Dol Guldur

About

Dol Guldur is the third studio album by the Austrian black metal band Summoning. It was released in 1997, through Napalm Record. All lyrics are written by P. K. of the black metal band Abigor apart from those by J. R. R. Tolkien, who is even credited in the album booklet. The final track, "Over Old Hills", is based on the song "Trapped and Scared" from Protector's solo project, Ice Ages' debut album "Strike the Ground". According to information on Summoning’s homepage, the album is to this day the band’s best-selling release (as of September 2010). The songs that were written for Dol Guldur but not released on the album were issued in 1997 together with the song Habbanan Beneath the Stars on the mini-CD Nightshade Forest. According to Summoning’s statements on their homepage, Dol Guldur and Nightshade Forests are closely connected and should therefore be regarded as a single CD. On Dol Guldur, Summoning continued the development already begun on the predecessor album Minas Morgul, moving away from the original, strongly black-metal-influenced style of the band’s early years toward a style shaped by atmospheric, epic element. As a result, the guitar riffs are often used merely as accompaniment, while the melody is carried by the keyboard. On the keyboard, a wide variety of instruments are simulated, up to and including an entire symphony orchestra, among them instruments atypical for black metal such as a carillon or a didgeridoo. As was customary for Summoning after the departure of drummer Alexander “Trifixion” Trondl, the drums were also performed using the keyboard (and not, as is often assumed, with a drum machine). The vocals consist of genre-typical screaming, but are described as “emotionally hissed vocal.” In addition, there are occasional growls and sections with sonorou, deep, clear singing. As with all Summoning albums up to Let Mortal Heroes Sing Your Fame, the lyrics are exclusively based on J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy. In some case, passages of text or poems by Tolkien from the novels were adopted unchanged as lyric. Further lyrics were contributed by Peter “PK” Kubik, the guitarist of the band Abigor, in which Michael Gregor was the singer at the time, since Summoning “see and feel themselves as composers and not as poets” and therefore do not write lyrics themselve. James Slone of the review site Satan Stole My Teddybear remarks on the lyrics of Dol Guldur that Summoning invoke the darkness and mystery at the heart of The Lord of the Rings in their song text. The intro Angbands Schmieden is named after the forges of Angband (Sindarin for “Iron Prison”), the fortress of Morgoth in the Iron Mountains of Beleriand. Keyboard effects reminiscent of hammer blows and bellows lend an especially distinctive touch to an introduction that is already very atmospheric. In Nightshade Forest, parts of three poems by Tolkien from the first volume of The Lord of the Rings (The Leaves Were Long, the Grass Was Green; Cold Be Hand and Heart and Bone; and Gil-galad Was an Elven-king) form the lyric. Marius Mutz calls the track an “atmosphere hammer” on metal1.info, while Paul from The Metal Observer describes it as “excellent.” Elfstone is based on sections from the poems All That Is Gold Does Not Glitter (the first stanza) and Out of Doubt, Out of Dark to the Day’s Rising. For Marius Mutz, Elfstone is a good example of how a riff, even though it does not change, can remain interesting, because it is in itself so coherent that one can rediscover—and feel—it anew every time one listen. The second stanza of All That Is Gold Does Not Glitter as well as parts of The World Was Young, the Mountains Green, When Evening in the Shire Was Grey, and Legolas Greenleaf Long Under Tree are used in Khazad Dúm. Khazad Dúm is the name of Moria in Khuzdul, the language of the Dwarves in Tolkien’s work, and means “Dwarven-home.” Marius Mutz praises the incredibly dense atmosphere and describes the piece as a listening experience of a completely different kind. Steve Hoelzel of chroniclesofchao.com considers the song exemplary of the way Summoning layer simple melodies piece by piece into a complex whole. With Kôr, Summoning set to music parts of the poem Kortirion Among the Tree, which Tolkien published in 1915. Kortirion, Tirion, and Kôr are different names for an Elven city in Tolkien’s world. Steve Hoelzel describes the melodic line of Kôr as haunting. Glaurung, the Father of Dragons from The Silmarillion, lends his name to the instrumental Wyrmvater Glaurung. In this piece, keyboard effects reminiscent of a glockenspiel are used, which Steve Hoelzel describes as chilling. For Unto a Long Glory…, parts of the poem Over the Land There Lies a Long Shadow are used for the lyric. A reviewer at The Metal Observer considers Unto a Long Glory… insufficiently catchy to justify its length. Over Old Hills is based on the piece Trapped and Scared, which had been released on the first album Strike the Ground by Ice Age, a side project of Richard “Protector” Lederer. Lyrically, it uses Tolkien’s 1915 poem (You & Me and) the Cottage of Lost Play, which, like Kortirion Among the Tree, was published in 1983 by Christopher Tolkien in The Book of Lost Tale, Part I. Musically unusual is the recurring use of a sample that simulates a didgeridoo. A reviewer on voenger.de notes that the vocals at times even drift into deeper, growl-like sound region, which benefits the dynamics and variety of Dol Guldur. The album's cover was adapted from 'Middle Earth', a painting by Roger Garland, and from a picture of the Ottenstein reservoir in the Austrian Waldviertel, showing the ruins of Lichtenfels Castle. Protector – vocal, guitar, keyboards Silenius – vocal, keyboards .

via Last.fm

The Clerk says

Start your shelf to read the full take →