History

Summoning was formed somewhere in 1993 by Silenius (Michael Gregor), Protector (Richard Lederer) and Trifixion (Alexander Trondl) who met in the sort of pub, where they used to drink. Before his activities in Summoning, Protector was playing drums in a kind of progressive thrash/death metal band Marlignom, that nearly got a record deal at Peaceville, but in that time the band broke up. His very first musical experience was a rock band (he was 15 years old then ) and a four year study of drums in the music school. The musical experience of Silenius was a doom metal band Shadow Vale(at 16 years old) and few years in music school studying piano. Before Summoning, Silenius was making music, together with Pazuzu (Ray Wells) in a band Cromm (they made some demos that sounded like Abruptum, but never released anything else). Trifixion played in Pervertum.

Summoning made 2 demos ('Upon the Viking's Stallion' and 'Anno Mortiri Domini'), promo tape for Minas Morgul and one or two tape samplers with Pazuzu and Cromm. Nearly all songs from demos were never released after or took place on CDs as very different versions.

The demos sold quite well in a record shop in Vienna, called Why Not. Some times later Silenius got in contact with T.T. (Thomas Tannenberger), who made an interview with Summoning for the local fanzine TAUB (which was the first Summoning interview). They talked a lot and T.T. told that he wanted to form a band of his own, and gave Silenius a tape with some riffs. That was the birth of Abigor. They kept contact and later Silenius replaced Rune (now singer of Amestigon) and did all vocals for all Abigor releases (except the demos) as a permanent Abigor member. As they recorded the first Abigor album 'Verwüstung' for the young Napalm Records label, Silenius got in contact with Max from Napalm. They handled a deal with Summoning and soon Summoning's debut 'Lugburz' was released on Napalm. That time Summoning members were: Silenius - vocals, keyboards, bass; Protector - keyboards, guitar; Trifixion - drums; And Pazuzu made some additional vocals and wrote some lyrics (he also was singing in DM way on demos). 1995 was a very creative year for Silenius and Protector, and gave lots of practising experience for them. They were involved in the following bands and projects, and made these releases: Summoning 'Lugburz', 'Minas Morgul'; Pazuzu 'And All Was Silent'; Grabesmond - demo (there was also P.K. in it); Die Verbannten Kinder Evas 'Die Verbannten Kinder Evas' ; Abigor 'Nachthymnen'; Ice Ages 'Strike the Ground'; Weltenbrand 'Das Nachtvolk'; Sanguis et Cinis 'Schicksal'.

After they recorded 'Lugburz', they kicked out Trifixion, who turned out to be a commercial thinking asshole. Guys did not want to get a new drummer and so they continued working with medieval and bombastic keyboard percussion sounds. The result can be heard on 'Minas Morgul'. So the band then consisted of: Protector - vocals, guitar, keyboards, drum-programming; Silenius - vocals, keyboards, bass.

In that times they also made a song for Napalm Recods compilation 'With Us or Against Us'. It was just a quick made demo song that sounded like Mysticum and originally was not made to be released. So it got no title.

As 'Lugburz', an exercise in raw, Abigor-style black metal, was a "first try", and was totally different from all future material, its follow-up 'Minas Morgul' was "the crown" of Summoning's creations. It opened new horizons for Summoning and for BM music in general. The album was totally inspired by Tolkien themes (as all their later stuff), and was a magnificent epic/ambient BM. 'Minas Morgul' contained much of the material from old demos (of course it was made in a very different way).

The next greatest album 'Dol Guldur', came to light at 1996. 'Dol Guldur' continued 'Minas Morgul' musical and lyrical wise, and surely was the a progression in Summoning's creativity. On 'Dol Guldur' the music from Protector's dark/EBM project Ice Ages also can be heard ('Over Old Hills' theme is taken from 'Trapped and Scared' Ice Ages song).

Besides Summoning, guys have also done some work in Sanguis et Cinis 'Schicksal'; Pazuzu 'Awaken the Dragon'; Abigor 'Opus IV'. In this year, Silenius also made songs for his dark/ritual project Mirkwood, but unfortunately he didn't release it yet (the songs were lost in the synthesizer sequencer... but still there is a hope that the project will be reactivated).

Some songs remaining from 'Dol Guldur' recording session were released on 'Nightshade Forests' mini-CD in 1997. There were only one new song - 'Habbanan beneath the Stars'.

After this album, Summoning stopped their activity, till 1999. They also stopped their work in almost all other bands.

Some words about related bands and projects... As far as Protector stopped his work on Grabesmond, after releasing a demo (there were only 30 copies of it), P.K. (Peter Kubik) from Abigor and Lucia Mariam Faroutan (his wife) continued with it. Protector left Sanguis et Cinis (because of hostility between him and Evangel [mastermind of this band]), where he played guitar and made some keyboard lines; and Weltenbrand where he was a guest singer. Silenius made songs for the next Pazuzu album, but they were not included in it, and continued his work in Abigor, ('97 release 'Apocalypse' and '98 'Supreme Immortal Art'). Protector released an album 'Come Heavy Sleep' ('97) with his project Die Verbannten Kinder Evas, and also made a bass lines for dark-trip wave band Whispers In The Shadow, with their 'Laudanum' ('97) release.

After a long silence, Summoning exploded with new album 'Stronghold' in May 1999, forcing everybody to open their eyes and clean their ears. Album was recorded in Nachtschatten studio which is the home-studio of Protector, and was engineered and mixed by members of band themselves. 'Stronghold' surely showed some new ways in Summoning musical experience. On the new album, guest singer Tania, who has also replaced Julia in Die Verbannten Kinder Evas, appeared in a song 'Where Hope and Daylight Dies', which was surely a new step for Summoning. Silenius left Abigor (vocalist from Heidenreich replaced him) due to the lack of interest and style change, and started to work on the new industrial project Kreuzweg Ost (which is near to be released on Napalm Records) together with Martin Schrienk from Pungent Stench. Protector left Whispers In The Shadows, after a new album 'November', and recorded a new album 'In Darkness Let Me Dwell' with Die Verbannten Kinder Eva's (it was released at 22 of Nov.).

(written by Grom, 1999)

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. That means that the keyboard lines had been more epic and polyphonic again while the more complex and melodic guitar style was more close to 'Stronghold'. This time the band used more spoken-word samples to bring a more dramaturgic style to the songs and for the first time the band works with clear vocal choirs on the finishing song of the album called 'Farewell'. The lyrical concept again was totally based on Tolkien's Middle-earth concept, but for the first time it was combined with some lyrics from another great fantasy author namely Michael Moorcock.

After a long silence Summoning released in 2003 a kind of collectors item for die-hard fans only namely the mini-CD 'Lost Tales' (Napalm Records). This CD contained two songs which officially have been composed and recorded back to the years 1996 and 1997. The first song originally was composed for the Mirkwood project while the second song was a missing 'Dol Guldur' session song. Both songs have been used in its original versions; that means no guitars or vocals have been added, just a lot of spoken word samples to make a kind of soundtrack atmosphere.

(written by Summoning, 2003)

In 2006 the sixth Summoning opus, 'Oath Bound', was released, again on Napalm Records. The album features eight mighty songs with fitting lyrics, that are based on Tolkien's book "The Silmarillion".

(source: the official Summoning website, September 2007, last chapter added by AM)