Reviews list for Summoning - Let Mortal Heroes Sing Your Fame (2001)

I started listening to this album right when the Oblivion remaster dropped, and let me tell you, there could not be a better match. On this album, Summoning combine the cheesy, medieval Dungeon Synth reminiscent of games like Runescape with their signature Atmoblack guitar compositions. Vocals shift between classic Black shrieks and epic sounding samples.

Listening to this wonderfully evocative album as I return to the familiar world of Cyrodill was a seamless union. The martial drums beating as I slaughtered adversaries in the arena, the lush and affectionately dated synths adding to the intrigue of discovering ruins, the overall majesty of fantasy of both pieces of media melding into a perfect combination.

The layering of this album is the real treat. Most of the instruments – both synthed and real – are playing simple and repetitive chords or melodies. Nothing too impressive on their own. But weaved in between the synthed horns, guitars, and drums, are a plethora of other synthed instruments, resembling anything from old medieval instruments to more modern electronic sounds. There’s a lot going on and it justifies the simplicity.

What I will say though, is that it makes a better soundtrack than it does a focused listen. One big weakness is that while the album succeeds immensely at evoking a medieval, fantastic atmosphere, it doesn’t evoke any emotion at all. It’s not sad, it’s not happy, it’s not angry or evil. And thus it works well as background music, but loses a bit as a unique piece of work due to its lack of mood. Throwing in an angry or melancholic track here and there would make it flow more like a movie rather than a static backdrop to a castle. It’s also exceedingly repetitive and low-tempo most of the time, which can get a bit tiring. The previous album did a better job of incorporating a bit more… Metal.

Still though, wow. It succeeds at doing exactly what it wants to do. All fantasy all the time. Definitely worth a listen for anyone remotely interested in the aesthetic, and my personal recommendation as a makeshift soundtrack to any fantasy game.

Synthesizers in metal used to be an unholy taboo among fans of unholy music, a never do in a world where you do things that aren't supposed to be done.  As far as metalheads went, synths in metal made Ed and Al's human transmutation forgivable.  That all changed when Emperor said "well fuck you" to the metalheads who scremed about this taboo.  Because of them, synths in music are a kep component to black metal diversity and has spawned its own non-metal genre that's very popular among metalheads: dungeon synth.  Mortiis left Emperor to focus on his electronica, and thanks to that we now have bands molding the two together, and one of the most important bands in this scene is one of the most LOTR-influenced bands on Earth: Summoning.

Summoning made a name for themselves with their second-through-fourth albums, which the latter of these three, Stronghold, being their most beloved.  But they pretty much did the same thing until Let Mortal Heroes Sing Your Fame came along.  This is an album that relies less on the atmo-black-metal ambiance and more on the fantasy vibes that dungeon synth exudes, essentially being a dungeon synth album in its own right, as opposed to allowing these synths to be a simple atmospheric backdrop like on previous Summoning albums.  This allows the album to take pride in the switch between pure dungeon synth, folksy fantasy, heavy black metal and lighter atmo-black.  There's a progression here that the other albums didn't have, almost comparable to the early works of Moody Blues in how often the shifts came.  And thankfully, the LOTR themes and presences are not only lived up to, but connect all of these genres together.  Although, the actual compositions themselves are not always at peak performance.  The songs are all good, but there's only occasional brilliance here, leaving the vibes and diversity to try and make up for the fluctuation in melodic quality.

If you're a metalhead looking to get into dungeon synth, or vise-versa, I can't think of a better album to start with than Let Mortal Heroes Sing Your Fame.  This is a pure fantasy album that takes itself seriously while giving into fantasy cheese.

One of metal's real niche bands, Summoning occupy an awkward slot in black metal given that although they have recognisable bm elements they by no means conform to the conventional sound overall.  If I am honest, I have never really had a problem getting in to Summoning.  That is not say that I am ignorant of the challenges they present to most metal fans but they still hold much appeal to me, albeit this appeal needs to be drip fed in small and irregular doses.  I was unaware of the "classic" status allocated to this particular release from the Austrians and whilst I can acknowledge the quality here I would not go as far as to give it such a heady status (I am not even sure "classic" releases of this sub-genre even exist as a concept).

There is lots of repetition here and that is sort of the point.  I do not seek a Summoning record when I want to be challenged by vast and expansive soundscapes.  I come in search of familiarity and safety here and I find it in bundles.  This comfort zone is an odd one I concede.  It is nerdy and lacks any sense of climax or overall completion.  However, all this posturing works because it maintains the exact intention of what Summoning set out to do - their own thing.  It is like music for some bizarre and grandiose medieval military parade.  Beneath the armour and capes and weapons, the soldiers are probably all a bit portly and rotund but just love getting dressed up and acting the part.  No need for an big build ups to announce the commencement of some battle, let us just use that repetition to boost the pomp and circumstance to a ridiculous yet consistent level.

I think that whilst they are certainly obvious throughout, the synths are not the dominant performance.  I can clearly hear the guitars and vocals at all times and I don't even mind the programmed drums.  Yes, there is an air of the amateur in places but it all adds to the nerdy, haphazard nature of the atmospheres.  The closing track is far and away the standout one of the eight on offer.  That big chorus being the only crescendo we get and rightly so!