announced that all the guitars and Protector's vocal parts for the new album were complete and that the upcoming album would be entitled Old Mornings Dawn. Old Mornings Dawn was released in June 2013 on Napalm Records and lyrically focuses mostly on nature themes, as well as J.R.R. Tolkien's Valinor.
In 2015 the band confirmed that they had already begun working on creating a new album, and were focused on rewriting some of the leftover material from Old Mornings Dawn.
On December 15, 2016 a compilation tribute album titled 'In Mordor Where The Shadows Are - Homage to Summoning' was released by Wolfspell Records. The album features covers of 21 different Summoning songs by artists such as Caladan Brood and Emyn Muil.
On August 12, 2017, Summoning posted an update on their official Facebook page noting that despite troubles, setbacks and disputes, the band's new album will be released in January 2018 through Napalm Records. The band posted a teaser of the new music, although they did not disclose the name of the forthcoming album.
On October 1, 2017, Summoning posted an update on their Facebook page announcing the title of the album as With Doom We Come. The album was subsequently released on January 5, 2018.
The band's debut album Lugburz was a traditional black metal album, with a raw, lo-fi production style. On their following album Minas Morgul the band's sound changed significantly, and has been characterised as "a departure from straight black metal in favor of bold atmospheric experimentation which retains a definite blackened feel." The band's sound has remained relatively consistent since then. The band's sound is frequently described as 'epic, 'hypnotic', and 'atmospheric', and makes extensive use of keyboards, choir vocals, clean singing, synthesized instruments, and programmed drums. Though the drums are programmed, they are played using a keyboard rather than with a drum machine. Their sound has been described as "a particularly widescreen version of progressive black metal, a style that more recently has been infused with an almost medieval strain of twiddly folk music of the lutes 'n' flutes variety." The band's music is deeply influenced by the literature of J. R. R. Tolkien, particularly The Lord of the Rings. Most of the band's lyrics are derived from Tolkien's own works. Silenius has claimed to be influenced by dark wave and ritualistic music as well as fantasy literature.
The band has said that they consider themselves to be composers rather than musicians and do not practice together before recording. Guitarist Protector does not own a guitar and has used a different borrowed guitar for every recording since Dol Guldur.
Lugburz
Summoning Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And cold be sleep under stone:
Never more to wake on stony bed,
Never, till the sun fails and the moon is dead.
In the black wind the stars shall die,
And still on gold here let them lie,
Till the dark lord lifts his hand
Over dead sea and withered land
And stones crack in the frosty night,
When pools are black and trees are bare,
It is evil in the wild to fare.
To lay down my will upon the Land, Lugburz
No sound disturbs this place of blackened souls
This winter walls of stone and ice behold thy might
Again I'm kneeling down to hear these strange tunes of war
Night, oh beloved night, your wisdom floats into my mind
And forms my thoughts of Middle-Earth
To build up a new mighty empire
The opening lines of "Lugburz" by Summoning paint a picture of a cold, desolate world without hope of resurrection. The first two lines speak of the lifeless arctic-like environment, followed by a declaration that those who sleep under stone will never awaken again. These lines suggest death is permanent in this world, and the dead stay that way until the end of time. The next line asserts that even the stars will eventually die in the black wind. However, the singer emphasizes that the golden stars should still lay undisturbed until the dark lord lifts his hand. These lines create a dark, ominous atmosphere where even hope is unobtainable.
The second stanza begins with the description of the onset of winter, bringing ominous foreboding of evil in the wild. It soon becomes apparent that the intent of the singer is not simply to describe this world but to conquer it. The singer lays down his will upon the land, declaring "Lugburz," a name laden with meaning from J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-Earth universe, invoking power and might. The following lines describe the singer's intent to build up a new empire. It seems like a dark wintery world is waiting to be controlled by the singer, and through strength and willpower, they intend to do it. The song's lyrics depict the potential for a fantasy world to be ruled by a single powerful being, with an attitude of malevolent control.
Line by Line Meaning
Cold be hand and heart and bone,
The singer feels frozen and lifeless, as if their entire being is consumed by icy stillness.
And cold be sleep under stone:
Even death is portrayed as cold and unforgiving in this dark world.
Never more to wake on stony bed,
Death is an eternal slumber, a dreamless sleep from which there is no awakening.
Never, till the sun fails and the moon is dead.
Death is so final that not even the celestial bodies that guide us through life will remain.
In the black wind the stars shall die,
The darkness and evil of this world will eventually consume everything, even the stars in the sky.
And still on gold here let them lie,
Even in death, the treasures of the world will remain, untouched and unclaimed.
Till the dark lord lifts his hand
The singer believes that only the return of the dark lord will bring about true, meaningful change.
Over dead sea and withered land
The world is dying and lifeless, waiting for the dark lord to awaken and change its fate.
When the winter first begins to bite
The onset of winter is a metaphor for the harsh realities of this dark world.
And stones crack in the frosty night,
All around the artist, the world is decaying and falling apart.
When pools are black and trees are bare,
Nature has been corrupted by evil, becoming a reflection of the darkness inside the characters.
It is evil in the wild to fare.
Venturing out into the wild is dangerous and may invite even more evil into the world.
To lay down my will upon the Land, Lugburz
The singer desires to exert their will on the world, to take control and shape it according to their whims.
No sound disturbs this place of blackened souls
The land has become so steeped in darkness that even sound cannot penetrate its depths.
This winter walls of stone and ice behold thy might
The singer sees the winter as a symbol of their own power and the might they can wield over the world.
Again I'm kneeling down to hear these strange tunes of war
The artist is drawn to the chaos and destruction of war, finding a strange beauty in its brutality.
Night, oh beloved night, your wisdom floats into my mind
The artist finds comfort and guidance in the darkness, feeling a deep connection to the night itself.
And forms my thoughts of Middle-Earth
The world of Middle-Earth becomes a reflection of the singer's own desires and imagination.
To build up a new mighty empire
The singer desires to create a new world order, to establish their own empire and rule over all of existence.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: MICHAEL ANDREAS GREGOR, RICHARD LEDERER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@broncoxy
i really have no clue why, but this feels like playing a really old and really good rpg for the first time again... and i love it
@mizenberg3274
Hahaha I was jamming to this while playing Baldur's gate 2 today
@blazejflorkiewicz9698
@@mizenberg3274 it was cool you could transfer your charakter from bg1 :D overpowered as fuck. 20 strenght xD one hit one kill
@A-CIM
Have the song playing while staring at the album art, It makes you feel like you’re in those chilling landscape and you’re the loneliest being.
@SuperSoundtracks
I was always captivated by summoning's music from the first song I ever heard. Stronghold was the first album I bought, and it is a powerful piece of music. I enjoy minas morgul aswell. This is my favourite song from the album. Thanks for the upload!
@electricwizard77
Masterpiece ❤
@HedenskFraSkogen
One of my favorite songs from this band. Greetings from México
@gerargore
Este temazo tiene vida propia, es muy mistico el sonido de las guitarras genial summoning
@wallyssonfilipe8845
o som do trovão na musica deu o poder !
@maj1909
Minas morgul is such a amazing album