A decade after its release, Summon's sophomore demo 'Dark Descent of Fallen Souls' (often, falsely represent as a full length album), still glows like it was just lifted from the bowels of abyss. Summon are worthy of the title "black metal band", following no trendy penguin metal shite. Anyways if you don't count the use of synthesizer as one of the characters of penguin stuff.

The band's brutal metal includes elements from black metal, thrash metal and death metal, and Summon's minds are set into the 1980s. What lifts Summon above the gray mass is the songs that stick to mind unlike stuff from the many bands of their ilk. While the songs don't win any points for originality, they surely aren't the worst stuff ever heard. While some parts tend to bore a bit, some others will make one headbang for sure. Sodom-influenced thrashing can't leave you powerless, can it? Just check out 'Eve of Anticreation' and tell me you don't feel the energy! The song material is pretty varying, so many different extreme metal souls should be fed for some extenct, and also tempo changes many times during a song, so it makes everything more vivid. Mayhem cover 'Sorrows of Moonless Night' is a good version, and I believe the Mayhem guys didn't cast any evil spells upon Summon because of it.

The sound is very bass-heavy. Every element can be clearly heard, but that doesn't mean this isn't raw. Very decent for a demo from 1996, indeed. The synths are one real reason to insult this work. Simple preset sounds do not create any atmosphere, sounding uncomfortable in totally wrong way. Okay, 'Sorrows of Moonless Night's choir synth ain't that bad... There's 3 whatever-tros, but the synths are also used on the real songs, usually for no good effect. While drummer is a maniac, his beats are out of time every now and then, especially his hi-hat and ride cymbal work. But: that's very rare and nothing to worry about. What the hell, it's bestial anyways, and nothing as horrible as the synths! Bassist plays some insane moves, and deserves to be mentioned.

There seems to be at least 3 versions with different tracklistings listed on the web, and this Blackened Moon Productions version is the only one I can confirm. Whatever version you might find, get it if you welcome a decent at its worst black/thrash/death mash.

Reviewed by Lane
11/23/2006 19:19