Summoning Interview
The Austrian duo Summoning are one of the pioneers of so-called "Tolkien Metal," which is based on the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien. Silenius and Protector fill us in on their latest release, Oath Bound.
Chad Bowar: Give us a musical overview of your latest album Oath Bound.
Silenius: This time we concentrated on Tolkien's Silmarillion again. We have topics about Feanor and the Noldor, who left Valinor to fight Morgoth in the north, to get back the Silmarils.
We have topics about Morgoth and his preparation for war against middle earth. Other topics are dealing with Beleriand, that land of the dead, Thingol of Menegroth. We have an unknown war poetry included which fits perfectly to the mood of the marching Noldor and we have one song in the black language which was written by a friend of ours who made a complete lyric sheet out of this limited language and I think he has done a good job for us.
It's been three years since your last MCD, and five since your last full-length. What was the reason for this length of time between CDs?
Protector: The main reason was the work for my other music project Die Verbannten Kinder Evas. I already finished the songs of the forthcoming album 2 years ago but had problems with the female singer. First the old one was simply not good enough anymore, so I searched for another one. She was good, but due to some huge psychological problems she did not record for 18 months so I could not release the new album. During all this time I could not release Summoning, cause it was much more reasonable for me first to release Die Verbannten Kinder Evas and after that Summoning, but finally I gave up waiting for the singer and changed my decision and started to finish Summoning.
Meanwhile I found a new singer, she already flew from Greece to Vienna and recorded all the songs in only 2 days, so I will start to mix the new songs and finally release them.
Silenius: The realization of this CD was the most difficult one in our history because of many different reasons. The main reasons of this long delay can be found in personal subjects. First I had a girlfriend for 1.5 years who never supported me in my musical work and nearly sabotaged me whenever it comes to music. Second I did not have any good ideas for this band over a long time until I finally got new inspirations. Thirdly my father died of cancer last year which caused a lot of personal troubles. Next I lost my job and had to find a new one and beside all these dramas we had some big equipment problems.
When you're writing songs, how do you decide on how to divide the vocal duties?
Protector: This is quite easy. After we finish the instrumental version of the songs we take them home on a CD and listen to them quite often and check which of the songs are the personal favorites of ours. Normally there are about 2-3 songs that I like but Silenius does not like so much and vice-versa. Only in a few cases there are songs that we both really like most, in this case the person that put more work into it gets the song.
What is it about Tolkien and his writings that appeals to you and has inspired you to make music for the past ten years?
Silenius: I really like to make slow motion hypnotic, trance-like hymnal and epic music and as I was a fan of fantasy literature since my childhood it was totally obvious that this music fits best to this kind of genre. And since Tolkien's middle earth creation is the founder and the top of everythign in this genre it was the simplest idea to make a concept totally connected to a musical translation of this world. We began our concept with the dark side of middle earth but after Stronghold we more and more put heroic elements into our music and nowardays we have a good balance of both of them.
Chad Bowar: Give us a musical overview of your latest album Oath Bound.
Silenius: This time we concentrated on Tolkien's Silmarillion again. We have topics about Feanor and the Noldor, who left Valinor to fight Morgoth in the north, to get back the Silmarils.
We have topics about Morgoth and his preparation for war against middle earth. Other topics are dealing with Beleriand, that land of the dead, Thingol of Menegroth. We have an unknown war poetry included which fits perfectly to the mood of the marching Noldor and we have one song in the black language which was written by a friend of ours who made a complete lyric sheet out of this limited language and I think he has done a good job for us.
It's been three years since your last MCD, and five since your last full-length. What was the reason for this length of time between CDs?
Protector: The main reason was the work for my other music project Die Verbannten Kinder Evas. I already finished the songs of the forthcoming album 2 years ago but had problems with the female singer. First the old one was simply not good enough anymore, so I searched for another one. She was good, but due to some huge psychological problems she did not record for 18 months so I could not release the new album. During all this time I could not release Summoning, cause it was much more reasonable for me first to release Die Verbannten Kinder Evas and after that Summoning, but finally I gave up waiting for the singer and changed my decision and started to finish Summoning.
Meanwhile I found a new singer, she already flew from Greece to Vienna and recorded all the songs in only 2 days, so I will start to mix the new songs and finally release them.
Silenius: The realization of this CD was the most difficult one in our history because of many different reasons. The main reasons of this long delay can be found in personal subjects. First I had a girlfriend for 1.5 years who never supported me in my musical work and nearly sabotaged me whenever it comes to music. Second I did not have any good ideas for this band over a long time until I finally got new inspirations. Thirdly my father died of cancer last year which caused a lot of personal troubles. Next I lost my job and had to find a new one and beside all these dramas we had some big equipment problems.
When you're writing songs, how do you decide on how to divide the vocal duties?
Protector: This is quite easy. After we finish the instrumental version of the songs we take them home on a CD and listen to them quite often and check which of the songs are the personal favorites of ours. Normally there are about 2-3 songs that I like but Silenius does not like so much and vice-versa. Only in a few cases there are songs that we both really like most, in this case the person that put more work into it gets the song.
What is it about Tolkien and his writings that appeals to you and has inspired you to make music for the past ten years?
Silenius: I really like to make slow motion hypnotic, trance-like hymnal and epic music and as I was a fan of fantasy literature since my childhood it was totally obvious that this music fits best to this kind of genre. And since Tolkien's middle earth creation is the founder and the top of everythign in this genre it was the simplest idea to make a concept totally connected to a musical translation of this world. We began our concept with the dark side of middle earth but after Stronghold we more and more put heroic elements into our music and nowardays we have a good balance of both of them.
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