I was happy to see Summoning releasing new material again. However, this is not new (but it is to me!), since 'Arcenstone' was recorded for a demo and 'Saruman' was composed at the time of 'Dol Guldur' (1996). And yes, only two songs, goddamnit!

The music is left in its soundtrack stage, so no guitars and no vocals, but only synths and massive drum machine generated beats. There are a lot of sampled speech from various radio broadcasts of J.R.R. Tolkien's tales. Summoning have created simple, but extremely atmospheric music, that brings Middle-Earth into my mind's eyes when listening to them. The songs are very good in Summoning-scale, very epic and memorable.

Summoning is the only band of this ilk I listen to without getting bored. They are the masters of folkish darkwave! Summoning worshippers must get 'Lost Tales', no matter how short it is. Newcomers try 'Dol Guldur' (1996) album.

Rating: 7½ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
02/02/2004 12:10