Summoning are an important band to me, as they introduced me to new music style back in 1997 with their magnificent sonic journey through Middle Earth, namely 'Dol Guldur'. Black metal, dungeon synth and ambient wonderfully combined. I mentioned the Austrian mentors because Firmament (who originate from Erfurt, Thuringia which has lots of old buildings, forests, river and hills around it; probably strongly inspiring the sole member J.K.) does carry some strong Summoning vibes on this sophomore album; more than the 2019 debut 'Nightside Valkyries'.

The Summoning style keyboards open the album, and happen during the whole . There aren't hundreds of suitable sounds to utilize in these kind of sonic-scapes anyway, so I am totally okay with this trait. What are used to build up otherworldly atmospheres here include horn-like and ethereal carpet-style sounds, piano, harp, choir-like voices and flutes. And just like Summoning, this music would be very empty without keyboards... There's also some nature sounds, like bird chirping, but they are rare. Non-distorted guitars strengthen these elements.

Firmament's music is not aggressive, even though there are blast beats, beehive guitars and raspy shrieking vocals. There are loads of calm moments, and beauty is one trait of the band ('Echoes from the Forests of Old' and the title track are prime examples). Mysticism is another strong feeling that is often present. It is also epic during some songs; look titles from hints, such as "mountains" and "stars". The ethereal element is strong. Clean vocals are okay; not really annoying, but just there, and I feel they could achieve much more than they do now. They are often heard simultaneously with the shrieking.

It often goes like this: The first motif, with keyboard and bass for example, begins to play and goes on for a few times, then electric guitar joins in with drums. There can be slight changes in emphasizing some instrument more here or there, or perhaps in keyboard patterns. The compositions are not "copy & paste" material because of this breathing restructuring. The song structures aren't always this "straight", but do contain more distinctly different parts (e.g. the opener and 'Wandering the Swan Road'). Sometimes parts are recurring inside a song, but it's not about "verse-bridge-chorus" style compositions here. However, there's a story in each song, more or less. Long instrumental passages aren't a rarity here. As a whole, it's not story-like, but feel as is: A very long album indeed.

If one word is used to depict the production job, it is airy. Probably recorded at home, this misses boom, resulting in very thin and trebly sound (somewhat stronger than the debut, though). There is a drum machine utilized, and it sounds like preset sounds were chosen. The bass guitar can be heard well, and it is the heaviest thing on the album while not being heavy-sounding at all. Naturmacht Productions is know for good-looking packaging, and this is not an exception. Both regular and A5-sized digipak have high glossy varnishing, and drawings are simplistic yet beautiful and full of feeling (a wizard, a hut, aurora, mountains and wintry forests). A5-version has a regular CD-sized booklet.

This really is mood-music, meaning that it's not an obvious choice when one is going to hit the road driving, or for backing the cleanup or something like that. I'd choose this when I wanted to relax and dream about distant places. 'The Ætheric Pathway' is really a fine choice for moments like that. Also, Summoning (and similar) fans should inspect Firmament.

Rating: 7½ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
03/08/2023 17:44